In the 1950’s the FBI investigated politically outspoken Groucho Marx as a possible communist sympathiser. Jerry Feilding, the band leader for Groucho’s then hugely popular game show “You bet your life” had refused to appear before the Committee on Un-American Activities (specifically to finger Groucho Marx), and was subsequently blacklisted and (under pressure from sponsors) fired from the show. Later Groucho stated that bowing to the pressure of sponsors and allowing Feilding to be fired in this way was the greatest regret of his life.
Groucho Marx was born Julius Marx in 1890 in the Upper East Side of New York, the middle child of five brothers, who would later, famously become known as Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo and Zeppo – The Marx Brothers. Groucho’s stage career began at the age fifteen (although some sources say that he appeared on stage as young as thirteen). This was a harsh environment for a teenager and on several occasions, whilst on tour, he found himself penniless and abandoned by fellow performers who had crept off in the middle of the night. Coming from a working class background, Groucho also often regretted not finishing school. Despite this he was an avid reader and his love of books accompanied him throughout his adult life.
Having spent several years on the Vaudeville circuit Groucho found success on stage only once joined by brothers Gummo, Harpo and later Chico. Zeppo joined the group once Gummo went to fight in WW1 and appeared their early Paramount films, but it was the combination of Groucho, Harpo and Chico that was the enduring formula. All five brothers were also highly accomplished musicians, each one having command of several instruments, notably Chico’s unique ability and style on piano, Harpo’s command of the harp and Groucho’s expertise on the guitar. In fact Groucho is considered by many as one of the great guitarists of his time. Groucho became known for his greasepaint moustache and his cigar as much as his comedy. In fact without these “trademarks” he was often unrecognisable to fans. The moustache came about during the run of their first musical hit “I’ll say she is” when Groucho, turning up to the theatre late one night and not having time to glue a fake moustache on, quickly daubed some greasepaint on his lip. The grease paint stuck, so to speak.
The origin of his nickname of “Groucho” is less clear, with even Groucho himself stating in his autobiography that he wasn’t sure. Two (most commonly accepted) possible answers point at particular personal characteristics of Groucho.
The first is that Groucho was a notorious tightwad. The stock market crash of 1929, which took with it most of his then substantial wealth, haunted him. Although his earning capacity only grew after the nineteen thirties, he worried incessantly about money and security. He became known for wearing a “grouch bag”, a small pouch worn on a string around the neck, in which money and valuables would be kept.
The other possible origin is quite simply that he was a bit of a grumpy bastard, grouchy you might say. Life long insomnia and constant worries about financial security did nothing to dispel this image. He also would become easily annoyed at the unreliability of his older, gambling, womanising brother Chico. In his eighty six years he worked his way through three wives, accused by some of driving his first wife to drink.
Although finding considerable success on Broadway, The Marx Brothers star burned most brightly when they took to the world of film. They made two films in New York for Paramount, both based on their Broadway shows of the same names, “Animal Crackers” and “The Cocoanuts”, and then built the rest of their repertoire in Hollywood. Arguably The Marx Brothers hit their creative and artistic peak in the thirties with the first three of five films made for MGM A Night at the Opera, At the Circus and A day at the Races. Harking back to their Vaudeville days, they took several pivotal scenes from these films on the road, testing and perfecting them in front of live audiences, even down to the point of timing the laughs.
The Marx Brothers experienced resurgence in popularity in the liberal 60’s and 70’s when the anarchy and anti authoritarian flavour of their films was once again embraced. The character Groucho Marx created for stage and screen was an overblown caricature. This was a character which usurped propriety and authority and satirised the worst of society. Groucho Marx’s grease paint moustache points the way to what he did so well. He took the truth and made it larger.