Zeppo Marx
Encyclopedia
Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American film star, musician, engineer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the youngest of the five Marx Brothers
. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an engineer and theatrical agent. Zeppo Marx was a multi-millionaire due to his engineering efforts.
Zeppo was deaf in one ear.
said in his Carnegie Hall
concert in 1972 that the name was derived from the Zeppelin
, a new invention at the time of his birth. However, the chronology of the history of that airship company does not correlate with Herbert's birth. In his 1961 autobiography, Harpo Speaks!, Harpo
states (p. 130) that there was a popular trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo, and that "Herbie" was tagged with the name "Zippo" because he liked to do chinups and acrobatics, as the chimp did in its act. The youngest brother objected to this nickname, and it was altered to "Zeppo."
In Barbara Sinatra's 2011 book, "Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank" she states that her ex-husband Zeppo Marx was named after the Zeppelin, a story she heard from all of the Marx Brothers.
comedy A Kiss in the Dark, but no copy of the film is known to exist, and it is not clear if he actually appeared in the finished film.
In Barbara Sinatra's book, "Lady Blue Eyes" she claims that Zeppo was considered too young to perform with his brothers, and it wasn't until Gummo joined the Army that Zeppo was asked to join the act as a last minute stand-in at a show in Texas. Zeppo was supposed to go out that night with a Jewish friend of his. They were supposed to take out two Irish girls, but Zeppo had to cancel to board the train to Texas. His friend went ahead and went on the date, and was shot a few hours later when he was attacked by an Irish gang that didn't approve of a Jew dating an Irish girl. Zeppo might have been killed as well had he been there.
As the youngest and having grown up watching his brothers, he could fill in for and imitate any of the others when illness kept them from performing.
"He was so good as Captain Spaulding [in Animal Crackers
] that I would have let him play the part indefinitely, if they had allowed me to smoke in the audience," Groucho recalled. However, he never invented a comic persona of his own that could stand up against those of his brothers. As critic Percy Hammond wrote, sympathetically, in 1928,
Though Zeppo continued to play straight in the Brothers' movies at Paramount, he did occasionally get to be part of classic comedy moments in them—in particular, his role taking dictation from Groucho in Animal Crackers. He also played a pivotal role as the love interest of Ruth Hall in Monkey Business
.
The popular assumption that his character was superfluous was fueled in part by, interestingly enough, Groucho. According to Groucho's own story, when the group became the Three Marx Brothers, the studio wanted to trim their collective salary, and Groucho replied, "We're twice as funny without Zeppo!"
Offstage, Zeppo had great mechanical skills and was largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running. Zeppo later owned a company which machined parts for the war effort during World War II
, Marman Products
Co. Inglewood, CA later known as the Aeroquip Company. This company produced a motorcycle, called the Marman Twin
and the Marman clamp
s used to hold the "Fat Man
" atomic bomb inside the B-29 bomber, Bockscar
. He also founded a large theatrical agency with his brother Gummo
, and invented a wristwatch that would monitor the pulse rate of cardiac patients and give off an alarm if they went into cardiac arrest.
During his time as a theatrical agent, he and Gummo, although primarily Gummo, represented their brothers, among many others.
Barbara claims in her book, "Lady Blue Eyes" that Zeppo never made her convert to Judaism. Barbara was of Methodist faith. Barbara claims that Zeppo told her she became Jewish by "injection".
Barbara also claims in her book that Zeppo wanted to keep her son out of the picture, adding a room for him onto his estate, which was more of a guest house as it was separated from the main residence. It was also decided that Barbara's son would go to military school which, according to Barbara, pleased Zeppo.
Marx owned a house on Halper Lake Drive in the Rancho Mirage district of Palm Springs
, which was built off the fairway of the Tamarisk Country Club. The Tamarisk club had been set up by the Jewish community, which rivaled the gentile club called "The Thunderbird". His neighbor happened to be Frank Sinatra
. Marx would later attend the Hillcrest Country Club with friends like George Burns
, Frank Sinatra
, Jack Benny
, Danny Kaye
, and Milton Berle
.
Barbara became involved with Cedars-Sinai hospital, and had arranged to show Spartacus
featuring Kirk Douglas
for charity, selling tickets, and organizing a post-screening ball. At the last minute, Barbara was told she could not have the film, so Zeppo went to the country club, spoke to Frank Sinatra who agreed to let him have an early release of a film he had just finished called Come Blow Your Horn. Sinatra also flew everyone involved to Palm Springs for the event.
