It’s
been 60 years since the Marx Brothers – Groucho, Chico, Harpo – officially
appeared together in their last feature film, Love Happy. Although fans have
little “love†for it and the brothers were not “happy†making it, the film did
provide some enjoyable moments showcasing Harpo’s silent talents.
Along
with brothers Zeppo and Gummo, the five Marx Brothers grew up in New York.
Gummo dropped out of the act and the four brothers traveled the country as
stage performers before taking Hollywood by storm, starting with Cocoanuts in
1929. Straight man Zeppo eventually
bailed too, and the three remaining brothers went on to become arguably the
greatest comedy team ever. Â
Between
them, the five brothers raised a dozen children and a few went into the
entertainment business. Now 72, Bill Marx (one of Harpo’s four children; see
www.sonofharpospeaks.com) had a successful career as a musician, composer,
comic, speaker, and writer. He talks at length about life with Harpo and his
brothers, concluding the interview by paraphrasing his Uncle Groucho’s biting
sarcasm!Â
Â
You
recently published a book, “Son of Harpo Speaks!†What’s it about?
It’s
not really a book about the Marx Brothers. It chronicles my relationship with
my dad and our working together for 12 years.Â
My stories have never been told before and I guess I’m one of the last
people left who actually worked with the Marx Brothers first hand. I’m just
finishing up an audio book of Son of Harpo Speaks! that should be available
soon. It contains material that nobody’s heard before.Â
Tell
us about your career.
I’m
what you’d call a sit down - stand up -sit down - stand up comic! I sit down,
play the piano, then stand up and tell stories, then sit down again and so on.
Then I do Q&A sessions. I’ve been a composer and jazz pianist most of my
life - doing film scores, symphonic writing, and arranging. I’ve played with
many of the great jazz artists of the twentieth century.
Did
Harpo influence your musical career?
Absolutely.
When I was 2 years old, he recognized my musical ability, but he never forced
anything on me. I was not a disciplined young musician - I hated scales and
lessons. I wanted to play baseball!Â
The
two of you worked together, correct?
Yes.
When I was 16, I wound up as his personal arranger and conductor. We did two
albums together for Mercury Records. When he appeared on TV programs like The
Lucy Show, he often played the harp and I did all the musical arrangements for
him. I was only in my late teens then, so he helped validate me as a composer
and musician.
Do
you play the harp?
No.
Dad used to say “one harpist in the family is enough!â€Â I have written a couple of concertos for the
harp and did all the pop arrangements for my dad later in his career.
Did
Harpo play the harp at home for the family much?
Not
really, he’d play to practice. He loved to practice; he’d do it for 2-3 hours a
day whether he was working or not. He just loved the harp – its feeling, its
sensuality, the vibrations, and the harmony and sounds of the chords. The harps
you see in the films were his personal instruments.
What
happened to his harps? They would be priceless Hollywood memorabilia today.
When
he passed away, my mother and I went to Israel and donated them to the Rubin
Academy of Music [now the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance]. Students are
still playing them, which is wonderful.Â
What
about his other old movie props, have they been saved?
I
have a lot of stuff – his prop chest, his coat, his hat, wigs. I’m looking for
a place to have it all displayed. I turned down the Smithsonian because I don’t
want it stored in a vault. These are pieces of American film history and they
need to be on permanent display somewhere.
What
happed to his famous walking stick with the honker?
My
sister has that. But it doesn’t work any more because the bulb has worn out
over the years.
Do
you have a favorite Marx Brothers film?
It’s
Go West, only because I thought dad was phenomenal in it. It was written by a
great friend, Irving Brecher who just passed away. He was one of the funniest
guys ever. I recommend reading his book, The Wicked Wit of the West, which is
full of delightful stories. I also love Monkey Business and A Night in
Casablanca. The Big Store was the first Marx Brothers movie I saw when I was 4
or 5. I love the scene where dad is playing the instruments in front of the
mirrors. It’s very charming.
Â
Harpo's home today.
What
was their best movie?
I
think A Night at the Opera. But everyone has a different take on their movies
and what appeals to them.
Did
you have a favorite uncle?
Not
really. Gummo was the easiest for me to get along with. He was very laid back.
He could construct a sentence with three words and take four minutes to say it!
I got to know Groucho the best as I spent a lot of time with him in his later
years. Groucho had to work all the time and was miserable if he didn’t. He had
to have an audience and perform, that was his greatest joy in life.
I’ve
read that Zeppo was actually the funniest in real life.
