The turn of every new year brings with it many books, movies, and other cultural works into the public domain. January 1 means the copyright expiration, opens a new window of a new set of works from 95 years ago, meaning these classics can now be copied or reinterpreted by the public without fear of lawsuits. Perhaps the most anticipated release into the public domain in 2025 is the very first sound Marx Brothers movie, The Cocoanuts, opens a new window. Over a career spanning decades, the Marx Brothers became beloved Hollywood icons and made several classic films. This article is a career retrospective of the Marx Brothers, providing info on how they got their start, and info on The Cocoanuts and their other films. Stop by a CRRL branch and check out our collection of Marx Brothers, opens a new window movies on DVD.
A Life in Vaudeville: The Marx Brothers Before Hollywood
Although the Marx Brothers are often seen by modern audiences as comic stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, their careers actually began decades before sound was introduced to movies. The Marx Brothers were all real-life brothers, the sons of German and French Jewish immigrants to New York. The first brother to appear on stage was Gummo, opens a new window (Milton) in a very short-lived act with his uncle in 1899, but he had little taste for the stage and a stammering speech pattern. Groucho (actually the third-born brother) was far more natural on stage, first appearing with the comedic singing group The Leroy Trio, opens a new window in 1905 at the age of 15. Harpo (Adolph) was next to debut, joining Groucho and Gummo onstage in 1910, opens a new window.
As time went on, the Marx Brothers slowly changed from a musical act to comedy act, while never forgetting their musical roots. The act started to take on a form fans of classic film would first recognize during a tour of Texas in 1912, opens a new window, when their audience was distracted by an escaped mule. Groucho began to belittle the audience and the state of Texas, but instead of getting angry, they started laughing! The Marx Brothers' act began to be reshaped around Groucho’s gift for comedic insults.
This change in focus was marked by the vaudeville show Fun in Hi Skule , opens a new window(1912), in which Groucho played a teacher character, Herman Green, who dealt with a class of unruly students. Most of these characters were ethnic stereotypes of immigrants of the time. Groucho's and Gummo’s characters were German, Harpo’s was Irish (although his character did not speak), and Chico’s (Leonard) was Italian. Chico was not a part of the original cast but had been added by 1914, opens a new window. Fun in Hi Skule was revised twice, as Mr. Green’s Reception, opens a new window and as Home Again, opens a new window. The Home Again version marked the debut of Zeppo (Herbert), the youngest Marx brother. He replaced Gummo, who did not want to return to the act after he was drafted into the US Army in 1918 to fight in World War I.
Onto the Silver Screen! Early Marx Brothers Films
Although The Cocoanuts is often identified as the first Marx Brothers film, there was actually a silent film made years earlier. Called Humor Risk, opens a new window or Humorisk, the film was made in 1921, after the four Marx Brothers had been solidified as an act, but before their first Broadway show, I’ll Say She Is (1924). Little is actually known about Humor Risk, and the film is lost today. Only a few stills, opens a new window and anecdotal accounts by Groucho survive as a record of the film’s existence. Some theories, opens a new window and unconfirmed information suggest that Harpo played a detective character who was the film’s romantic lead, Groucho was the villain, Chico was Groucho’s sidekick, and Zeppo was a playboy. Other details about the film have contradictory accounts. These include the identity of the actress who played Harpo’s love interest, when the film was shown to the public (if ever), and if any copies survived.
It would take eight years before the film that would make the Marx Brothers movie stars was released. Filmed and released in 1929, The Cocoanuts was made well into the brothers’ successful run on Broadway. It was actually filmed on the same days the brothers also performed Animal Crackers, opens a new window live on the Broadway stage. Since the play was performed at night, they shot their scenes during the day. It was their first movie filmed for Paramount Pictures,, opens a new window a partnership that defined their careers.