Marx was a very jealous husband, and hated for Barbara to talk to another man. Barbara claims in her book that Zeppo grabbed Victor Rothschild by the throat at a country club because she was talking to him. Barbara had caught Zeppo on many occasions with other women; the biggest incident was a party Zeppo had thrown on his yacht. After the incident, Zeppo took Barbara to Europe, and accepted more invitations to parties when they arrived back in the States. Some of these parties were at Frank Sinatra's compound; he often invited Barbara and Zeppo to his house two or three times a week. Frank would also send champagne or wine
to their home, as a nice gesture.
Barbara and Frank would see one another behind Marx's back. The press eventually caught up to Barbara, snapping photos of her and Frank together, or asking Barbara questions whenever they would spot her.
Zeppo and Blakeley divorce
d in 1972. Marx let Barbara keep the 1969 Jaguar he had bought her, and agreed to pay her $1,500 a month for ten years. Frank Sinatra upgraded Barbara's Jaguar to the latest model. Sinatra also gave her a house to live in. The house belonged to Eden Marx, Groucho Marx's third wife. Barbara and Sinatra continued to date, and were constantly hounded by the press until the divorce between Zeppo and Barbara became final. They would later marry.
In 1977, Groucho's heirs filed a lawsuit against Erin Fleming, a woman who was living with Groucho, and was thought to be extremely abusive towards him. Zeppo was called to testify. He had nothing but nice things to say about Erin.
Zeppo became sick with cancer in 1978. Zeppo sold his house, and moved to a house on the fairway off Frank Sinatra Drive. The doctors thought the cancer had gone into remission, but it came back. Zeppo called Barbara, who took him to the doctor's office. Zeppo spent his last days with Barbara's family.
The last surviving Marx Brother, Zeppo died of lung cancer
at the Eisenhower Medical Center
in Palm Springs
at the age of 78. His remains were cremated and scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
In his will, Zeppo left Bobby Marx a few possessions and enough money to finish law school. Both Frank and Barbara attended his funeral.
James Agee
considered Zeppo "a peerlessly cheesy improvement on the traditional straight man." Along similar lines, Gerald Mast, in his book The Comic Mind: Comedy and Movies, notes that Zeppo's comedic persona, while certainly more subtle than his brothers', is undeniably present:
Danél Griffin, film critic for the University of Alaska Southeast
, elaborates on Mast's theory:
While this seemingly modern reconsideration of Zeppo's comedic contributions could be interpreted as merely a contemporary examination of his role in the Paramount pictures, film reviewers were apparently in on the joke as far back as the release of The Cocoanuts in 1929. The New York Times
review of the movie, for example, ranks all four Marx Brothers equally—"When the four Marx brothers are on the screen, it's a riot" (emphasis added)—, goes on to specifically describe each of the brothers' unique style of comedy, and specifically praises Zeppo as "the handsome but dogged straight man with the charisma of an enamel washstand."
In her book Hello, I Must be Going: Groucho & His Friends, Charlotte Chandler
defends Zeppo as being "the Marx Brothers' interpreter in the worlds they invade. He is neither totally a straight man nor totally a comedian, but combines elements of both, as did Margaret Dumont
. Zeppo's importance to the Marx Brothers' initial success was as a Marx Brother who could 'pass' as a normal person. None of Zeppo's replacements (Allan Jones, Kenny Baker and others) could assume this character as convincingly as Zeppo, because they were actors, and Zeppo was the real thing, cast to type" (562).
Zeppo's comic persona is further highlighted in the "letter scene" of Animal Crackers
. In his book Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo, Joe Adamson analyzes the scene, showing how it reveals Zeppo's ability to one-up Groucho with simple, plain-English rebuttals. In the scene, Zeppo is told to take a letter to Groucho's lawyer. Adamson notes,
In the same book, Adamson goes on to note Zeppo's position as the campy parody of the juvenile romantic in his analysis of Horse Feathers
. This tongue-in-cheek observation bolsters the theory of Zeppo's stiffness as a deliberate comic persona:
Allen W. Ellis writes in his article Yes, Sir: The Legacy of Zeppo Marx:
In a eulogy for Zeppo written in 1979 for The Washington Post
, columnist Tom Zito writes,
It turns out Zeppo did have one surprising fan, as revealed in Marc Eliot's 2005 biography
of Cary Grant
. Grant, a teenager performing in Vaudeville under his real name, Archie Leach, loved the Marx Brothers. And as Eliot puts it,
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...
. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an engineer and theatrical agent. Zeppo Marx was a multi-millionaire due to his engineering efforts.
Zeppo was deaf in one ear.
Name
There are different theories to where Zeppo got his stage name: 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...
said in his Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert in 1972 that the name was derived from the Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
, a new invention at the time of his birth. However, the chronology of the history of that airship company does not correlate with Herbert's birth. In his 1961 autobiography, Harpo Speaks!, 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...
states (p. 130) that there was a popular trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo, and that "Herbie" was tagged with the name "Zippo" because he liked to do chinups and acrobatics, as the chimp did in its act. The youngest brother objected to this nickname, and it was altered to "Zeppo."
In Barbara Sinatra's 2011 book, "Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank" she states that her ex-husband Zeppo Marx was named after the Zeppelin, a story she heard from all of the Marx Brothers.
Career
Zeppo appeared in the first five Marx Brothers movies, as a straight man and romantic lead, before leaving the team. According to a 1925 newspaper article, he also made a solo appearance in the Adolphe MenjouAdolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
comedy A Kiss in the Dark, but no copy of the film is known to exist, and it is not clear if he actually appeared in the finished film.
In Barbara Sinatra's book, "Lady Blue Eyes" she claims that Zeppo was considered too young to perform with his brothers, and it wasn't until Gummo joined the Army that Zeppo was asked to join the act as a last minute stand-in at a show in Texas. Zeppo was supposed to go out that night with a Jewish friend of his. They were supposed to take out two Irish girls, but Zeppo had to cancel to board the train to Texas. His friend went ahead and went on the date, and was shot a few hours later when he was attacked by an Irish gang that didn't approve of a Jew dating an Irish girl. Zeppo might have been killed as well had he been there.
As the youngest and having grown up watching his brothers, he could fill in for and imitate any of the others when illness kept them from performing.
"He was so good as Captain Spaulding [in Animal Crackers
Animal Crackers (theatre)
Animal Crackers is a musical with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical starred the Marx Brothers.-Productions and background:...
] that I would have let him play the part indefinitely, if they had allowed me to smoke in the audience," Groucho recalled. However, he never invented a comic persona of his own that could stand up against those of his brothers. As critic Percy Hammond wrote, sympathetically, in 1928,
One of the handicaps to the thorough enjoyment of the Marx Brothers in their merry escapades is the plight of poor Zeppo Marx. While Groucho, Harpo and Chico are hogging the show, as the phrase has it, their brother hides in an insignificant role, peeping out now and then to listen to plaudits in which he has no share.
Though Zeppo continued to play straight in the Brothers' movies at Paramount, he did occasionally get to be part of classic comedy moments in them—in particular, his role taking dictation from Groucho in Animal Crackers. He also played a pivotal role as the love interest of Ruth Hall in Monkey Business
Monkey Business (1931 film)
Monkey Business is a 1931 comedy film. It is the third of the Marx Brothers' released movies, and the first not to be an adaptation of one of their Broadway shows. The film stars the four brothers: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, and screen comedienne Thelma Todd. It is...
.
The popular assumption that his character was superfluous was fueled in part by, interestingly enough, Groucho. According to Groucho's own story, when the group became the Three Marx Brothers, the studio wanted to trim their collective salary, and Groucho replied, "We're twice as funny without Zeppo!"
Offstage, Zeppo had great mechanical skills and was largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running. Zeppo later owned a company which machined parts for the war effort during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Marman Products
Marman Products
Marman Products Company, Inc. of Inglewood, California, was a business established by Zeppo Marx in 1941. Until 1933 he had been the Marx Brothers' straight man, and Marman Products made clamping devices and straps. During World War II, like many other companies Marman was involved in the war effort...
Co. Inglewood, CA later known as the Aeroquip Company. This company produced a motorcycle, called the Marman Twin
Marman Twin
The Marman Twin was a motorcycle that Herbert "Zeppo" Marx produced in 1948 and 1949 at Marman Products of Inglewood, CA. The engine was a Drone Airplane engine from WWII that was produced at the Jack & Heintz Aircraft Co....
and the Marman clamp
Marman clamp
A Marman clamp is a type of heavy-duty band clamp; it allows two flat cylindrical interfaces to be simply clamped together with a ring clamp. Also sometimes known as a "Marman ring"....
s used to hold the "Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
" atomic bomb inside the B-29 bomber, Bockscar
Bockscar
Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan....
