Harpo Marx#Early life and career

{{Infobox person

| name = Harpo Marx

| image = Harpo Marx playing the harp (cropped).jpeg

| caption = Marx {{circa}} 1926

| birth_name = Adolph Marx

| birth_date = {{birth date|1888|11|23}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1964|09|28|1888|11|23}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Comedian|actor|mime artist|harpist}}

| years_active = 1910–1964

| parents = {{ubl|Sam "Frenchie" Marx|Minnie Schönberg}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Susan Fleming|1936}}

| children = 4, including Bill Marx

| relatives = {{ubl|Groucho Marx (younger brother)|Chico Marx (older brother)|Gummo Marx (younger brother)|Zeppo Marx (younger brother)|Al Shean (maternal uncle)}}

}}

File:Monkey Business lobby card 1931.JPG (1931) with Chico (left) and Harpo (right)]]

Arthur "Harpo" Marx (born Adolph Marx;{{cite web | last1=Lankford | first1=Ronnie D. Jr. |title=The Marx Brothers Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-marx-brothers-mn0000470004/biography#:~:text=Leonard%20Marx%20was%20born%20on,23%2C%201892%2C%20and%20adapted%20the |website=AllMusic |publisher=Netaktion, Inc. |access-date=December 1, 2020}} November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was an American comedian and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Groucho and Chico, Harpo's comic style was visual, being an example of vaudeville, clown and pantomime traditions. In all of his movie appearances, he wore a curly reddish blonde wig and did not speak,{{cite book |last1=American Jewish Historical Society |title=American Jewish Desk Reference |date=October 19, 1999 |publisher=Random House Reference |location=New York, NY |isbn=0375402438 |pages=467–468 |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-marx-brothers |access-date=December 1, 2020}} instead blowing a horn{{cite book |last1=Kostenbaum |first1=Wayne |title=The Anatomy of Harpo Marx |date=February 29, 2012 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=978-0520269019 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USyOeZb7W6EC&pg=PA13}} or whistling{{cite news |title=The Silent Articulator; Harpo Marx Used Variety of Methods To Express Himself Without Dialogue |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/30/archives/the-silent-articulator-harpo-marx-used-variety-of-methods-to.html |access-date=November 25, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=September 30, 1964}} to communicate. Marx frequently employed props{{cite web |last1=Dove |first1=Steve |title=HARPO MARX'S SUITCASE FROM THE ACADEMY COLLECTIONS |url=https://oscar.go.com/news/uncategorized/140211-academy-collection-harpo-marx-suitcase |website=ABC Oscars |publisher=ABC |access-date=December 1, 2020}} such as a horn cane constructed from a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn.{{cite web |title=The Ephemera: Items |url=https://www.harposplace.com/Ephemera/EphemItem2.php |website=Harpo's Place |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=February 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203214141/http://harposplace.com/Ephemera/EphemItem2.php |url-status=dead }}

Early life

Harpo was born on November 23, 1888, in Manhattan, New York City.{{cite web |title=Marx Brothers |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Marx-Brothers |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=December 1, 2020}}{{cite web |title=The Marx Brothers: Passports |url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GF_X5q0eY90/SgDsUUEvlhI/AAAAAAAAA8g/pFcpgSUggSM/s1600/image.x.jpeg |website=THE MARX BROTHERS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE GREATEST COMEDY TEAM OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY |access-date=January 1, 2021}} He grew up in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill (known at the time as Yorkville){{cite news |title=Harpo Marx, the Silent Comedian, Is Dead at 70; Blond-Wigged, Horn-Tooting Star Scored on Stage and in Films With Brothers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/29/archives/harpo-marx-the-silent-comedian-is-dead-at-70-blondwigged.html |access-date=November 25, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=September 29, 1964}} on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue.{{cite news |last1=Mooney |first1=Jake |title=Trying to Save a Link to a Legend and an Era |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/thecity/22marx.html |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=July 22, 2008}} The turn-of-the-century tenement that Harpo later called "the first real home I can remember" was situated in a neighborhood populated with European immigrants,{{cite web |last1=Ott |first1=Tim |title=The Marx Brothers: Inside the Comedians' Early Life and Travels |url=https://www.biography.com/news/marx-brothers-beginnings |website=Biography |date=June 12, 2020 |publisher=A&E Television Networks LLC. |access-date=January 1, 2021}} mostly artisans. The neighborhood hosted many historic homes and other buildings,{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Christopher |title=Streetscapes/East 93rd Street; From Lex to Third, With Groucho, Chico and Harpo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/realestate/streetscapes-east-93rd-street-from-lex-to-third-with-groucho-chico-and-harpo.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=January 11, 2004}} such as the William Goadby Loew House (now the Spence School),{{cite web |title=The Spence School - A Private K-12 All-Girls' School in Manhattan |url=https://www.spenceschool.org/ |website=The Spence School |access-date=January 1, 2021}} the Congregation Shaare Zedek,{{cite web |title=Congregation Shaare Zedek |url=http://www.sznyc.org |website=Congregation Shaare Zedek |access-date=January 1, 2021}} and the Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt house.{{cite web |title=Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt House |url=http://nyc-landmarks.com/mrs_graham_fair_vanderbilt_house.html |website=NYC Landmarks |publisher=New York Social Diary |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

His parents were Sam Marx{{cite book |last1=Louvish |first1=Simon |title=Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers : Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, with Added Gummo |date=June 8, 2000 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=0312252927 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0hqCQgAACAAJ |access-date=January 1, 2021}} (known by his nickname "Frenchie"/"Frenchy") and his wife, Minnie Schoenberg Marx,{{cite news |last1=Mordden |first1=Ethan |title=The Stage Mom Behind the Marx Brothers |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-stage-mom-behind-the-marx-brothers-1476474428 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=October 14, 2016 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=December 1, 2020}} sister of comedian and vaudeville performer Al Shean. Marx's family was Jewish. His mother was from East Frisia, Germany,{{cite news |last1=Sansom |first1=Ian |title=Great dynasties of the world: The Marx Brothers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/04/great-dynasties-marx-brothers |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |date=July 4, 2011}} and his father, a tailor,{{cite news| title=Mrs. Minnie Marx. Mother of Four Marx Brothers, Musical Comedy Stars, Dies| newspaper=The New York Times| url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/09/16/95997162.html?pageNumber=21| date=September 16, 1929| page=21| access-date=August 9, 2016| url-access=subscription}}{{AllMusic | class= album | id= mw0000206727 | title= Review of An Evening with Groucho | first= Bruce | last= Eder| access-date= January 1, 2021}} was from Alsace, which was part of the Second French Empire at the time the elder Marx was born and for most of his childhood.{{cite web |last1=Kogan |first1=Pierre |title=La famille paternelle des Marx Brothers |url=http://judaisme.sdv.fr/perso/marxbr/pict/releve.gif |website=Judaisme.sdv.fr|language=fr|trans-title=The Paternal Family of the Marx Brothers |publisher=ASIJA |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

