Chico Marx
Encyclopedia
Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian
and film star as part of the Marx Brothers
. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian
origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat
.
As the first-born of the five Marx Brothers, he also played an important role in the management and development of the act, at least in its early years.
, he recognizes someone he knows to be a shady character impersonating a respected art collector:
In Duck Soup, when Chico impersonates Groucho but retains his accent, Margaret Dumont
asks what happened to his voice. Chico replies, "Well, maybe sometime I go to Italy and I'm practicing the language." To which Dumont replies, "Your dialect is perfect."
In A Night at the Opera
, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho
:
A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:
However, there are moments where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store
, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend of his he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business
, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus
, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts
, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds "I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction
!"
Chico was a talented pianist
. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually got a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he got jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even got work playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo
on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike that they were often mistaken for each other.)
In the brothers' last film, Love Happy
, Chico plays a piano and violin
duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco
). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please don't-a play better than me!"
In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens
stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could only play two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers' being fired.
Groucho Marx
once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. (He appears in the film A Year to Remember (1948) playing a "pistol shot" version of the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda
" to a group of Australian soldiers.) Another example of his keyboard flamboyance is found in A Night at the Opera
, wherein he plays the piano for a group of delighted children.
Chico became manager of the Marx Brothers
after their mother, Minnie
, died. As manager, he cut a deal to get the Marx Brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg
of MGM that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), made at Paramount Pictures
.
For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band
. Singer Mel Tormé
began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra.
used the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life
told the quizmaster she grew up around Chico
and Groucho responded, "I grew up around Chico myself. You aren't Gummo, are you?"
During Groucho Marx's live performance at Carnegie Hall (circa 1972), Groucho states that his brother got the name Chico because he was a "Chicken-chaser" (early slang for chasing women). "In England now, they called them birds."
habit. His favorite gambling traits were various card games as well as horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said: "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 1940s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years earlier.
The Marx Brothers' second-to-last film, A Night in Casablanca
(1946), was made for Chico's benefit since he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. Because of his out-of-control gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death.
Marx had a reputation as a world-class pinochle
player. His brother Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting." Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on the television show Celebrity Bridge. He and his partner lost the game, but it did not seem to bother him at all.
on October 11, 1961: he was the eldest brother and the first to pass away. During his lifetime, his year of birth had commonly been given as 1891 instead of the true year of 1887; as a result, obituaries reported his age at the time of his passing as 70 rather than 74.
Marx is entombed in a crypt in the Freedom Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
. Chico's younger brother Gummo
is in a crypt across the hall from him.
Chico's second marriage was to Mary De Vithas. They married in 1958, three years before his passing.
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and film star as part of the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat
Tyrolean hat
The Tyrolean hat is a type of fedora hat named for the Tyrol in the Alps. It is essentially the shape known as the Trilby. Tyrolean hats are made of felt, traditionally having a corded hatband and a feather on the side as trim....
.
As the first-born of the five Marx Brothers, he also played an important role in the management and development of the act, at least in its early years.
Acting career
Marx used an Italian persona for his on-stage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. The obvious fact that he was not really Italian was referenced three times on film. In their second feature, Animal CrackersAnimal Crackers (film)
Animal Crackers is a 1930 American comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx...
, he recognizes someone he knows to be a shady character impersonating a respected art collector:
Ravelli (Chico): "How did you get to be Roscoe W. Chandler?"
Chandler: "How did you get to be Italian?"
Ravelli: "Never mind—whose confession is this?"
In Duck Soup, when Chico impersonates Groucho but retains his accent, Margaret Dumont
Margaret Dumont
Margaret Dumont was an American comedic actress. She is remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers films...
asks what happened to his voice. Chico replies, "Well, maybe sometime I go to Italy and I'm practicing the language." To which Dumont replies, "Your dialect is perfect."
In A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (film)
A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from...
, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
:
Driftwood (Groucho): "Well, things certainly seem to be getting better around the country."
Fiorello (Chico): "Well, I wouldn't know about that; I'm a stranger here myself."
A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:
S. Quentin Quayle (Groucho): "You can speak Indian?"
Joe Panello (Chico): "Sure, I was born in Indianapolis!"
However, there are moments where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store
The Big Store
The Big Store is a Marx Brothers comedy film in which Groucho, Chico and Harpo work to save the Phelps Department Store, owned by Martha Phelps . Groucho plays her detective and bodyguard Wolf J...
, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend of his he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business
Monkey Business
-Film and television:* Monkey Business , an Our Gang film* Monkey Business , a Marx Brothers film* Monkey Business * Monkey Business...
, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts
The Cocoanuts
The Cocoanuts is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and the first sound movie to credit more than one director , and was adapted to the...
, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds "I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
!"
Chico was a talented pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually got a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he got jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even got work playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo
Harpo Marx
Adolph "Harpo" Marx was an American comedian and film star. He was the second oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances...
on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike that they were often mistaken for each other.)
In the brothers' last film, Love Happy
Love Happy
Love Happy was the 14th and last starring feature for the Marx Brothers. The film stars Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, and, in a smaller role than usual, Groucho Marx, plus Ilona Massey, Vera-Ellen, Paul Valentine, Marion Hutton, Raymond Burr, Bruce Gordon , and Eric Blore, with a walk-on by Marilyn Monroe...
, Chico plays a piano and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco
Leon Belasco
Leon Belasco was a Russian-American musician and actor who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films.-Musical career:Belasco attended St...
). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please don't-a play better than me!"
In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens
Gary Owens
Gary Owens is an American disc jockey and voice actor. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offers deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Owens is equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and is...
stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could only play two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers' being fired.
Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. (He appears in the film A Year to Remember (1948) playing a "pistol shot" version of the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
" to a group of Australian soldiers.) Another example of his keyboard flamboyance is found in A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (film)
A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from...
, wherein he plays the piano for a group of delighted children.
Chico became manager of the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
after their mother, Minnie
Minnie Marx
Miene Schönberg Marx was the mother and manager of the Marx Brothers, wife of Sam Marx, and the sister of vaudeville star Al Shean...
, died. As manager, he cut a deal to get the Marx Brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...
of MGM that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), made at Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
. Singer Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra.
Pronunciation and origin of name
He was originally nicknamed Chicko. A typesetter accidentally dropped the "k" in his name and it became Chico. It was still pronounced "Chick-oh" although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it "Cheek-oh". Radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them. As late as the 1950s, even GrouchoGroucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
used the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
told the quizmaster she grew up around Chico
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
and Groucho responded, "I grew up around Chico myself. You aren't Gummo, are you?"
During Groucho Marx's live performance at Carnegie Hall (circa 1972), Groucho states that his brother got the name Chico because he was a "Chicken-chaser" (early slang for chasing women). "In England now, they called them birds."
Gambling
Marx was a compulsive womanizer and had a lifelong gamblingGambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
habit. His favorite gambling traits were various card games as well as horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said: "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 1940s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years earlier.
The Marx Brothers' second-to-last film, A Night in Casablanca
A Night in Casablanca
A Night in Casablanca was the twelfth Marx Brothers movie, starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, and Harpo Marx. The picture was directed by Archie Mayo and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee, and is generally considered one of the better of the Marx Brothers' later films.-Plot:Set in...
(1946), was made for Chico's benefit since he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. Because of his out-of-control gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death.
Marx had a reputation as a world-class pinochle
Pinochle
Pinochle or Binocle is a trick-taking game typically for two to four players and played with a 48 card deck. Derived from the card game bezique, players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of cards into melds. It is thus considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category...
player. His brother Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting." Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on the television show Celebrity Bridge. He and his partner lost the game, but it did not seem to bother him at all.
Death
Chico Marx died of arteriosclerosisArteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis refers to a stiffening of arteries.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening of medium or large arteries It should not be confused with "arteriolosclerosis" or "atherosclerosis".Also known by the name "myoconditis" which is...
on October 11, 1961: he was the eldest brother and the first to pass away. During his lifetime, his year of birth had commonly been given as 1891 instead of the true year of 1887; as a result, obituaries reported his age at the time of his passing as 70 rather than 74.
Marx is entombed in a crypt in the Freedom Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
. Chico's younger brother Gummo
Gummo Marx
Milton "Gummo" Marx was an American vaudeville performer and theatrical agent. He was the fourth-born of the Marx Brothers. Born in New York City, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, but left acting when he was drafted into the U.S...
is in a crypt across the hall from him.
Personal
Chico Marx was married twice. His first marriage was to Betty Karp in 1917. Their union produced one daughter named Maxine (1918-2009).Chico's second marriage was to Mary De Vithas. They married in 1958, three years before his passing.
External links
- Chico plays piano in Animal Crackers
- Chico plays piano in Monkey Business
- Chico plays piano in Horse Feathers
- Chico plays piano in A Night at the Opera
- Chico plays piano in A Day at the Races
- Chico plays piano in At The Circus
- Chico plays piano in Go West
- How to play piano like Chico Marx
- Chico Marx at Marx Brothers.org
- News - The Marx Brothers
- Lydia's Marx Brothers Tribute Website