He
was in many ways. He was a great raconteur. He could tell stories that would
make Groucho fall apart - the only man who could make him tear up with
laughter. Each brother had a different sense of humor. Chico could tell you the
latest jokes, and dad was kind of a prankster around people. Gummo was very
subtle, the least overtly humorous of the bunch, but still a good sense of
humor.
Off-screen,
did the brothers always call each other by their stage names?
Yes,
although for the most part without the “o†- Grouch, Chic, Harp, Zep. But Gummo
was always Gummo.Â
Did
you get to visit any of the Marx Brothers film sets?
I
was only on two, Night in Casablanca and Love Happy. I was 12 during Love
Happy, and it was a difficult film for dad to do.
Why?
Originally
it was going to be his movie. But in order to get financing, the producer had
to write Chico and Groucho into the story. So the final film was nothing like
dad originally had in mind. Dad was lied to by the producer and it was an awful
experience for him, but he had to do it as he was under contract.
Do
you and your cousins still get royalties from the Marx Brothers films?
We
get a few bucks now and then from A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.
But nothing from the other films.
Is
it true that Harpo smuggled out secret documents during a trip to Russia in
1934?
Yes. His friend, Alexander Woollcott, arranged a
concert tour of Russia. But he really went there to avoid getting married!
While he was there, the US Ambassador asked him to secretly take some papers
back to America. But he never knew what was in the documents.
Harpo and family clown for a publicity photo.
I
guess when he returned, your future mother eventually pinned him down?
When
he returned, he realized how much he had missed her. He had been a confirmed
bachelor for 47 years. My mother was
Susan Fleming, an actress. But she really couldn’t stand show business. She
stopped acting the moment they were married.
All
the Marx Brothers gave their daughters names beginning with “M,†in honor of
their mother Minnie. Did the Marx Brothers children carry on the tradition with
their kids?
For
the most part. Although Groucho’s daughter, Melinda, has a daughter called Jade
who is an actress.
In
recent years, some audio and video clips ofÂ
Harpo actually speaking have appeared on the Internet. Have you heard
them?
Yes.
Those clips don’t sound exactly like him when I knew him, but they’re similar.
We were all actually very disturbed when those things came out. It was
contradictory to his philosophy of the character he created and the public
embraced. That's why he once turned down oodles of money from a TV network to
say just one word. He felt that would violate the public's trust in the mime
they knew as Harpo, thus diluting its curious mystique. By revealing these
tapes, it served no real positive purpose, and I am more than sure it would
have saddened him greatly.
Are
there other recordings of his voice that you know of?
I’ve
got some audio recordings of his, but they will never be heard publicly. There’s not a whole lot, mostly family
recordings. I’ve got him singing and doing a German dialect.
Did
he speak much in public?
He
would rarely speak for any sort of public relations event or on TV to pitch
something. Very rarely did he ever speak
on stage. The night he retired from the entertainment world he was doing a show
with Allan Sherman. He actually spoke to the audience and they were astonished.
It was a special night. He passed away not too long after, in September 1964.
He
had suffered from two heart attacks, hadn’t he?
Yes.
After his first one, he became very morose. The Marx Brothers were all very
athletic and did all their own stunts until they reached their mid-50s. For
example, in The Big Store you can see it wasn’t them in some of the scenes. So
it was very depressing for dad not being able to do many of the things he once
easily could. But after his second heart attack, he actually snapped out of the
depression.Â
For
the last decade of his life he lived in Rancho Mirage, California. Did he like
the life there?
Dad
built a home there in 1956 and called it El Rancho Harpo. He loved the serenity
of the place. He had lived the city life and traveled the world, so he was
ready to enjoy watching his kids grow up there. It was a great final chapter in
his life. It was very spartan when he built it, but has been renovated over the
years by a number of owners. It’s quite an astonishing place now and has been
designated an historic site by the city.
Can
people visit it?
It’s
privately owned and not open to the public, although the owners use it for fund
raisers and other projects.
Speaking
of historic places, one of the Marx Brothers early family homes in New York at
179 East 93 rd street is in danger of being demolished. What’s the status?
There’s
a group still working to save it and make it an historical site. It’s not only
a part of New York City history, but of film history too.Â
Let’s
hope it can be saved. Well thank you Bill, for sharing some great memories of
your family for Cinema Retro.
You’re
welcome. I’m sure it’s a great publication. But quite frankly, Nick, I wouldn’t
read any magazine that had you as one of its writers!!
 CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF SON OF HARPO SPEAKS PERSONALLY AUTOGRAPHED BY BILL MARX.