File:Harpo Marx playing the harp.jpeg

Harpo received little formal education and dropped out of New York Public School 86 at age eight (mainly due to bullying) during his second attempt to pass the second grade. He began to work, gaining employment in numerous odd jobs alongside his older brother Chico to contribute to the family income, including selling newspapers, working in a butcher shop, and as an office errand boy.Marx 1961, pp. 17–19

Career

= On stage =

File:1930 - Strand Theater Ad - 21 Sep MC - Allentown PA.jpg (1930) with Lillian Roth paragraph]]

In January 1910, Harpo joined two of his younger brothers, Julius (later "Groucho") and Milton (later "Gummo"), to form "The Three Nightingales",{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Mark |title=The Marx Brothers: A Resource Guide |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/marxbros/index.html |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=December 1, 2020}} which would later be renamed "The Marx Brothers". Multiple unverified stories attempt to explain Harpo's evolution as the "silent" character in the brothers' act. In his memoir, Groucho wrote that Harpo simply was not very good at memorizing dialogue, and thus was ideal to portray the archetypal vaudeville role of the "dunce who couldn't speak."Marx, Groucho (1959). Groucho And Me. Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80666-7}}, p. 46.

Differing stories exist regarding the origin of the Harpo stage name. The stories agree that the pseudonym originated during a card game at which Art Fisher, the dealer that night, referred to Marx as "Harpo" because he played the harp.{{cite book| last=Marx| first=Harpo| author2=Rowland Barber| title=Harpo Speaks!| publisher=Limelight Editions| year=1988| location=New York| isbn=978-0879100360| url=https://archive.org/details/harpospeaks00marx}}Mitchell 1996, p. 169 The time and place of the game are disputed, however. In his autobiography Harpo Speaks!, Harpo claims that it took place in Rockford, Illinois. The most common version of the story places it at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg, Illinois. However, this version of events is disputed, at least partially because the Orpheum Theatre was not constructed until late 1916, whereas Harpo later remembered acquiring the name in 1914. In addition, Fisher is believed to have left vaudeville in 1912. Some sources give an earlier date for its origin and suggest the game may have instead taken place at the Galesburg Auditorium Theatre or the same town's Gaiety Theatre.{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Tom |title=Of Groucho and Galesburg |url=https://www.galesburg.com/article/20090314/NEWS/303149941 |website=The Register-Mail |publisher=Illinois Press Association |access-date=December 31, 2020}}

Harpo learned how to hold the harp by emulating a harp-playing angel in a picture he saw in a five-and-dime. No one in town knew how to play the harp, so Harpo tuned it as best he could, starting with one basic note and tuning it from there. He began learning to play the instrument without lessons. Three years later, he found out he had tuned it incorrectly,{{cite news |last1=Chilton |first1=Martin |title=Harpo Marx: 10 Things You Might not Know |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/harpo-marx-10-things-you-might-not-know/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/harpo-marx-10-things-you-might-not-know/ |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access= subscription |url-status=live |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=The Telegraph Limited |date=January 4, 2016}}{{cbignore}} but that his method placed much less tension on the strings.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}} Despite Harpo's musical talent, he never learned to read or write music. Although he paid top musicians handsome fees to teach him "proper" harp-playing technique,{{cite magazine |last1=Woollcott |first1=Alexander |title= The Education of Harpo Marx |url= https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1926/03/harpo-marx-theater-music |access-date= December 1, 2020 |magazine= Vanity Fair |agency=Hive |date=March 1926}} he maintained his unique style his entire life (his "teachers," fascinated by his technique, spent their sessions watching and listening as Marx performed). The major exception was Mildred Dilling, the professional harpist who finally taught Harpo proper harp technique and collaborated with him regularly when he had difficulty composing.{{cite news| title=Mildred Dilling, 88, a Harpist, Performed for 5 Presidents| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/03/obituaries/mildred-dilling-88-a-harpist-performed-for-5-presidents.html| access-date=January 23, 2018| newspaper=The New York Times| date=January 3, 1983}} Upon his death in 1964, one of Harpo's harps was donated to the State of Israel, and eventually found a home in an Israeli orchestra.{{cite web |title=Harpo's Harp in the Holy Land |url=https://www.ifcj.org/news/stand-for-israel/harpo-s-harp-in-the-holy-land-2/ |website=International Fellowship of Christians and Jews |date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Chico found Harpo some of his first jobs. He and Chico were co-workers, playing piano to accompany silent films. Unlike Chico, Harpo could play only two songs on the piano, "Waltz Me Around Again, Willie" and "Love Me and the World Is Mine",{{cite magazine |last1=Woollcott |first1= Alexander |title=Alexander Woollcott on the Harp of Harpo Marx |url= https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1926/03/harpo-marx-theater-music |access-date=December 31, 2020 |magazine= Vanity Fair |date=March 1926}} but he adapted this small repertoire in different tempos to suit the action on the screen. He was also seen playing a portion of Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C# minor" in A Day at the Races,{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Craig |title= Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings |date=August 7, 2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1451684513 |page=169 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jVZoAAAAQBAJ&q=A+Day+at+the+Races&pg=PA169 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} and played piano in A Night at the Opera.{{cite web |last1= Tobias |first1=Scott |title=A Night At The Opera saved the Marx Brothers' career while spoiling the act |url= https://thedissolve.com/features/departures/295-a-night-at-the-opera-saved-the-marx-brothers-caree/ |website=The Dissolve |publisher=Pitchfork Media, Inc. |access-date=December 31, 2020}} Ultimately, he relinquished the piano to Chico in favor of his trademark harp, upon which he performed Nacio Herb Brown's 1935 song "Alone", which was sung in the film by Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones.{{cite web |title=A Night at the Opera (1935) - Soundtracks |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026778/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd |website= IMDb |publisher=Amazon |access-date=December 31, 2020}}

Harpo had changed his name from "Adolph", a name he disliked (as a child, he was routinely called "Ahdie" instead), to "Arthur" by 1911.{{cite news |last1=Huggler |first1=Justin |title=Will it ever be OK to call your child Adolf? |url= https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/will-it-ever-be-ok-to-call-your-child-adolf-37164083.html |access-date=December 2, 2020 |work=The Sunday Independent |date=July 29, 2018}} The similarity to the name of prominent Chicago show business attorney Adolph Marks may have further encouraged the change.{{cite book| last=Bader| first=Robert S.| title=Four of the Three Musketeers| publisher=Northwestern University Press| year=2016| location=Evanston, IL| page=147 |isbn=978-0-8101-3416-4}} Urban legends stating that the name change came about during World War I due to anti-German sentiment in the US, or during World War II because of the stigma that Adolf Hitler imposed on the name, are groundless.{{cite web |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=HOW THE MARX BROTHERS GOT THEIR NICKNAMES |url=https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/how-the-marx-brothers-got-their-nicknames/ |website=Today I Found Out |date=October 2, 2012 |access-date=December 31, 2020}}

