Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Groucho Marx; earlier in their career, they were joined by younger brothers Gummo and Zeppo. They are considered by critics, scholars and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century, a recognition underscored by the American Film Institute (AFI) selecting five of their fourteen feature films to be among the top 100 comedy films (with two in the top fifteen) and including them as the only group of performers on AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.

Their performing lives, heavily influenced by their mother, Minnie Marx, started with Groucho on stage at age 14, in 1905. He was joined, in succession, by Gummo and Harpo. Chico started a separate vaudeville act in 1911, and joined his brothers in 1912. Zeppo replaced Gummo when the latter joined the army in World War I. The brothers performed together in vaudeville until 1923, when they found themselves banned from the major vaudeville circuits owing to a dispute with E. F. Albee. Failing in an attempt to produce their own shows on the alternate Shubert circuit, they transitioned to Broadway, where they achieved significant success with a series of hit musical comedies, including I'll Say She Is, The Cocoanuts, and Animal Crackers.

In 1928, the brothers made a deal with Paramount Pictures to produce a film version of The Cocoanuts, which they filmed at Astoria Studios during the Broadway run of Animal Crackers. The Cocoanuts was released in 1929, followed shortly thereafter with a film version of Animal Crackers. The brothers decided to devote their careers to film, and moved to Los Angeles, where they made three more films for Paramount: Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933).

When their contract with Paramount expired, Zeppo left the group. The remaining brothers were signed by Irving Thalberg to make movies for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was there that they made A Night at the Opera (1935), which they considered their crowning achievement. During the production of their next film, A Day at the Races (1937), Thalberg died. While they continued to make films, they felt that the quality of their work, and their interest in it, declined.

After briefly moving to RKO to make Room Service (1938), they went back to work at MGM, making At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941) before declaring that they were retired. They briefly came out of retirement twice. In 1946, they made A Night in Casablanca, reportedly because Chico was running out of money. In 1949, they starred together in Love Happy; originally intended to be a solo vehicle for Harpo, producers felt the film would be more successful with all three brothers. That was to be their last film as a trio.

Groucho went on to a successful career as a game show host, while Harpo and Chico continued to make guest appearances in television and on stage.