So I just got up and quit… I wanted to be on my own so I went out.” I didn’t resent it at all, but every time I walked out on the stage I felt I was cheating, because I wasn’t doing a good job. It was a very difficult time at the finish getting funny stuff for three boys, Groucho, Chico and Harpo… I felt frustrated because I couldn’t do the things that I was thinking up for them to do, and rightly so. In 1979 he gave the BBC’s Barry Norman what was to be his final interview, where he had the opportunity to give his version of the family business: “Yes, I wanted to be a comedian and there wasn’t an opportunity for me to be a comic. Frequently cast in supporting roles of the romantic lead ( Monkey Business, 1931, and Horse Feathers, 1932) or secretary ( Duck Soup, 1933) meant he always remained at a sight distance from the older trio. Yet being sidelined as the ‘little brother’ meant that Zeppo was never completely comfortable on the stage. The elder brother was impressed: “He was so good as Captain Spaulding that I would have let him play the part indefinitely, if they’d allowed me to smoke in the audience.” He also replaced Groucho for one scene (shot in the dark, when the painting is stolen during a blackout) when Groucho was ill.

Zeppo shines in Animal Crackers (1930), particularly in the scene when his character, secretary Horatio Jamison, transcribes a letter from Groucho’s Captain Spaulding, perfectly matching his older brother’s pace and timing in a two-handed exchange that’s one of the highlights of the film. He was so good that it made me get better quicker.”

Despite his teasing, Groucho was often threatened by the youngest Marx’s talents, once stating: “When I had my appendix out, Zeppo took over for me. Years spent watching his brothers perform gave Zeppo an advantage over the others: he could imitate his siblings perfectly and was often a last-minute replacement on stage, something that was needed when Gummo joined the army and he effortlessly took his place.Īlthough Groucho may have once joked “we’re twice as funny without Zeppo”, the older brothers couldn’t deny that Zeppo was an exceptional comedian and naturally the funniest. A couple also want to steal the painting, to place the man's copy in its place in order to make him a reputation as an artist.Zeppo (left) trying to get a hand in edgeways with Groucho, Chico and Harpo in the Brothers’ screen debut, The Cocoanuts (1929)īorn Herbert Manfred Marx, he was rumoured to have joined the family’s stage act at the request of their mother Minnie, who believed it would keep the young man out of trouble.

Two women conspire to steal this painting on the night it is unvailed. Chandler has chosen to unvail his newly bought Beaugard painting. Animal Crackers is the second movie released by the Marx Bros.Ī famous explorer, Captain Spaulding, returns from his expedition to Africa to find a party being thrown in his honour by Mrs Rittenhouse, a wealthy widow.

Marx brothers films in order