= On film =

His first screen appearance was in the film Humor Risk (1921), with his brothers, although according to Groucho it was screened only once and then lost.{{cite web |last1=Marx |first1=Bill |title=Harpo Marx Filmography |url=https://www.harposplace.com/Character/CharacterFilm.php |website=Harpo's Place |access-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-date=February 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203184159/http://harposplace.com/Character/CharacterFilm.php |url-status=dead }} Four years later, Harpo appeared without his brothers as the "Village Peter Pan" in Too Many Kisses{{cite web |title=TOO MANY KISSES: Screen Debut of Harpo Marx |url=https://filmpreservationsociety.org/posts/too-many-kisses |website=Film Preservation Society |date=October 2, 2020 |access-date=December 2, 2020}} which predated the brothers' first collaborative film, The Cocoanuts,{{cite web |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=The Cocoanuts: The Marx Brothers' First Film |url=https://www.neatorama.com/2015/09/10/The-Cocoanuts-The-Marx-Brothers-First-Film/ |website=Neatorama |date=September 10, 2015 |access-date=January 1, 2021}} by four years.{{cite web |title=Harpo Marx |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0555617/?ref_=tt_cl_t9 |website=IMDb |publisher=Amazon |access-date=January 1, 2021}} Not only is The Cocoanuts historical by virtue of being the first of the Marx's many talkies, but also for being the first film to feature an overhead camera shot, at least five years before Busby Berkeley's renowned{{cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Martin |title=Showstoppers: Busby Berkeley and the Tradition of Spectacle |date=August 5, 1993 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=0231080549 |page=129 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wphbAy_y7IMC&pg=PA129 |access-date=January 1, 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Belton |first1=John |title=Movies & Mass Culture |series=Rutgers Depth of Field |date=October 1, 1995 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, NJ |isbn=0813522285 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGY6Xdwwd4gC&pg=PA85 |access-date=January 1, 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Jablonski |first1=Edward |title=Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues |date=September 24, 1998 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |location=Lebanon, NH |isbn=1555533663 |page=104 |edition=New |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsgCHeS69q8C&pg=PA104 |access-date=December 31, 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Broadus |first1=Will |title=Those Dancing Feet |url=https://www.salemnews.com/news/lifestyles/those-dancing-feet/article_8a9a4257-df62-52c4-a1f0-865bc7dd6f62.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The Salem News |agency=Boston Media Group |publisher=Salem News |date=November 2, 2017}} first use of the technique in his 1936 film Lullaby of Broadway to film a kaleidoscopic women's dance routine.{{cite web |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=The Cocoanuts |url=https://www.eddiedeezen.com/2009/01/the-cocoanuts.html |website=The Official Eddie Deezen Website |access-date=December 31, 2020}} In Too Many Kisses, Harpo spoke the only line he would ever speak on-camera in a film: "You sure you can't move?"{{Cite web| url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/watching/film/Too_Many_Kisses.htm| title=Too Many Kisses (1925)| website=Marx-brothers.org| access-date=July 26, 2018}} (said to the film's tied-up hero before punching him). Fittingly, it was a silent film, and the audience saw only his lips move and the line on a title card.{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Susan |title=Retro : Remarxable : DISNEY DOCUMENTARY OFFERS SOME MARX BROTHERS RARITIES |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-24-tv-49077-story.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |newspaper=LA Times |agency=Los Angeles Times |date=October 24, 1993}}

Harpo was often cast as Chico's eccentric partner-in-crime, whom he would often help by playing charades to tell of Groucho's problem, and/or annoy by giving Chico his leg,{{cite web |last1=Ess |first1=Ramsey |title=Examining the Marx Brothers' Television Appearances |url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/08/examining-the-marx-brothers-television-appearances.html |website=Vulture |date=August 15, 2014 |publisher=NY Magazine |access-date=November 25, 2020}} as an alternative to a handshake or simply to rest the leg.

File:Marx Brothers 1931.jpg

Harpo became known for prop-laden sight gags,{{cite web |title=Son of Harpo Speaks |url=https://iymoney.com/bill-marx/ |website=It's Your Money and Your Life Radio Show |date=January 2, 2016 |publisher=Richard J. Muscio |access-date=January 1, 2021}}{{cite web |last1=NMAH |title=The Marx Brothers: The "comic combustion" celebrates 100 years |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2014/05/the-marx-brothers-the-comic-combustion-celebrates-100-years.html |website=National Museum of American History |date=May 28, 2014 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=January 1, 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Flaig |first1=Paul |title=Lacan's Harpo |journal=Cinema Journal |date=Summer 2011 |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=98–116 |doi=10.1353/cj.2011.0046 |jstor=41240737 |s2cid=144967809 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41240737 |access-date=January 1, 2021}} in particular the seemingly infinite number of odd things stored in his topcoat's oversized pockets.{{cite web |last1=Marx |first1=Bill |title=The official Harpo Marx family online collection |url=https://www.harposplace.com/ |website=Harpo's Place |access-date=November 25, 2020}} In the film Horse Feathers (1932), Groucho, referring to an impossible situation, tells Harpo that he cannot "burn the candle at both ends". Harpo immediately produces from within his coat pocket a lit candle burning at both ends.{{cite news |last1=Wood |first1=Barry |title=Wood on Words: Column literally about figures of speech |url=https://sharon.wickedlocal.com/x1018068009/Wood-on-Words-Column-literally-about-figures-of-speech |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801133140/https://sharon.wickedlocal.com/x1018068009/Wood-on-Words-Column-literally-about-figures-of-speech |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 1, 2021 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=Wicked Local |agency=Times Advocate |date=April 27, 2012 }} In the same film, a homeless man on the street asks Harpo for money for a cup of coffee, and he subsequently produces a steaming cup, complete with saucer, from inside his coat.{{cite magazine |last1=Liebenson |first1=Donald |title=If There's a Marx Brothers Revival Coming, It Will Begin This Weekend |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/marx-brothers-horse-feathers |access-date=January 1, 2021 |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=April 29, 2016}} Also in Horse Feathers, he has a fish and a sword, and when he wants to go to his speakeasy, he stabs the fish in its mouth with his sword to give the password, "Swordfish".{{cite web |last1=Horvat |first1=Robert |title=Cinemas Greatest Scenes: "I think I got it. Is it swordfish?" Groucho and Chico Marx's password scene |url=https://rear-view-mirror.com/2020/10/01/cinemas-greatest-scenes-i-think-i-got-it-is-it-swordfish-groucho-and-chico-marxs-password-scene/ |website=Rearview Mirror |date=October 2020 |access-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021020117/https://rear-view-mirror.com/2020/10/01/cinemas-greatest-scenes-i-think-i-got-it-is-it-swordfish-groucho-and-chico-marxs-password-scene/ |url-status=dead }} In Duck Soup, he produces a lit blowtorch to light a cigar.{{cite web |last1=Osborne |first1=Graham |title=Humor (Plus) Risk |url=https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2017/08/08/humor-plus-risk/ |website=Bright Wall/Dark Room |date=August 8, 2017 |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