. He also founded a large theatrical agency with his 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...
, and invented a wristwatch that would monitor the pulse rate of cardiac patients and give off an alarm if they went into cardiac arrest.
During his time as a theatrical agent, he and Gummo, although primarily Gummo, represented their brothers, among many others.
Personal life
On April 12, 1927, Zeppo married Marion Benda. The couple adopted two children, Timothy and Thomas, in 1944 and 1945, and later divorced on May 12, 1954. On September 18, 1959, Zeppo married Barbara Blakeley, whose son, Bobby Oliver, he wanted to adopt and give his surname, but Bobby's father would not allow it. Bobby simply started using the last name "Marx".Barbara claims in her book, "Lady Blue Eyes" that Zeppo never made her convert to Judaism. Barbara was of Methodist faith. Barbara claims that Zeppo told her she became Jewish by "injection".
Barbara also claims in her book that Zeppo wanted to keep her son out of the picture, adding a room for him onto his estate, which was more of a guest house as it was separated from the main residence. It was also decided that Barbara's son would go to military school which, according to Barbara, pleased Zeppo.
Marx owned a house on Halper Lake Drive in the Rancho Mirage district of Palm Springs
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
, which was built off the fairway of the Tamarisk Country Club. The Tamarisk club had been set up by the Jewish community, which rivaled the gentile club called "The Thunderbird". His neighbor happened to be Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Marx would later attend the Hillcrest Country Club with friends like George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, and Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
.
Barbara became involved with Cedars-Sinai hospital, and had arranged to show Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
featuring Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
for charity, selling tickets, and organizing a post-screening ball. At the last minute, Barbara was told she could not have the film, so Zeppo went to the country club, spoke to Frank Sinatra who agreed to let him have an early release of a film he had just finished called Come Blow Your Horn. Sinatra also flew everyone involved to Palm Springs for the event.
Marx was a very jealous husband, and hated for Barbara to talk to another man. Barbara claims in her book that Zeppo grabbed Victor Rothschild by the throat at a country club because she was talking to him. Barbara had caught Zeppo on many occasions with other women; the biggest incident was a party Zeppo had thrown on his yacht. After the incident, Zeppo took Barbara to Europe, and accepted more invitations to parties when they arrived back in the States. Some of these parties were at Frank Sinatra's compound; he often invited Barbara and Zeppo to his house two or three times a week. Frank would also send champagne or wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
to their home, as a nice gesture.
Barbara and Frank would see one another behind Marx's back. The press eventually caught up to Barbara, snapping photos of her and Frank together, or asking Barbara questions whenever they would spot her.
Zeppo and Blakeley divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d in 1972. Marx let Barbara keep the 1969 Jaguar he had bought her, and agreed to pay her $1,500 a month for ten years. Frank Sinatra upgraded Barbara's Jaguar to the latest model. Sinatra also gave her a house to live in. The house belonged to Eden Marx, Groucho Marx's third wife. Barbara and Sinatra continued to date, and were constantly hounded by the press until the divorce between Zeppo and Barbara became final. They would later marry.
In 1977, Groucho's heirs filed a lawsuit against Erin Fleming, a woman who was living with Groucho, and was thought to be extremely abusive towards him. Zeppo was called to testify. He had nothing but nice things to say about Erin.
Zeppo became sick with cancer in 1978. Zeppo sold his house, and moved to a house on the fairway off Frank Sinatra Drive. The doctors thought the cancer had gone into remission, but it came back. Zeppo called Barbara, who took him to the doctor's office. Zeppo spent his last days with Barbara's family.
The last surviving Marx Brother, Zeppo died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
at the Eisenhower Medical Center
Eisenhower Medical Center
The Eisenhower Medical Center is a not-for-profit hospital located in Rancho Mirage, California. It was named one of the top one hundred hospitals in the United States in 2005 and is adjacent to the world-famous Betty Ford Center....
in Palm Springs
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
at the age of 78. His remains were cremated and scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
In his will, Zeppo left Bobby Marx a few possessions and enough money to finish law school. Both Frank and Barbara attended his funeral.