Adapted from the 1925 Broadway show, opens a new window of the same name, The Cocoanuts is a musical comedy set during the 1920s Florida land rush, opens a new window. The film’s plot, which revolves around con men visiting a resort hotel, is not particularly memorable. The film’s energy comes from its snappy comedy routines. This is the movie that featured the famous Groucho/Chico "Why a Duck?", opens a new window routine. A superb piece of banter, “Why a Duck?” became lodged so strongly in the memory of comedy fans that the brothers as a whole, and Groucho in particular, were associated with ducks for the rest of their careers. Other highlights include an auction scene where Chico outbids the entire room (including himself), Chico's and Harpo’s musical solos, and a scene where Harpo and Chico try to raid a cash register to the tune of the "Anvil Chorus", opens a new window from Verdi's opera Il trovatore.
A very early sound film, The Cocoanuts presented special technical challenges in filming since it was a musical. Sound was only recorded live, opens a new window on set at the time, which meant the orchestra in the musical sequences could not be pre-recorded. Whenever a musical sequence happened in the film, there was an actual live orchestra playing the music as the camera recorded the actors. Also, all sheets of paper used in the film had to be soaked in water to prevent crackling noises ruining the sound recording of scenes. Although Irving Berlin’s "Always", opens a new window is sometimes associated with The Cocoanuts, it was never performed in either the stage show or film and was written as a gift for Berlin’s fiancée, Ellin Mackay. Although the actual songs from The Cocoanuts are not the most memorable of Berlin’s, the filming of the dance numbers was quite innovative for the time. The film uses an overhead kaleidoscope, opens a new window shot during one dance sequence, an early use of a shot associated with Busby Berkeley, opens a new window musicals of the 1930s.
After The Cocoanuts: Other Marx Brothers Classics
The Marx Brothers appeared in four more movies for Paramount, filmed and released rapidly during the early 1930s. Over the course of the films, both the brothers themselves and the filming techniques used became more focused and confident. The first of these, Animal Crackers, opens a new window (1930), was also the last directly based on a stage play. This tale of chaos at a lavish party marked the debut of two of Groucho’s most memorable songs, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and "Hello, I Must be Going.", opens a new window Animal Crackers was followed by Monkey Business, opens a new window (1931), a story of four stowaways on an ocean liner and their misadventures with gangsters. The first Marx Brothers movie that began as a film script—and the first shot in Hollywood–Monkey Business brought a new level of mastery to the brothers’ onscreen act.
Even more memorable was their next film, Horse Feathers, opens a new window (1932). A football rivalry between two colleges, Huxley and Darwin, flares, and the brothers take to the gridiron to try to win it for Huxley. The climactic football game features some of the most memorable slapstick the brothers ever performed, and the film also features Groucho’s “I’m Against It!” song and a whirlwind of puns between Chico and Zeppo.
The brothers’ last film for Paramount is considered by many to be their best film of all. Duck Soup, opens a new window (1933) is the chaotic adventure of Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), a man appointed as dictator of the impoverished nation of Freedonia. Rufus finds time to insult and belittle everyone around him, including Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), the woman whose financial backing got him appointed in the first place. Meanwhile, Pinky (Harpo), and Chicolini (Chico), two spies for the nation of Sylvania, try to undermine Freedonia and romance Mrs. Teasdale to lay claim to her money. Eventually, Firefly’s insults lead Freedonia to war with Sylvania, resulting in a whirlwind of madcap antics, singing, and snappy verbal remarks. Constantly crackling with anarchic energy, Duck Soup is a live-wire performance of delicious comedy and has become a beloved comedy classic. Highlights, opens a new window include the brilliant “mirror scene,” Firefly talking himself into going to war, and Chicolini and Pinky’s bamboozling of a lemonade vendor.
MGM and the Marx Brothers Beyond the 1930s
Though it was a masterpiece, Duck Soup was underappreciated in its time. The movie was considered a financial and critical disappointment, opens a new window by Paramount, and, after difficult contract negotiations, the brothers left Paramount following the film’s release. Zeppo also left the act at this time, pursuing a new career as a talent agent in Hollywood…but his gambling, opens a new window fixation also brought him into the orbit of organized crime and powerful Mafia bosses. This left only Harpo, Chico, and Groucho as stage and radio performers. Producer Irving Thalberg, opens a new window, called “The Boy Wonder” because of his incredible success at a young age, rounded up the remaining three brothers and signed them to contracts with MGM.