Harpo often used facial expressions and mime{{cite web | last1=Kiss | first1=Stephen Sr. |title=Who is Harpo Marx? |url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/06/18/who-is-harpo-marx |website=New York Public Library |access-date=December 1, 2020}} to get his point across instead of speaking. One of his facial expressions, which he used in every Marx Brothers film and stage play, beginning with Fun in Hi Skule, was known as "the Gookie".{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Harpo Marx on the origin of the "Gookie" |url=https://boingboing.net/2008/06/28/harpo-marx-on-the-or.html |website=BoingBoing |date=June 28, 2008 |publisher=Jason Weisberger |access-date=January 1, 2021}} Harpo created it by mimicking the expression of Mr. Gehrke, a New York tobacconist who would make a similar face while concentrating on rolling cigars.{{cite book| last=Mitchell| first=Glenn| title=The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e28dAQAAIAAJ&q=gehrke| publisher=Reynolds & Hearn| year=2003| location=London| page=123| isbn=978-1903111499| url-access=subscription}}

Harpo further distinguished his character by wearing a "fright wig".{{cite news |last1=Willistean |first1=Paul |title=PAIR EVOKE THE SPIRIT OF THE MARX BROTHERS CONCERT REVIEW |url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1989-03-31-2670647-story.html |access-date=December 31, 2020 |work=The Morning Call |date=March 31, 1989}} Early in his career, it was dyed pink, as evidenced by color film posters and by allusions to it in films, with character names such as "Pinky" in Duck Soup. This wig sometimes appeared blond on-screen due to black-and-white film stock. In some films, however, Harpo actually wore a blonde wig.{{cite web |last1=Bredenbeck |first1=Hanna |title=Who has the best hair in our Entertainment Collection? |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/de/node/47301 |website=National Museum of American History |date=April 18, 2018 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225053033/https://americanhistory.si.edu/de/node/47301 |url-status=dead }} Over time, he darkened the pink to more of a reddish color,{{cite web |last1=Giddins |first1=Gary |title=There Ain't No Sanity Clause |url=https://movies2.nytimes.com/books/00/06/18/reviews/000618.18giddent.html |website=Books |publisher=NY Times |access-date=November 25, 2020}} which films again alluded to with character names, such as the name of his character in A Night in Casablanca, "Rusty".{{cite web |title=A Night in Casablanca (1946) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038777/?ref_=tt_ch |website=IMDb |date = October 12, 1946|publisher=Amazon |access-date=December 31, 2020}}

His non-speaking in his early films was occasionally referred to by the other Marx Brothers, who were careful to imply that his character's not speaking was a choice rather than a disability. In reality, the decision to remain silent began when Harpo received a negative review, part of which suggested that Harpo's portrayal of a fool was convincing only until he spoke. Soon after, the Brothers' uncle shared with Harpo a script he had written for them. Harpo was dismayed to find he had just three lines and said to his uncle, "Well, maybe I won't talk at all!" This was meant sarcastically, but his uncle genuinely liked the idea.{{cite news |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=The Silent Marx Brother |url=https://www.neatorama.com/2012/10/02/The-Silent-Marx-Brother/ |newspaper=Neatorama |access-date=December 31, 2020}} His brothers would make joking reference to this part of his act. For example, in Animal Crackers, his character was ironically dubbed "The Professor".{{cite web |title=Restored 'Animal Crackers' opens tonight G-rated film includes censored footage |url=https://romesentinel.com/stories/restored-animal-crackers-opens-tonight-g-rated-film-includes-censored-footage,28151 |website=Rome Sentinel |date=September 15, 2016 |publisher=Rome Sentinel Co. |access-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303205208/https://romesentinel.com/stories/restored-animal-crackers-opens-tonight-g-rated-film-includes-censored-footage,28151 |url-status=dead }} In The Cocoanuts, this exchange occurs:{{cite web |last1=Timphus |first1=Stefan |title=The Cocoanuts - Why A Duck? - The Marx Brothers |url=https://www.marx-brothers.org/whyaduck/info/movies/scenes/whyaduck.htm |website=Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, Zeppo - The Marx Brothers |access-date=November 25, 2020}}

:{{dialogue

|g=Groucho

|c=Chico

|g|Who is this?

|c|Atsa my partner, but he no speak

|g|Oh, that's your silent partner!

}}

In later films, Harpo was repeatedly put in situations where he attempted to convey a vital message by whistling and pantomime, reinforcing the idea that his character was unable to speak.

The Marxes' film At the Circus (1939) contains a unique scene where Harpo is heard saying "A-choo!" twice, as he sneezes.{{cite web |last1=Costello |first1=Paul |title=At The Circus |url=http://staticmass.net/early-films-and-cinema/at-the-circus-movie-1939-review/ |website=Static Mass Emporium |access-date=November 25, 2020}}

= Tour in the Soviet Union =

File:Harpo and Chico Marx General Electric Theater 1959.JPG

File:Harpo Marx Silent Panic DuPont Show 1960.JPG

In 1933, following U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union, Harpo spent six weeks in Moscow as a performer and goodwill ambassador. His tour was a huge success, and the show ran for six weeks. Harpo's name was transliterated into Russian, using the Cyrillic alphabet, as "ХАРПО МАРКС," which is how he was billed during his Soviet Union appearances. Harpo, having no knowledge of Russian, pronounced it as "Exapno Mapcase".{{cite web |last1=Grandey |first1=Bill |title=The brightest croquet stars of 20th century America |url=http://www.croquetworld.com/News/stars.asp |website=Croquet World Magazine |access-date=November 25, 2020}} At that time, Harpo and the Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov became friends.{{cite podcast |url=https://beta.prx.org/stories/259528|title=Harpo and Susan Marx - An American Love Story|website=PRX.org|publisher=PRX|host=Love In America|date=November 12, 2018|access-date=December 31, 2020}}

During this time he served as a secret courier,{{cite web |last1=Bureau of Diplomatic Security |title=None Swifter Than These: 100 Years of the Diplomatic Courier Service |url=https://www.state.gov/none-swifter-than-these-100-years-of-the-diplomatic-courier-service/dcs |website=US Department of State |access-date=November 25, 2020}} delivering communiques to and from the US embassy in Moscow at the request of Ambassador William Christian Bullitt Jr.,{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Karen |title=5 Badass Celebrities Who Were Also Secretly Spies |url=https://www.themodernrogue.com/articles/2020/3/2/5-badass-celebrities-who-were-also-secretly-spies |access-date=December 31, 2020 |work=The Modern Rogue |date=March 2, 2020}} smuggling the messages in and out of the Soviet Union by taping a sealed envelope to his leg beneath his trousers.{{cite book |last1=Fromkin |first1=David |title=In The Time Of The Americans |date=May 15, 1996 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York, NY |isbn=0394589017 }}{{cite news |last1=Harlow |first1=John |title=Harpo Marx smuggled Stalin's secrets in his socks |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/harpo-marx-smuggled-stalins-secrets-in-his-socks-tp9hsrvtlsz |access-date=December 31, 2020 |work=The Times |agency=Times Newspapers, Ltd. |date=December 22, 2002}} Marx recounted his relief at his voyage's end: "I pulled up my pants, ripped off the tape, unwound the straps, handed over the dispatches from Ambassador Bullitt, and gave my leg its first scratch in ten days."Marx 1961, p. 336.

