Which marx brother didnt speak

Harpo never technically speaks in any of the legendary Marx Brothers films. But a controversy does exist among Marx Brothers fans about the movie Monkey Business.

At the beginning of the film, the four Marx Brothers are hiding in barrels on a ship singing "Sweet Adeline. Voice experts have studied the scene to try to discern if Harpo is, indeed, singing, but no one has proved conclusively whether or not he was. When Groucho and Chico had a national radio show in the mids, Harpo was paid every week "not to talk" on it.

In the film At the Circus , Harpo delivers his one and only "line" in a talking film as he sneezes and clearly says "Achoo!

He refused. Interestingly, in a rare movie premiere newsreel, Harpo is actually seen and heard saying to his interviewer, "You're gonna do the talking," and adding the words "Honk! He played a character called Banjo who was based on him. According to his beloved wife, Susan, he had a little pat speech he loved to deliver at banquets.

He would walk onstage and begin by saying, "As unaccustomed as I am to speaking…" and this would bring the house down! Harpo published his delightful autobiography Harpo Speaks in , and interview tapes of Harpo reminiscing exist, too. Harpo made his final public appearance at the Pasadena Civic Center in He did his usual schtick, then came out afterwards and made a brief, touching speech to the audience. He began it by saying, "As I was about to say in …" The wonderful, brilliant Harpo Marx passed away on September 28, He brought joy and laughter into the world, without having to say a word.

To learn more about Harpo and see more of his work, I highly recommend the great Harpo Marx Tribute site by my beautiful friend Cathy. YouTube link. Sign In. Harpo Marx , a third of the legendary comedy trio the Marx Brothers , is known for his quiet pantomime style. And by quiet we mean he never talked in any of his television or film performances.

He was so convincing, in fact, that many audiences believed he was actually mute. And he really did continue to speak on stage regularly - just whenever he felt like it.

For example, on opening night of 'Animal Crackers' he tackled Margaret Irving and proceeded to tell her a well Groucho, Chico and Zeppo came out onstage and did a running commentary. But he did speak extemporaneously onstage on occasion. Just not from a script and not often.

Steve Allen has told me and has also recounted the tale in various books, etc all about the evening Harpo left show business during Allen Sherman's show in Pasadena, during which he spoke for several minutes to a stunned audience. Through Alexander Woollcott the theater critic, who was responsible for their first big success in New York, Harpo became a member of the Algonquin Round Table. In he married actress Susan Fleming.

They adopted four children Bill, Alex, Jimmy and Minnie. Harpo never spoke in a movie, but his voice has been recorded, as you can hear here. They were usually his own harps but he changed models a lot, particularly in the early years.

He had those two harps for years and shortly after his death, Susan was asked to judge a harp competition in Israel. She insisted that Bill come along as well because she knew nothing about the mechanics of harpistry. They both decided to take the two harps along and donate them to two university harp departments in Israel, with the only proviso being that they were not to go in glass cases, but instead were to be used.

I'm trying to donate these harps to you! I've heard from other sources that the harps were marked as Harpo's with small plaques but that they indeed were and hopefully still are used as Susan intended. Susan Marx died shortly before midnight Sunday [22 Dec ] at Eisenhower Medical Center after suffering a massive heart attack. She was Her son, pianist Bill Marx, was at her bedside just hours after concluding a talk about his father in a benefit for the Jewish Community School with a rendition of "Sunrise Sunset.

Harpo Marx, and her life of public service as Susan Marx. Born in Brooklyn, she started her career as a stage actress, working her way up to the top musical revue on Broadway, "The Ziegfeld Follies," in the s. She followed the opportunities to Hollywood in when she appeared as John Wayne's love interest in "Range Feud.