23 October: The Marx Brothers

On this date in 1893 Gummo Marx was born. 10 things you didn't know about the Marx Brothers:

1. There were five of them: Chico (Leonard), Harpo (Arthur, although his actual name was Adolph, he changed it to Arthur in 1911), Groucho (Julius), Gummo (Milton) and Zeppo (Herbert). There was also a sixth brother called Manfred, who was the first born but died in infancy, and an adopted sister called Pauline ("Polly").
2. They got their nicknames during a game of poker with stand-up comedian Art Fisher. He decided to give them all nicknames. Chico was derived from "Chicko" because he was a bit of a ladies man. Harpo was so called because he played the harp. Gummo got his nickname because he liked to wear gumshoes. Groucho was known for being a bit cynical and also for wearing a type of bag called a "grouch bag". The origin of Zeppo is unknown. Early in their careers, they didn't use their nicknames but were billed with their given names. They used the nicknames among themselves, though, and when Alexander Woollcott heard them, he asked why they used their real names when they had such wonderful nicknames, and they replied, "That wouldn't be dignified."
3. In their films, Groucho would always play a wise guy with big bushy Eyebrows, glasses, and a moustache who smoked a cigar. He would paint on the moustache and eyebrows rather than use fake glue-on ones. Chico spoke with an Italian accent and played the piano; Harpo never spoke and played the harp. Zeppo usually played the straight man. Gummo never appeared in the films at all. He'd decided, after serving in WWI, that performing wasn't for him and started a business selling raincoats. He would later act as agent for the rest of the brothers.
4. They started out as a boy band. Julius, Milton, and Arthur Marx formed a group called “The Three Nightingales.” Managed by their mother, Minnie, they performed covers of popular songs on stage. Their act began to evolve into comedy one night when a Mule got loose in Texas. The brothers were performing at the Nacogdoches Opera House when someone ran into the theatre yelling “Mule’s loose!” The audience evidently found the idea of an escaped mule more entertaining than three guys singing and rushed out to watch. Julius was hopping mad at being upstaged by a mule, so when the audience came back, he started ad-libbing insults like “The jackass is the finest flower of Tex-ass!” Far from being offended, the audience found this hilarious and the rest is history.
5. Some of their films were banned in Europe. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini banned Duck Soup because he thought it was a personal attack on himself and Italy, while in Germany, all the films were banned because the brothers were Jewish. Groucho would later make a statement when he visited Germany with his daughter in 1958. He asked to see the site of Hitler's bunker, and when he got there, is said to have climbed onto the rubble and performed a Charleston, essentially dancing on Hitler's grave.
6. Duck Soup is set in the fictional nation of Freedonia. The mayor of the real-life town Fredonia, New York wrote to the brothers: "The name of Fredonia has been without blot since 1817. I feel it is my duty as mayor to question your intentions in using the name of our city in your picture." Groucho replied: "Your Excellency: Our advice is that you change the name of your town. It is hurting our picture."
7. Their first film was never finished and only ever saw the light of day as an early screening of a work-in-progress in the Bronx. It was called Humor Risk. In it, Harpo played a heroic detective and Groucho was the villain. Since the Bronx screening wasn't well received, production ground to a halt.
8. The brothers would sometimes perform scenes from their works in progress live before filming them, so they could time how long the audience laughed at the gags. When they came to film that scene, they'd know how long to pause to allow for the cinema audiences to laugh.
9. Without their costumes and props, the brothers looked almost identical; sufficiently so that they could, on occasion, impersonate each other. Chico once impersonated Harpo as a guest on the game show I've Got A Secret – and no one noticed.
10. Their last film was Love Happy in 1950 but there was almost another in 1960, directed by Billy Wilder, which would have been called A Day At The United Nations, about a group of thieves attempting to pull off a heist during a U.N. demonstration. Sadly, it was never made because Harpo became ill and Chico died.

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