THE MARX BROTHERS

FORMATION: The Marx Brothers came from a talented family of performing artists. With five brothers in all, not including Manfred who died shortly after birth, each of them trained on their own individual talent. Though most of the family, including their Mother and Aunt, became the "The Six Mascots," It was the three older brothers that are remembered most to this day. Chico, Harpo & Groucho all had a musical talent, Harp having up to six musical instruments he could play. Soon they discovered they could change their act from music with comedy to comical music.

STUDIOS: In 1929 they were introduced to Hollywood, following a successful run on Broadway. They began at Paramount and made one of their most popular films "Duck Soup" (1933). This film was to be their last at this studio and they were soon inclined to join with MGM. There they found the story line to be more structured as they made two other of their most popular films: "A Night at the Opera" (1935) & "A Day at the Races" (1937). After this they moved to RKO for a moment and then back to MGM. Their last two films together were made at United Artists.

ENDING: This is the longest partnership in the history of comedy. They were born as a team and they died a team. In a total of twenty years at Hollywood they left a legacy of laughter with five of their films have been included on American Film Institute's top 100 comedy's films. Their last film together was "Love Happy" in 1949. All three were in a film called "The Story of Mankind" (1957), but they only appeared separate and never as a team. Groucho went on to become a Television celebrity with his show "You Bet Your Life" (1947-1961).

Harpo, Zeepo, Chico, Groucho, Gummo

In one of the most talented families in America we find these crazy brothers. I find it amazing that though they came from the same background, they all found out their special something and never strayed from it. Originally from Germany, they were one of the many entertaining us as we fought a World War with their mother country. To this day they have a following that rivals many of the other comedic acts of their time, and many of their films are treasured as classics.

This is one of their classic scenes. It was in the film "A Night at the Opera" (1935).

Here is the ever famous "Mirror Sequence" from "Duck Soup" (1933).

The other two brothers are dressed up as Groucho.

This sequence was replayed on the "I Love Lucy Show"

with Lucy dressed up as Harpo.