At the suggestion of Thalberg, the film marked a change of direction in the brothers’ career. It was a satire on the world of opera, where the brothers help two young singers in love by throwing a production of “Il Trovatore” into chaos. “ Is it my imagination, or is it getting crowded in here?” Groucho MarxĪ Night at the Opera(1935) was the first film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring the Marx Brothers, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. They signed, now billed as “Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Marx Bros.” At a bridge game with Chico, Irving Thalberg began discussing the possibility of the Marxes joining Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Groucho and Chico did radio, and there was talk of returning to Broadway. Their last Paramount film, Duck Soup (1933), directed by the highly regarded Leo McCarey, is the highest rated of the five Marx Brothers films on the American Film Institute’s list.Īfter expiration of the Paramount contract Zeppo left the act to become an agent. Horse Feathers (1932), was their most popular film yet, and won them the cover of Time. Their third feature-length film, Monkey Business (1931), was their first movie not based on a stage production. Their first two released films were adaptations of the Broadway shows The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930).
They signed a contract with Paramount Pictures and embarked on their film career at Paramount studios. The Marx Brothers’ stage shows became popular just as motion pictures were evolving to “talkies”. They satirized high society and human hypocrisy, and they became famous for their improvisational comedy in free-form scenarios. They both left performing to run a large theatrical agency, through which they represented their brothers as well as others at times.īy the 1920s, the Marx Brothers had become one of America’s favorite theatrical acts, with their sharp and bizarre sense of humor. Gummo was not in any of the movies Zeppo appeared in the first five films in relatively straight (non-comedic) roles.
Harpo and Chico “more or less retired” after 1949, while Groucho began a second career and became a well-known television host. Each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The core of the act was the three elder brothers: Chico, Harpo, and Groucho. The group are almost universally known today by their stage names: Chico (Leonard Marx 1887–1961), Harpo (Arthur Marx, born Adolph Marx 1888–1964), Groucho (Julius Henry Marx 1890–1977), Gummo (Milton Marx 1893–1977), and Zeppo(Herbert Manfred Marx 1901 –1979). The Marx Brothers were a family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx w/ cast in the stateroom scene from “A Night at the Opera” (1935)
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