The Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American comedy troupe who achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The five brothers were Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Groucho Marx, Gummo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, though Gummo and Zeppo both left the group over time, leaving Chico, Harpo, and Groucho as a trio. 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 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 success with a series of hit musical comedies, including I'll Say She Is, The Cocoanuts, and Animal Crackers.
In 1928, the Marx Brothers made a deal with Paramount Pictures to appear in a screen version of The Cocoanuts, which was filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios during the Broadway run of Animal Crackers. The Cocoanuts was released in 1929, followed the next year by a film version of Animal Crackers. They then moved to Los Angeles, where they starred in three more films for Paramount: Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933).
When their contract expired following the production of Duck Soup, Zeppo left the team and the Marx Brothers left Paramount. Groucho, Chico and Harpo were signed by Irving Thalberg at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where they starred in A Night at the Opera (1935), which they considered to be their best film. Shortly after filming began on their follow-up movie, A Day at the Races (1937), Thalberg died of pneumonia at the age of 37. While they continued to appear in films, they felt that the quality of their work, as well as their interest in it, was waning.
After starring in Room Service (1938) for RKO Pictures, the brothers returned to MGM for At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940). Although they announced that their next MGM film, The Big Store (1941), would be their farewell picture, they returned to the screen in A Night in Casablanca (1946), reportedly because Chico needed money. In 1949, they starred together in their final film, Love Happy.
Groucho went on to a successful career as host of the quiz show You Bet Your Life, while Harpo and Chico continued to make guest appearances on television and on the stage.
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