Today is the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis going to the can and stroking out on the toilet. In two days, it will also be the thirtieth anniversary of the passing of Julius Henry Marx.
Now, I’m not one to say that Elvis’ passing wasn’t the death of a star of a high order, but the passing of Julius Henry Marx was overshadowed by the death of ‘The King’ so to speak. I think it is time to recognize the contribution of Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx at least as much as the contribution of Elvis to our culture.
Consider this: Groucho and the Marx Brothers were stars on vaudeville and Broadway from basically 1915 until the 1930’s. When radio was starting out, Groucho and Chico moved to radio in the glory days of the 30’s and 40’s. Harpo couldn’t make the transition to radio very well.
The Marx Brothers were quite possibly the first multi-media crossover stars: Broadway, Radio, Film, Print and later, Television. Howard Stern might be King of All Media, but the Marx Brothers owned the title before Maarshall McLuhan called it media in 1962.
Songs? Groucho has one classic to his credit: "Lydia The Tattooed Lady". Most of the Marx Brothers’ songs in vaudeville, Broadway and the movies were written notables like Irving Berlin, Gus Kahn, Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby: All first lights of the American Songbook.
Movies? Their first film, Humor Risk, in 1921 was a silent one-reeler that the Marx Brothers, being well-off Broadway stars, mostly self-financed. Rumor has it, it was never released, and to quote Groucho the prints were "cut up into mandolin picks".
The first Marx Brothers movie more broadly released was The Cocoanuts in 1929. The last cinematic appearance was Groucho in 1968, in Otto Preminger’s Skidoo. Groucho owned television in the 1950’s with his quiz show You Bet Your Life.
I’m leaving out more stage work, television, books and print as each of the brothers did their share even in retirement. Groucho eventually played Carnegie Hall in 1972 and released a double album called An Evening with Groucho. It is a classic you should listen to at least once in your life to hear the original voice, steeped in the history of showbusiness, when it was showbusiness, not shallow celebrity and person-of-the-moment cellphone camera hysteria.
Zeppo was the last of the Marx Brothers to pass away, November 30th, 1979. Herbert was actually quite inventive: His company, Marman Products, invented a type of ring clamp used in WWII to secure the atom bomb to the innards of the Enola Gay. Marman clamps are still used in aviation to this day. He was also their agent and apparently a fierce one when it came to cutting a deal.
At the end of the day, Groucho lives on: Elvis is still dead.
Two quotes to close this piece:
I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.
And the last lines of a song from Animal Crackers by Kalmar and Ruby.
RoadDave 