- Zeppo bought a yacht after he and Barbara were married and named it the "Barbara Ann".
- Zeppo played golf, and loved gin rummy. Barbara Sinatra claims in her book Lady Blue Eyes that Zeppo liked to go to bed early, often using the phrase, "I'm off to the disco now" when he wanted to leave a party.
- Zeppo introduced Jack Benny to his wife Mary.
- Zeppo co-owned the El Rancho CasinoEl Rancho CasinoThe El Rancho Casino was a hotel and casino located on The Las Vegas Strip.-History :Constructed on the site of the Thunderbird that opened in September 1948. In 1976, it was renamed the Silverbird. On August 31, 1982, it was renamed Ed Torres' El Rancho...
with his brothers, as well as other investors thought to be mobAmerican MafiaThe American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
-related.
Legacy
In recent years, a surge of adamant Zeppo supporters has risen to challenge the notion that he did not develop a comic persona in his films.James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
considered Zeppo "a peerlessly cheesy improvement on the traditional straight man." Along similar lines, Gerald Mast, in his book The Comic Mind: Comedy and Movies, notes that Zeppo's comedic persona, while certainly more subtle than his brothers', is undeniably present:
[He] added a fourth dimension as the cliché of the [romantic] juvenile, the bland wooden espouser of sentiments that seem to exist only in the world of the sound stage. [... He is] too schleppy, too nasal, and too wooden to be taken seriously.
Danél Griffin, film critic for the University of Alaska Southeast
University of Alaska Southeast
The University of Alaska Southeast is a regional university in the University of Alaska System. Its main campus is located in Juneau and it has extended campuses in Sitka and Ketchikan....
, elaborates on Mast's theory:
Zeppo's parts were always intended to be a parody of the juvenile role often found in sappy musicals of the 1920s-30s era. Sometimes, he would just have a few lines, and he would otherwise be reduced to standing in the background with a big smile on his face. In these roles, he was a lampoon of the infamous extra, always grinning widely as a needless decoration, and always stiff and wooden. In other films, Zeppo would have a more significant role as the romantic lead, but he would still always be stiff, wooden, and, yes, with a big smile on his face. Either way, he could never be considered a real straight man. He was a sappy distortion of the real thing, and sort of the gateway through which we connected with the other Brothers. We perceived him as the "normal, good-looking" one of the bunch, but was he really? Wasn't there something about that line from The CocoanutsThe CocoanutsThe 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...
, 'You can depend upon me, Mr. Hammer,' that was a little too ... happy? Roger EbertRoger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called Zeppo 'superfluous,' and that is the point of his character in the five Paramount films. He was the straight man only in pure Marxian sense — while his Brothers spat on movie clichés, he imitated them, proving in his own way to be quite a brilliant comedian.
While this seemingly modern reconsideration of Zeppo's comedic contributions could be interpreted as merely a contemporary examination of his role in the Paramount pictures, film reviewers were apparently in on the joke as far back as the release of The Cocoanuts in 1929. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
review of the movie, for example, ranks all four Marx Brothers equally—"When the four Marx brothers are on the screen, it's a riot" (emphasis added)—, goes on to specifically describe each of the brothers' unique style of comedy, and specifically praises Zeppo as "the handsome but dogged straight man with the charisma of an enamel washstand."
In her book Hello, I Must be Going: Groucho & His Friends, Charlotte Chandler
Charlotte Chandler
Charlotte Chandler is an American biographer and playwright who has written biographies of Groucho Marx, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Alfred Hitchcock...
defends Zeppo as being "the Marx Brothers' interpreter in the worlds they invade. He is neither totally a straight man nor totally a comedian, but combines elements of both, as did 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...
. Zeppo's importance to the Marx Brothers' initial success was as a Marx Brother who could 'pass' as a normal person. None of Zeppo's replacements (Allan Jones, Kenny Baker and others) could assume this character as convincingly as Zeppo, because they were actors, and Zeppo was the real thing, cast to type" (562).
Zeppo's comic persona is further highlighted in the "letter scene" of Animal Crackers
Animal 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...