In other media

In 1936, he rode an ostrich on a team of polo-playing film stars who appeared as caricatures in the Walt Disney Production's Mickey's Polo Team, alongside Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy.{{cite web |title=Mickey's Polo Team is Released |url=https://d23.com/this-day/mickeys-polo-team-is-released/ |website=Walt Disney Archives |date=January 4, 1936 |publisher=Disney |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Walt Disney would later feature Harpo (with Groucho and Chico) as one of King Cole's "Fiddlers Three" in the Silly Symphony Mother Goose Goes Hollywood.{{cite web |last1=Reeves |first1=Jon |title=Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938) - Plot Summary |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030465/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl |website=IMDb |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Harpo was also caricatured in Fleischer Studios' Popeye cartoon Sock-A-Bye Baby (1934), in which Harpo's harp playing awakens Popeye's baby {{cite web |last1=Reeves |first1=Jon |title=Sock-a-Bye, Baby (1934) - Plot Summary |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025807/plotsummary |website=IMDb |access-date=December 1, 2020}} resulting in Popeye punching Marx, apparently fatally (as suggested when Harpo develops a halo and ascends to the heavens). Friz Freleng's 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon The Coo-Coo Nut Grove caricatured Harpo, one of multiple celebrities appearing as an animal, as a bird with a red beak who chases a "woman" who is later revealed to be Groucho.{{cite web |title=The Coocoo Nut Grove (1935) |url=https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/mrcvault/videographies/coocoo-nut-grove-1935 |website=Berkeley Library |publisher=University of California |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Harpo also took an interest in painting. Some of his works can be seen in his autobiography, in which he recalls having tried to paint a nude female model, but that he had frozen up because he simply did not know how to paint properly. The model, pitying Marx, taught him some basic brush strokes. Eventually, the original project was abandoned in lieu of a painting, by the model herself, of a fully-clothed Harpo.Marx 1961, pp. 204–205. Marx himself was the subject of a sketch by Salvador Dalí,{{cite web|title=Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object: Harpo Marx|url=http://philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/82907.html|website=Philadelphia Museum of Art|access-date=December 1, 2020}} who was Harpo's friend and wrote the screenplay Giraffes on Horseback Salad.{{cite web |last1=Breslow |first1=Peter |title=Salvador Dalí Meets The Marx Brothers In 'Giraffes On Horseback Salad' |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/04/07/710032236/salvador-dal-meets-the-marx-brothers-in-giraffes-on-horseback-salad |website=NPR |date=April 7, 2019 |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Harpo recorded an album of harp music for RCA Victor (Harp by Harpo, 1952) and two for Mercury Records (Harpo in Hi-Fi, 1957; Harpo at Work, 1958).{{cite web |title=Harpo Marx Discography |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/281711-Harpo-Marx |website=Discogs |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Harpo made television appearances through the 1950s and 60s, including a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy, in which he and Lucille Ball re-enacted the famous mirror scene from Duck Soup.{{IMDb title|id=0609287|title=I Love Lucy: Lucy and Harpo Marx}} Both Marx and Ball, clad in his typical clothes, portray Harpo.{{cite web |title=10 of the best "I love Lucy" episodes |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/best-i-love-lucy-episodes/7/ |website=CBS News |date=October 14, 2016 |publisher=CBS Interactive |access-date=December 31, 2020}} He also appeared on NBC's The Martha Raye Show circa 1950.{{cite web |title=The Martha Raye Show |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actress-martha-raye-poses-with-harpo-marx-for-the-the-news-photo/545129793 |website=Getty Images |date=March 26, 2015 |publisher=Getty |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Harpo and Chico appeared in the May 8, 1959, episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Incredible Jewelry Robbery" entirely in pantomime.{{cite web |title=General Electric Theater Season 7 Episode 23 The Incredible Jewel Robbery |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/general-electric-theater/the-incredible-jewel-robbery-487891/ |website=TV.com |publisher=Red Ventures Company |access-date=December 1, 2020 |archive-date=November 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102151932/http://www.tv.com/shows/general-electric-theater/the-incredible-jewel-robbery-487891/ |url-status=dead }} The episode concluded with a brief surprise appearance by Groucho. In 1960, Marx appeared in his first dramatic role, in an episode of The DuPont Show with June Allyson titled "A Silent Panic".{{cite web |title=A Silent Panic |url=https://digital.hagley.org/FILM-1995300-FC348 |website=Hagley Digital Archives |publisher=Hagley Museum and Library |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Harpo plays a deaf-mute who witnesses a gangland murder while working as a "mechanical man" in a department store window. In 1961, to publicize his autobiography Harpo Speaks!, he appeared on The Today Show,{{cite book |title=Inside the NBC vault : Today show interviews with Harpo Marx, 1961, Groucho Marx, 1963, William Marx, 1985 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57054236 |via=WorldCat |year=1988 |publisher=OCLC |isbn=9780573670503 |oclc=57054236 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Play Your Hunch,{{cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Merv |title=Merv: Making the Good Life Last |date=October 30, 2007 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0743236829 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf-upKBQGrQC&q=harpo+marx+play+your+hunch&pg=PA40 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Candid Camera,{{cite journal |title=Commercials: How Many? How Long? How Often? |journal=TV Guide |date=December 17, 1960 |volume=Bonanza |issue=Checkmate }} I've Got a Secret,{{cite web |title=I've Got A Secret Episode dated 33 May 1961 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609758/ |website=IMDb |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Here's Hollywood, Art Linkletter's House Party,{{cite web |title=Art Linkletter's House Party Season 5 Episode 190 May 24, 1957 |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/art-linkletters-house-party/may-24-1957-2540585/ |website=TV.com |publisher=Red Ventures Company |access-date=December 1, 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Groucho's You Bet Your Life,{{cite web |title=You Bet Your Life |url=https://www.sparkmuseum.org/you-bet-your-life/ |website=Spark Museum of Electrical Invention |publisher=SPARK Museum |access-date=December 1, 2020 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624180144/https://www.sparkmuseum.org/you-bet-your-life/ |url-status=dead }} The Ed Sullivan Show.{{cite web |title=Sullivan & Marx on "The Ed Sullivan Show" |url=https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/american-television-personality-ed-sullivan-hugs-comedian-news-photo/71006319?language=fr |website=Getty Images | date=May 22, 2006 |publisher=Getty |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

