Famous Quees Resident Series, Part XXXIV

Groucho Marx - The famous entertainer once lived in Bayside and Richmond Hill.

Groucho Marx did 26 movies total, of these 15 were with his brothers Chico and Harpo. Of those 15 movies only 14 were actually released.

The first movie was a silent film that Groucho is said to of cut up the movie into guitar picks, to prevent its release. Needless to say, he didn't like it. Although students of the cinema still try to find a copy of the film, feeling it has great historical value. They were one of the world's most famous comedy teams. They had their own zany brand of slapstick comedy. That was mixed with quick witted one-liners, usually delivered by Groucho. Some of Groucho's one-liners were often imitated, even by some of today's biggest comedians. You can also find them in some of the old Buggs Bunny cartoons. There were six brothers, all born in New York City. Manfred Marx died in infancy

After almost 20 years in small shows, and Vaudeville, their big break finally came on May 19th, 1924, when they appeared on Broadway in an insanely funny play they had written called "I'll Say She Is". Other Broadway plays they appeared in are, The Cocoanuts which opened on December 8th, 1925 which ran for 3 years, and while their next play Animal Crackers opened on October 23rd, 1928. They started the film version of Cocoanuts, and later brought Animal Crackers to the silver screen also.

Julius Henry Marx (Groucho) was born in 1890 and died on August 19th 1977 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He was 86 years young, at his time of death. Groucho's ashes are in a small room in the mausoleum at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills, California. He was clever and anxious from the get go. On screen he played a wise cracking cigar toting, middle-aged man with glasses and a big black mustache. He continually launches streams of wisecracks and insults at everybody and just about on any topic. Groucho is normally regarded as the most popular, and recognized of all the Marx Brothers. In his later years he went on to radio You Bet Your Life for which he won the Best Comedian of the Year award in 1949.

Personal Quotes
• "Remember, men, we're fighting for this woman's honor; which is
probably more than she ever did." Duck Soup (1933)

• I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.

• [When told that a swimming pool was off-limits to Jews] "My son is
half-Jewish; can he wade in up to his knees?"
• Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog,
it's too dark to read.

• Marriage is a wonderful institution. But who wants to live in an institution?

• I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
• What do you say the three of us get married: You girls have
everything; you're short and tall, and slim and stout, and blonde and brunette. And that's just the kind of girl I crave!

• While shooting elephants in Africa, I found the tusks very difficult
to remove. But in Alabama, the Tuscaloosa...

• I started smoking as soon as I went on the stage. I'd make cigars
out of the Morning World when I was a kid. Eventually I smoked Havanas. A cigar makers' organization once said that I was the most famous cigar smoker in the world. I don't know if that's true, but once while visiting Havana, I went to a cigar factory. There were four hundred people there rolling cigars, and when they saw me, they all stood up and applauded.

• Because we were a kid act, we traveled at half-fare, despite the
fact that we were all around twenty. Minnie insisted we were thirteen.
'That kid of yours is in the dining car smoking a cigar, ' the conductor told her. 'And another one is in the washroom shaving.'
Minnie shook her head sadly. 'They grow so fast.'

• You're only as young as the woman you feel.

• If you want to see a comic strip, you should see me in the shower.

• I could dance with you until the cows come home. On second thought,
I'd rather dance with the cows until you come home.

• Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

• It looks as if Hollywood brides keep the bouquets and throw away the grooms.

• I drink to make other people interesting.

• I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception.

• There's one way to find out if a man is honest: Ask him; if he says
'yes,' you know he is crooked.

• Behind every successful man stands a woman. And behind her stands his wife.

• I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the
set, I go into the other room and read a book.

• Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.

• My mother loved children--she would have given anything if I had been one.
• From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down, I was
convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend on reading it.

• Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows--marriage does.

• In America you can go on the air and kid the politicians, and the
politicians can go on the air and kid the people.

• The only game I like to play is Old Maid...provided she's not TOO old.

• A moose is an animal with horns on the front of his head and a
hunting lodge wall on the back of it.

• On how it felt to be an elder statesman of comedy, c. late-1960's:
"[I feel] like an old jerk."

• When I heard about [the Broadway play] "Hair", I was kind of curious
about the six naked primates on stage. So I called up the box office and they said tickets were $11 apiece. That's an awful price to pay. I went into the bathroom at home and took off all my clothes and looked in the mirror for five minutes. And I said, 'This isn't worth $11'.

• People are most likely to listen to reason when in bed.

• Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.

• Quote me as saying I was misquoted.

• Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?

• Asked in 1975 if he'd seen any recent movies] "I saw Jaws (1975).
But I think it would have been funnier if a guppy had swallowed the boat instead of a shark."

• One of the best hearing aids a man can have is an attentive wife.

• It was so long writing my review that I never got around to reading the book.

• She got her good looks from her father--he's a plastic surgeon.

• Wives are people who feel that they don't dance enough.

• The husband who wants a happy marriage should learn to keep his
mouth shut and his checkbook open.
• [After viewing Samson and Delilah (1949) starring Hedy Lamarr and
Victor Mature] Well, there's just one problem. No picture can hold my interest where the leading man's tits are bigger than the leading lady's.

• Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse.

• A woman is an occasional pleasure, but a cigar is always a smoke.

• I'd have liked to have gone to bed with Jean Harlow. She was a
beautiful broad. The fellow who married her was impotent and he killed himself. I would have done the same thing.

• [on Bob Hope] Hope? Hope is not a comedian. He just translates what
others write for him.

• Jerry Lewis hasn't made me laugh since he left Dean Martin.

Groucho Marx Bio