. In his book Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo, Joe Adamson analyzes the scene, showing how it reveals Zeppo's ability to one-up Groucho with simple, plain-English rebuttals. In the scene, Zeppo is told to take a letter to Groucho's lawyer. Adamson notes,
There is a common assumption that Zeppo = Zero, which this scene does its best to contradict. Groucho dictating a letter to anybody else would hardly be cause for rejoicing. We have to believe that someone will be there to accept all his absurdities and even respond somewhat in kind before things can progress free from conflict into this genial mishmash. Groucho clears his throat in the midst of his dictation, and Zeppo asks him if he wants that in the letter. Groucho says, 'No, put it in the envelope.' Zeppo nods. And only Zeppo could even try such a thing as taking down the heading and the salutation and leaving out the letter because it didn't sound important to him. It takes a Marx Brother to pull something like that on a Marx Brother and get away with it.
In the same book, Adamson goes on to note Zeppo's position as the campy parody of the juvenile romantic in his analysis of Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers
Horse Feathers is a Marx Brothers film comedy. It stars the four Marx Brothers and Thelma Todd. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film...
. This tongue-in-cheek observation bolsters the theory of Zeppo's stiffness as a deliberate comic persona:
Each Marx Brother has his own form of comedy. Zeppo is at his funniest when he opens his mouth and sings. It has taken forty years, of course, for the full humor to come across. For a normal comedian this may be bad timing, but for a Marx Brother it's immortality. Almost every crooner of 1932 looks stilted and awkward now, but with Zeppo, who was never very convincing in the first place, the effect crosses the threshold into lovable comedy. "I think you're wonderful!" he oozes charmingly to Thelma ToddThelma ToddThelma Alice Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy...
, and we know he never met her before shooting started.
Allen W. Ellis writes in his article Yes, Sir: The Legacy of Zeppo Marx:
Indeed, Zeppo is a link between the audience and Groucho, Harpo and Chico. In a sense, he is us on the screen. He knows who those guys are and what they are capable of. As he ambles out of a scene, perhaps it is to watch them do their business, to come back in as necessary to move the film along, and again to join in the celebration of the finish. Further, Zeppo is crucial to the absurdity of the Paramount films. The humor is in his incongruity. Typically he dresses like a normal person, in stark contrast to Groucho's greasepaint and 'formal' attire, Harpo's rags, and Chico's immigrant hand-me-downs. By most accounts, he is the handsomest of the brothers, yet that handsomeness is distorted by his familial resemblance to the others — sure, he's handsome, but it is a decidedly peculiar, Marxian handsomeness. By making the group four, Zeppo adds symmetrySymmetrySymmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, and in the surrealisticSurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
worlds of the Paramount films, this symmetry upsets rather than confirms balance: it is chaos born of symmetry. That he is a plank in a maelstrom, along with the very concept of 'this guy' who is there for no real reason, who joins in and is accepted by these other three wildmen while the narrativeNarrativeA narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
offers no explanation, are wonderful in their pure absurdity. 'To string things together in a seemingly purposeless way,' said Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, 'and to be seemingly unaware that they are absurd, is the mark of American humor.' The 'sense' injected into the nonsense only compounds the nonsense.
In a eulogy for Zeppo written in 1979 for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, columnist Tom Zito writes,
Thank goodness for Zeppo, who never really cracked a joke on screen. At least not directly. He just took it from Groucho, in more ways than one. ... If Groucho, Chico and Harpo were the funny guys, Zeppo was the EverymanEverymanIn literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
, the loser who'd come running out of the grocery store only to find the meter maid sticking the parking ticket on his Hungadunga.
It turns out Zeppo did have one surprising fan, as revealed in Marc Eliot's 2005 biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
. Grant, a teenager performing in Vaudeville under his real name, Archie Leach, loved the Marx Brothers. And as Eliot puts it,
While the rest of the country preferred Groucho, Zeppo, the good-looking straight man and romantic lead, was Archie's favorite, the one whose foil timing he believed was the real key to the act's success.
In popular culture
- In an episode of the TV show Married With Children Al Bundy comments "Am I the fourth Marx Brother? Am I Zeppo Marx?"
- In the movie Good Morning Vietnam, a grinning officer compares Adrian CronauerAdrian CronauerAdrian Cronauer is a former United States Air Force sergeant and radio personality best known as the inspiration for the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam in which he was portrayed by Robin Williams....