In November 1961, he guest-starred with Carol Burnett in an installment of The DuPont Show of the Week titled "The Wonderful World of Toys".{{cite web |title=DUPONT SHOW OF THE WEEK: ROBERT MONTGOMERY PRESENTS: THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF TOYS {CAROL BURNETT, HARPO MARX, EDIE ADAMS, MERV GRIFFIN, AND OTHERS} (TV) |url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=harpo+marx&p=1&item=B:26275 |website=The Paley Center for Media |publisher=The Paley Center |access-date=December 1, 2020}} The show was filmed in Central Park{{cite web |title="The Dupont Show of the Week" The Wonderful World of Toys |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0566784/ |website=IMDb |date=November 12, 1961 |publisher=Amazon |access-date=December 31, 2020}} and featured Marx playing "Autumn Leaves" on the harp.{{cite web |title=The Dupont Show of the Week: Season 1, Episode 9: The Wonderful World of Toys |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/the-dupont-show-of-the-week/the-wonderful-world-of-toys-219616/ |website=TV.com |publisher=Red Ventures |access-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-date=January 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116001808/http://www.tv.com/shows/the-dupont-show-of-the-week/the-wonderful-world-of-toys-219616/ |url-status=dead }} Other stars appearing in the episode included Eva Gabor, Audrey Meadows, Mitch Miller and Milton Berle. A visit to the set inspired poet Robert Lowell to pen his poem Harpo Marx.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Late 1962 brought Harpo's final pair of television appearances, which aired within a month of each other. He portrayed a guardian angel on the September 25 episode of CBS's The Red Skelton Hour.{{cite web |title=RED SKELTON HOUR, THE (HARPO MARX, MAHALIA JACKSON, VIRGINIA GREY, DYAN CANNON) (TV) |url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=cbs+television+w..&p=81&item=T82:0232 |website=The Paley Center for Media |publisher=The Paley Center |access-date=December 1, 2020}} His final role, opposite show star Fess Parker, was as himself on the October 20 episode, "Musicale", of ABC's sitcom Mr. Smith Goes to Washington{{cite web |last1=Voger |first1=Mark |title='Marx Brothers TV Collection' on DVD |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2014/08/marx_brothers.html |website=NJ.com |date=August 15, 2014 |publisher=Advance Local Media LLC |access-date=December 1, 2020}} (based on Frank Capra's film of the same name).{{cite news| last=Hickey| first=Matthew| title=TV's Silent Panic: Harpo Marx & the Golden Age of Television| magazine=Filmfax| pages=64–69| date=May–June 1996}}

Personal life

Image:Harpo & kids.jpg

Harpo's September 28, 1936, marriage to actress Susan Fleming became public knowledge the next month due to a congratulatory telegram sent by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.{{cite news| title=Harpo Marx Weds - Marriage to Susan Fleming Is Revealed In Wire to Roosevelt| url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/05/93531576.html?pageNumber=34| access-date=August 15, 2016| newspaper=The New York Times| agency=Associated Press| date=November 5, 1936| page=34}} Harpo's marriage, like Gummo's, was lifelong{{cite news |last1=Oliver |first1=Myrna |title=Susan F. Marx, 94; Widow of Comedian Harpo Marx |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-27-me-marx27-story.html |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 12, 2002}} (Groucho was divorced three times,{{cite web |last1=Markel |first1=Howard |title=How Groucho Marx Fell Prey to Elder Abuse |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-groucho-marx-fell-prey-to-elder-abuse |website=PBS NewsHour |date=August 19, 2019 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Zeppo twice,{{cite news |last1=Schudel |first1=Matt |title=Barbara was still married to Zeppo Marx when Frank Sinatra charmed her into bed |url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/celebrity/barbara-was-still-married-to-zeppo-marx-when-frank-sinatra-charmed-her-into-bed |website=National Post |date=July 26, 2017 |publisher=Washington Post |access-date=December 1, 2020}}{{cite news |title=Divorce Granted To Zeppo's Wife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26507881/divorce-granted-to-zeppos-wife/ |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=Daily News |publisher=Associated Press |date=May 19, 1954}} and Chico once{{cite news|last1=Fraser|first1=C. Gerald|title=Zeppo Marx Dies on Coast at 78 Last Survivor of Comedy Team|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/01/archives/zeppo-marx-dies-on-coast-at-78-last-survivor-of-comedy-team-tired.html|access-date=December 1, 2020|work=The New York Times |agency=United Press International|date=December 1, 1979}}). The couple adopted four children: Bill, Alex, Jimmy, and Minnie.{{cite news |last1=Annarino |first1=John |title=Harpo's son found early success in music |url=https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/harpos-son-found-early-success-in-music/ |access-date=December 1, 2020 |work=The Beacon |publisher=The Beacon Newspapers}} When he was asked by George Burns in 1948 how many children he planned to adopt, he answered, "I'd like to adopt as many children as I have windows in my house. So when I leave for work, I want a kid in every window, waving goodbye."{{cite web |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=HARPO MARX AND HIS HABIT OF SHEDDING HIS CLOTHING AT RANDOM TIMES |url=http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/harpo-marx-habit-shedding-clothing-random-times/ |website=Today I Found Out |date=October 21, 2014 |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

File:Algonquin Round Table.gif, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott]]

Harpo was good friends with theater critic Alexander Woollcott,{{cite web |last1=Stuckey-French |first1=Ned |title=Alexander Woollcott and Harpo Marx: A Love Story |url=https://longreads.com/2014/04/30/the-odd-couple-alexander-woollcott-and-harpo-our-longreads-member-pick/ |website=Longreads |date=April 30, 2014 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} alongside whom he became a regular member of the Algonquin Round Table.{{cite web |title=Algonquin Round Table |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Algonquin-Round-Table |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=December 1, 2020}} He once said his main contribution was to be the audience for the quips of other members. In their play The Man Who Came to Dinner, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart based the character of "Banjo" on Harpo.{{cite web |title=From the Dramaturgs of THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER |url=https://theatre.arizona.edu/dramaturgy/aboutthemanwhocametodinner/ |website=Arizona Repertory Theater |publisher=College of Fine Arts |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Harpo later played the role in Los Angeles{{cite news |last1=McCulloh |first1=T.H. |title="Dinner" is Almost Ready in Huntington |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-14-ca-38004-story.html |access-date=December 1, 2020 |newspaper=LA Times |publisher=Los Angeles Times |date=March 14, 1997}} opposite Woollcott, himself the inspiration for the character of Sheridan Whiteside.{{cite news| last=Batistick| first=Mike| title=The Man Who Came to Bubby's: Nathan Lane Takes on Critics| url=https://observer.com/2000/07/the-man-who-came-to-bubbys-nathan-lane-takes-on-critics/| newspaper=The New York Observer| date=July 24, 2000| access-date=April 10, 2020}}

