Marx Brothers Part I: Chico

 

Hello, my ragtime dolls! This is a bit of an awkward check-in as I have nearly abandoned this blog for almost the whole month. Pardon my busy schedule and laziness. I also had to wait for my book Growing Up with Chico to arrive. Anyway, I'm fulfilling my promise now. Let us begin this series with Chico since he's the oldest, and we'll go straight down the line until Zeppo. I figured it was better for me to organize it this way rather than combine all the Marx brothers into one entry. Although average classic movie enjoyers tend to view them as one, they each have different characters that define their stories.  

 

Harpo, Gummo, Zeppo, Groucho, and Chico. That's how I would rank the Marx brothers from best to worst personally. Most sources describe Chico the exact same way. He loved gambling and women period. In his daughter's memoir, she doesn't deny any of his faults. She portrays him exactly how he was but with affection. I don't think he is equipped for the title of a Hollywood jerk. Sure, the man wasn't a perfect father or husband, but underneath his compulsive gambling, congenital lies, infidelities, and inward-looking personality, the essence of Chico Marx lies in his charming, humorous demeanor, warmth, and multi-talents. That is where I'd like to end and begin.   

 

Chico, aged 22, playing cards by himself, ca. 1909.

 

Born Leonard Joseph Marx in Manhattan, New York City, on March 22, 1887, he adopted his name "Chico," pronounced "Chick-o" because he got all the chicks. Chico was the biggest skirt-chaser in the family, but unlike his brothers, he had the ability to make the ladies fall at his feet. Groucho once said he got more ladies in 3 or 4 nights than the rest of them did in a whole month. Apart from charisma, a great deal of this is due on account of his impressive piano skills I assume.

 

Originally, a sixth Marx brother named Manfred was born in 1885, but the poor baby died at seven months old from asthenia and enterocolitis. Zeppo was to later be named Herbert Manfred in his honor.  His parents, Sam "Frenchie" Marx and Minnie Schoenberg Marx, were Franco-German Jewish immigrants. Frenchie worked as a tailor, but according to all the brothers, he wasn't a very good one. He was, however, an excellent pinochle player and taught his sons how to play. Minnie worked as the brother's manager until she passed away in 1929. It was she who initiated her boys to go on the stage, after her brother, Al Shean, who was half of the successful vaudeville act Gallagher and Shean.  

Chico was Minnie's favorite son. I believe that Minnie's impact on her five sons was stronger than anyone. For one, she got them into show business. Two, the affection she had for each of her sons resulted in what they eventually became. For example, she let Chico get away with certain things like gambling, and with Groucho, I blame her as the stem of his complications with women (but that's a different story. I'll discuss that when it's his turn.)

What I do know about the Marxes' early years was that they grew up in immense poverty in the 1890s and early 1900s. I saw a picture of the room they had once lived in a long time ago and it was terribly poor. Groucho recalled it was so bad, that all four boys would have to sleep in the same bed. It was probably very traumatizing for them poor guys especially Groucho, who, years later admitted he would commit suicide if he ever had to endure poverty again. Back to Chico -- he was through with school at the age of twelve. Despite this, he has been considered to be the smartest of the five Marxes', and is often credited for being an excellent mathematician. 

 

Something interesting I read in Maxine's book was that Chico went missing for a few days in the early 20s. Where he went or what he did has been undisclosed... 

By the time the boys were in their early teens, they were fully supporting themselves with whatever jobs they could find. Chico earned much of his dough from gambling -- even at a young age. It wouldn't be surprising if he stole from some people and places too since Harpo wrote that if he didn't hide his earnings in wise places, Chico would steal them. "He could smell money from a mile away.." wrote Harpo in his autobiography. He was a very talented piano player though, and got some of his first jobs playing at several clubs. After Groucho made his debut in 1905, he was joined by Harpo, Gummo, Chico, and eventually Zeppo. By 1910 or '11, they began performing in a vaudeville circuit as a family act.  

 

From L-R: Harpo, Gummo, Chico, and Groucho, ca. 1915.

 

After conquering vaudeville, the Marxes pursued Broadway in 1923 with the musical-comedy revue, I'll Say She Is, at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. The show was a smash hit running 313 performances until 1925, and led them to superstardom. If only it was made into a film. After I'll Say She Is closed, two more giant successes were followed with The Cocoanuts (1925), and Animal Crackers (1928), both adapted into films. 

 

They actually made their cinema debut during the silent era. The legendary but lost film, Humor Risk, was made privately by the Marx brothers in 1921, although it was never fully completed or released. There has been much speculation about who the leading lady was. She appears to be Jobyna Ralston, but it has not been confirmed. It could have been an unknown, forgotten actress that we'll never know about. It has also been long said that Groucho was unhappy with the film and burned the negatives, but oh well. Just another rumor. Hopefully, one of these days it will show up.  

 

After Broadway, came Hollywood. The Marxes made their debut in The Cocoanuts (1929). Their beloved mother Minnie was fortunate enough to see it on opening night but died shortly after from a stroke. Following Minnie's death, Chico served as the team's new manager. The Marx brothers made a total of 14 films together including Humor Risk. Chico appeared in all of them with his trademark Italian persona. Other films he appeared in were some Hollywood shorts, in which he made cameo appearances, and the Hollywood epic, The Story of Mankind (1957), where he plays the Monk who advises Christopher Columbus.  

 

Chico remained a performer all his life mainly because he was always in debt due to gambling and had to find a way to properly sustain himself. When he was asked how much money he lost, his response was, "Ask Harpo how much he's made and that's how much I've lost." In the early 1940s, he led a big band and orchestra with Ben Pollack, but the group disbanded not long after. For the remainder of his life, he had jobs in radio, vaudeville houses, and television anthology shows, some of which he appeared with Groucho and Harpo.   

Chico with his daughter Maxine and wife Betty Carp, ca. 1921.

 

In 1917, Chico married Betty Carp and they had a daughter named Maxine a year later, whose name began with the letter 'M' in honor of Minnie. The marriage ended in divorce after 23 years due to his infidelity. Can't remember who it was that said this or where I read it, but apparently Chico didn't zip his fly until he was 60 or 70. Chico was close with his daughter Maxine, who despite his shortcomings as a father and person, spoke of him affectionately and described him as, "Enchanting. He was like Peter Pan." Too much of her defense -- the Marx brothers grew up in vaudeville, so it only natural that they would have a distorted view of women and a penchant for them. Chico married again to Mary De Vithas in 1958 and they remained married until his death.  

 

On October 11, 1961, Chico died from arteriosclerosis at the age of 74. His body was entered to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. At his funeral, the man who was eulogizing him painted a totally inaccurate picture of him to the point it got so bad that Harpo leaned over to Maxine and whispered, "When I go, do me a favor and hire a mime."  

 

A rabbi who was with him at his death said, "He did not have an evil or a mischievous thought in his soul."