's comic broadcast as being "like one of the Marx Brothers." The uptight, humor-hating Lieutenant Hauk replies, "Which one? Zeppo? I don't think it's very funny at all." - As the Philadelphia PhilliesPhiladelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
approached their 10,000th all-time loss in the summer of 2007, Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
ran an article about the Phillies' many trials and tribulations through the years. The article pointed out how the Phillies often seemed to end up with the lesser players of a ballplaying family, for example hiring Vince DiMaggioVince DiMaggioVincent Paul "Vince" DiMaggio was a Major League Baseball center fielder. During a 10-year baseball career, he played for the Boston Bees , Cincinnati Reds , Pittsburgh Pirates , Philadelphia Phillies , and New York Giants...
instead of Joe DiMaggioJoe DiMaggioJoseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
or Dom DiMaggioDom DiMaggioDominic Paul DiMaggio , nicknamed "The Little Professor", was a Major League Baseball center fielder. He played his entire 11-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox...
. Making a comparison with the brothers Felipe Alou, Matty AlouMatty AlouMateo Rojas "Matty" Alou was a Dominican outfielder who spent fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball with the San Francisco Giants , Pittsburgh Pirates , St. Louis Cardinals , Oakland Athletics , New York Yankees and San Diego Padres...
and Jesús AlouJesús AlouJesús María Rojas Alou is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. During a 17-year baseball career, he played for the San Francisco Giants , Houston Astros , Oakland Athletics , and New York Mets...
, the writer said, "If there had been a Zeppo Alou, the Phillies would have signed him." - In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia ChaseCordelia ChaseCordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
tells Xander HarrisXander HarrisAlexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as in numerous items in the series Expanded Universe, such as comic books, tie-in novels and video games...
that he is "the Zeppo", the least useful member of the Scooby Gang, whose only function is to fetch doughnutDoughnutA doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
s and make unfunny jokes. That evening, Xander proves himself every bit the hero, and saves the day without anyone else knowing. - In an episode of Garfield and FriendsGarfield and FriendsGarfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
, JonJon ArbuckleJonathan Q. Arbuckle is a character from the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. He has also appeared in the animated television series Garfield and Friends, the computer-animated The Garfield Show, and two live-action feature films....
fills out a questionnaire for a date service that includes the question "Favorite Marx Brother", which Jon (and his subsequent date) answers "Zeppo". - On The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Stewart occasionally throws in references to the Marx Brothers (most commonly Groucho imitations). After U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
sent their drummer to make a public statement, Stewart said "when The Marx Brothers wanted to make a statement, they didn't send out Zeppo." - In an interview on ParkinsonParkinson (TV series)Parkinson is a British television talk show that was presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on the BBC from 1971 to 2004, and on ITV from 2004 to 2007.-Background:...
, Paul MertonPaul MertonPaul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
was asked about the departure of Have I Got News For YouHave I Got News for YouHave I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
presenter Angus DeaytonAngus DeaytonGordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
. Merton said "I feel it's like the Marx Brothers... we lost Zeppo, it's not a big deal" making reference to Deayton's straight man persona and comic inferiority on-screen. - In his book The Anarchy of the Imagination: Interviews, Essays, Notes, noted filmmaker Rainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
includes Zeppo on his list for the ten greatest film actors of all time. - In an issue of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!, the team goes to the South Califurnia Weather Institute to learn what is causing freak snow storms in Death ValleyDeath ValleyDeath Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
. The three doctors, Groocho, Cheeky, and Harpy, bear an uncanny resemblance to the Marx Brothers. Groocho and his two stooges are entirely incompetent, and additionally hard of hearing. Groocho remarks, "Things aren't like this when Dr. Zeepo is here." Cheeky also has his horn. - An episode of Pinky and the BrainPinky and the BrainPinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...
, entitled "Pinky and the Brain...and Larry" ends with Larry leaving and being replaced by another mouse, named Zeppo. - In the movie My Favorite YearMy Favorite YearMy Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
, Benji Stone is explaining comedy to a co-worker and says, "On the funny side there are the Marx Brothers, except Zeppo; the Ritz BrothersRitz BrothersThe Ritz Brothers were an American comedy team who appeared in films, and as live performers from 1925 to the late 1960s.Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austrian-born haberdasher Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister,...
, no exceptions; both Laurel and HardyLaurel and HardyLaurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
; and Woody WoodpeckerWoody WoodpeckerWoody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures...
. On the unfunny side there's anyone who has ever played the accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
professionally.