File:Marx Brothers 1948.jpg in 1948]]

In 1961, Harpo published his autobiography, Harpo Speaks! Because he did not speak in any of his film appearances, many moviegoers believed he actually was mute. In fact, radio and TV news recordings of his voice can be found on the Internet,{{cite web |title=Harpo Marx Speaks |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19prL2ue4pk | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522100253/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19prL2ue4pk| archive-date=May 22, 2014 | url-status=dead|website=Youtube |access-date=December 1, 2020}} in documentaries,{{cite web |last1=Nastasi |first1=Alison |title=Why Harpo Marx Never Spoke, Plus: Here's What His Voice Actually Sounded Like |url=https://www.imdb.com/news/ni54262607 |website=Movies.Com |publisher=IMDb}} and on bonus materials of Marx Brothers DVDs.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} A reporter who interviewed him in the early 1930s wrote that Harpo "had a deep and distinguished voice, like a professional announcer", and like his brothers, spoke with a New York accent his entire life.{{cite AV media| url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/harposp.htm| title=Harpo Speaks| website=The Marx Brothers| access-date=April 10, 2020}} According to those who personally knew him, Harpo's voice was much deeper than Groucho's, but it also sounded very similar to Chico's. His son, Bill, recalled that in private, Harpo had a very deep and mature soft-spoken voice, but that he was "not verbose" like the other Marx brothers, instead preferring to listen and learn from others.{{cite news| url=http://www.journalnow.com/relishnow/film_tv/tv_tidbits/marx-brothers-featured-in-new-dvd-release/article_1bfaf4ba-106a-57a5-b8bf-bc29fd7732ef.html| title=Marx Brothers featured in new DVD release| last=Clodfelter| first=Tim| newspaper=Winston-Salem Journal| date=August 17, 2014| access-date=September 2, 2014}}

Harpo expressed public support for Zionism and Israel since the 1940s.{{Cite book |last=Medoff |first=Rafael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMl0-azdbVYC |title=Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948 |date=July 2, 2002 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-1071-4 |pages=150 |language=en}} He often appeared as a speaker at pro-Israel functions throughout the country. He visited Israel in 1963.{{Cite web |date=September 30, 1964 |title=Harpo Marx Dead at 70; Broke Silence for Pro-israel Causes |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/harpo-marx-dead-at-70-broke-silence-for-pro-israel-causes |access-date=April 16, 2024 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}

Harpo's final public appearance came on January 19, 1963, when he announced his retirement, causing singer/comedian Allan Sherman to burst into tears.{{cite web |last1=Marx |first1=Bill |title=Great Lines - Bill Marx on Harpo |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/makeemlaugh/video/all-interviews/great-lines-bill-marx-on-harpo/100/ |website=Make 'Em Laugh |date=January 21, 2009 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Comedian Steve Allen, who was in the audience, remembered that Harpo spoke for several minutes about his career, and how he would miss it all, and repeatedly interrupted Sherman when he tried to speak.{{cite web |title=THE ONE, THE ONLY -- HARPO! |url=https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2020/11/13/the-one-the-only-harpo|website=The Attic|date=November 13, 2020 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} Allen remembered that although the audience found this rare speech from Harpo charmingly ironic, his personal opinion was that Harpo "wouldn't shut up!"{{cite journal| last=Colvin| first=Rod| title=Remembering Harpo: His Life and Legacy| journal=American Harp Journal| date=Winter 2009| url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-217240691/remembering-harpo-his-life-and-legacy| volume=22| number=2| page=36| access-date=April 11, 2020| archive-date=April 11, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411010811/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-217240691/remembering-harpo-his-life-and-legacy| url-status=dead}} Harpo, an avid croquet player, was inducted into the Croquet Hall of Fame in 1979.{{cite web| url=http://www.croquetamerica.com/usca/halloffame/| title=United States Croquet Hall of Fame| website=United States Croquet Association| access-date=February 19, 2016}}

Death

On September 26, 1964, Marx was admitted to the intensive care unit of West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Los Angeles for a heart operation.

Marx died in the hospital after surgery on September 28, 1964, aged 75. Harpo's death was said to have hit the surviving Marx brothers very hard. Groucho's son Arthur Marx, who attended the funeral with most of the Marx family,{{cite news |last1=Lindsey |first1=Robert |title=Family Honors Groucho Marx at Private Gathering |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/22/archives/family-honors-groucho-marx-at-private-gathering.html |access-date=December 31, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=August 22, 1977}} later said that Harpo's funeral was the only time in his life that he ever saw his father cry. In his will, Harpo Marx donated his trademark harp to the State of Israel, where it was later used in an Israeli orchestra. His remains were cremated at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and a portion of his ashes were allegedly scattered in the sand trap at the 7th hole of a golf course in Rancho Mirage, California.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Legacy

Harpo's trademark outfit consisted of a trench coat with over-large pockets, red wig (he switched to a blond one for every film after The Cocoanuts because the red wig photographed dark in black-and-white), top hat, the comical horn heard in his movies, and his ever-present harp. In time, his talent earned him an international reputation as he performed in films as well as in stage shows around the globe. His talent extended to piano and clarinet{{cite journal |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Carrol |title=Harpo Marx |journal=American Harp Journal |date=Summer 1983 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |url=http://harpsociety.org/publications/journal/extras/summer2020/pdfs/marx_summer1983_pp51-52.pdf |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=January 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121074126/https://harpsociety.org/publications/journal/extras/summer2020/pdfs/marx_summer1983_pp51-52.pdf |url-status=dead }} (on which he played When My Dreams Come True in The Cocoanuts),{{cite web |title=The Marx Brothers – The Cocoanuts / Monkey Business |url=https://www.discogs.com/The-Marx-Brothers-The-Cocoanuts-Monkey-Business/release/11142643 |website=Discogs |access-date=January 1, 2021}} which, as he had with the harp, Harpo mostly learned independent of professional instruction.{{Cite web|url=https://www.harposplace.com/Artist/ArtistStory.php|title=Harpo's Place - The Artist: Story|website=Harposplace.com|access-date=November 30, 2020|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108102438/http://www.harposplace.com/Artist/ArtistStory.php|url-status=dead}} Marx's son Bill went on to display his own musical abilities, performing his own compositions on piano live in concert alongside harpist Carrol McLaughlin.{{cite web |last1=Oakes |first1=Loisann |title=HARPO MARX'S SON CARRIES ON HIS MUSICAL GIFT |url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1989-03-26-2671349-story.html |website=The Morning Call |date=March 26, 1989 |access-date=December 1, 2020}} In 2002, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars, located at 190 E. Tahquitz Way, was dedicated to Harpo's memory.{{cite web |title=Palm Springs Walk of Stars - Complete List |url=https://www.palmsprings.com/walk-of-stars/ |website=PalmSprings.com |publisher=Palm Springs, California |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