MGM in the 1930s was considered by many in Hollywood to be the flagship of all film studios, with lavish budgets and top stars for its movies. But the financial backing and polish of MGM came with a new set of restrictions. Thalberg wanted to make the Marx Brothers respectable, opens a new window; he felt the chaotic nature of their Paramount movies and their willingness to comedically savage anyone made them unsympathetic and unappealing to audiences. In doing so, he created a new formula for the brothers’ films, one in which their comedic anarchy was usually directed at villains, and the comic sequences worked in service to romantic storylines and beautiful surroundings. Thalberg’s mantra was “twice the audience with half the laughs, opens a new window.”
Although this more organized template for films would serve the brothers well in the short term, it would eventually turn into a straitjacket that would rob their act of its edge and energy. The first of the “new” Marx Brothers movies, A Night at the Opera, opens a new window (1935), was still an excellent comedy and featured the brothers at the peak of their form. With the brothers put into a storyline where they must play matchmakers for two opera singers, there are many jibes aimed at both the upper class and the rarefied world of the opera. Some of the movie’s funniest moments include the stateroom scene, opens a new window and contract scene, opens a new window, which feature some of Groucho’s best rapid-fire remarks, and actual opera performances by the romantic leads, Rosa (Kitty Carlisle) and Ricardo (Allan Jones).
Though A Night at the Opera’s fusion of a romantic musical with the brothers’ classic comedy was successful, it would also prove to be the beginning of the end for the glory days of their act. Irving Thalberg died in 1936, opens a new window during the production of the next MGM Marx Brothers film, A Day at the Races, opens a new window. Although Races itself was largely unaffected (since it already had a completed script), Thalberg’s death left the brothers without a strong backer at MGM. The brothers released their later movies for a variety of studios, including RKO (Room Service, opens a new window), MGM again (At the Circus, Go West, and The Big Store), and finally United Artists (A Night in Casablanca, opens a new window, Love Happy). None of the Marx Brothers' films produced after Thalberg’s death came close to recapturing the frenetic spirit of their Paramount glory days, and they played to diminishing critical and popular reception before finally breaking up as an act after Love Happy’s release in 1949.
After the Movies: The Marx Brothers' Legacy
As great as the madcap mayhem of the Marx Brothers was at its peak, they were not immune to Hollywood’s tendency to reduce all talent to formulas and predictable scripts. Unlike earlier film comedians such as Buster Keaton, opens a new window and Charlie Chaplin, opens a new window, the brothers did not write or direct their own movies, making them more vulnerable to second-rate writers and studio executives who didn’t value their gifts. As their days as movie stars wound down, the three brothers began to go their separate ways and explore other opportunities. Groucho was the most visible of the three, hosting the earliest version of the game show You Bet Your Life , opens a new windowon TV and radio from 1947 to 1961. Harpo had guest roles on a variety of series, including a memorable I Love Lucy episode where he and Lucille Ball reenacted the mirror gag, opens a new window. Chico also appeared several times on TV, most notably on “The Incredible Jewel Robbery, opens a new window” episode of General Electric Theater with Harpo. Aired in 1959, “The Incredible Jewel Robbery” also featured a brief cameo by Groucho, making it the very last appearance of the three Marx Brothers together.
The Marx Brothers are all gone now and so is the classic studio system in which their careers dawned, flourished, and eventually faded. Today’s Hollywood is a place where digital effects offer untold horizons and infinite possibilities…but frequently suffers from gargantuan budgets, opens a new window, endless franchises, and brutal competition with other forms of media.
Come visit CRRL and check out our collection filled with the films of Marx Brothers and other classics from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and journey back to a time when comedy was still king. While we wait for their movies after The Cocoanuts to go into the public domain, be sure to check out this list, opens a new window of the other media going into the public domain in 2025.