= Media portrayals =

Marx was portrayed by the actor J. M. Henry in the 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.{{cite web|title=Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle: Full Cast & Crew|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110588/fullcredits#cast|website=IMDb}}

Marx was portrayed by actor Daniel Fortus in the Broadway production of Minnie's Boys, a Broadway musical that ran for 64 performances at the Imperial Theatre from March to May 1970.{{cite web| title=Minnie's Boys| website=IMDb| url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/minnies-boys-3517}} The show focused on the early days of the Marx Brothers' act and the importance of their mother Minnie's strong hand in guiding and molding them into a successful vaudeville and film comedy team.{{cite web |title=Minnie's Boys |url=https://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_m/minniesboys.htm |website=Guide to Musical Theater |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Actress Priscilla Lopez played Gino,{{cite web |title=Priscilla Lopez |url=https://www.playbill.com/person/priscilla-lopez-vault-0000003571 |website=Playbill |publisher=Playbill Inc. |access-date=January 1, 2021}} a character based on Harpo,{{cite news |last1=Klein |first1=Alvin |title=THEATER; 'DAY IN HOLLYWOOD' WORTH AN EVENING |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/15/nyregion/theater-day-in-hollywood-worth-an-evening.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=January 15, 1984}} in 1980's Broadway send-up of Hollywood filmmaking A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine. This role earned Lopez a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.{{cite web |title=Priscilla Lopez |url=https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/priscilla-lopez/ |website=Masterworks Broadway |publisher=Sony Music Entertainment |access-date=December 1, 2020}}

Les Marsden portrayed Harpo in Groucho: A Life in Revue,{{cite news |last1=Rousuck |first1=J. Wynn |title='Groucho: A Life in Revue' plays it again, unimaginatively |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-06-09-1995160031-story.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=Baltimore Sun |agency=Baltimore Sun Media Group |date=June 9, 1995}} written by Groucho's son, Arthur Marx, and Robert Fisher.{{cite news |last1=Gussow |first1=Mel |title=Stage: 'Groucho: A Life in Review' at the Lortel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/09/theater/stage-groucho-a-life-in-revue-at-the-lortel.html |access-date=January 1, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 9, 1986}} The play, held at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre, boasted a 264 show run from September 8, 1986, to May 3, 1987.{{cite web |title=Groucho: A Life in Revue |url=http://www.iobdb.com/production/559 |website=Internet Off-Broadway Database |publisher=Lucille Lortel Theatre |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

= References in other media =

{{bulleted list |Jack Kerouac composed a poem titled "To Harpo Marx".{{cite web|url=https://www.marx-brothers.org/info/reference.htm|title=References – The Marx Brothers|website=www.marx-brothers.org|access-date=April 14, 2019|archive-date=April 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401231000/https://www.marx-brothers.org/info/reference.htm|url-status=live}}|

The Swedish singer Harpo named himself after Harpo Marx.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}|Jonathan Richman references Harpo in his song "When Harpo Played His Harp".{{cite web |title=Jonathan Richman - Harpo Played his Harp Lyrics |url=https://genius.com/Jonathan-richman-harpo-played-his-harp-lyrics |website=Genius |access-date=December 1, 2020}}|Lemon Demon references Harpo Marx in the song "Vow of Silence".{{cite web |title=Lyric {{!}} Song lyrics {{!}} Vow of Silence - Lemon Demon on Rockol |url=https://www.rockol.com/uk/lyrics-5001787/lemon-demon-vow-of-silence |website=Rockol - la musica online è qui - Novità Musicali |publisher=Rockol |access-date=December 1, 2020 |last1=s. r. l. |first1=Rockol. com }}|Phoebe Snow's "Harpo's Blues" (1975) was written about "a guy in a band who 'became' Harpo Marx ... he wouldn't talk, and his eyes would roll around ... ".{{cite magazine| last=Palmer| first=Robert| title=Phoebe Snow Finds the Suburbs of the Soul| magazine=Rolling Stone| date=April 26, 2011| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/phoebe-snow-finds-the-suburbs-of-the-soul-rolling-stones-1975-cover-story-20110426}}|Harpo appears in cartoon form on the cover of The Kinks' 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz.}}

Filmography

= Film =

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1921	Humor Risk	Watson	Short, lost
1925	Too Many Kisses	The Village Peter Pan
1929	The Cocoanuts	Harpo
1930	Animal Crackers	The Professor
1931	The House That Shadows Built	The Merchant of Wieners
1931	Monkey Business	Harpo
1932	Hollywood on Parade, #A-5	Himself	Short
1932	Horse Feathers	Pinky
1932	Hollywood on Parade, #11	Himself	Short
1933	Duck Soup	Pinky
1935	A Night at the Opera	Tomasso
1935	La Fiesta de Santa Barbara	Himself	Short
1937	A Day at the Races	Stuffy
1938	Room Service	Faker Englund
1939	At the Circus	'Punchy'
1940	Go West	'Rusty' Panello
1941	The Big Store	Wacky
1943	Stage Door Canteen	Harpo Marx
1945	All Star Bond Rally	Himself
1946	A Night in Casablanca	Rusty
1949	Love Happy	Harpo
1957	The Story of Mankind	Sir Isaac Newton
1962	Got It Made		lost

= TV =

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
1952	The Ezio Pinza Show	Himself - Comic Actor	1 episode
1952-1953	All Star Revue	Himself	3 episodes
1953	Season's Greetings	Himself	TV movie
1954	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Governor	Episode: "Revenge with Music"
1955	I Love Lucy	Himself	Episode: "Harpo Marx"
1957	Playhouse 90	The Jinx	Episode: "Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses"
1958	The DuPont Show of the Month	Narrator - Harpist	Episode: "The Red Mill"
1959	General Electric Theater	Nick	Episode: "The Incredible Jewel Robbery"
1960	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Benson	Episode: "A Silent Panic"
1961	The DuPont Show of the Week	Himself	Episode: "The Wonderful World of Toys"
1962	The Red Skelton Hour	Guardian Angel	Episode: "Somebody Up There Should Stay There"
1962	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Himself	Episode: "The Musicale" (final appearance)

Discography

1952 Harp by Harpo
1957 Harpo
1958 Harpo at Work!
1964 Mahalia Jackson - Let's Pray Together (harp accompanist on "Guardian Angels")

Bibliography

1961 Harpo Speaks!
2000 Harpo Speaks ...About New York (the first two chapters of the above, repackaged)

Notes

References

Adamson, Joe (1973). Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-671-21458-6}}
Marx, Harpo (1961). Harpo Speaks!. New York: B. Geis Associates; New York: Limelight Editions, 1985. {{ISBN|0-879-10036-2}}
Mitchell, Glenn (1996). The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. {{ISBN|0-713-47838-1}}
Koestenbaum, Wayne (2012). The Anatomy of Harpo Marx. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-26900-2}}
Fix, Charlene (2013) Harpo Marx asTrickster. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishers Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-786-47147-8}}