During the 20's and 30's there were only a few Marxist's that were not on the government watch list for sedition. They were 5 brother's who cut their teeth in Vaudeville. Grouch would join Charlie Chaplin as the pent-ultimate American comedian of the 20th century. Their's was a time when an actor had to be part comedian, musician, juggler, trapeze artist with no net, and bouncer. All 5 brothers were accomplished musician's and comedian's. Four would stay together in Hollywood for many decades and Grouch would dominate early television, until he quipped one night, to a woman with 13 children, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while". Ok for Vaudeville, but not for television, which had the FCC and a moral review commission. Things changed when the government became the rule makers. Groucho also quipped that he knew Doris Day in Vaudeville, before she was a virgin".
Varsity basketball coach Ed Rooney called me Harpo for four years due to my blond curls. This was one of the nicer nick names my high school coaches tagged me with. "Arm Pit" (John'srude) and Cry Baby, (Cuban fascist Omaya), were my least favorite, nigger nose and nigger lips ceased around 6th grade at Fernwood, but the nose and the beak lasted through college. Didn't kill me, must have made me stronger. Just saying.
Oprah is Harpo spelled backwards, don't you know. Harpo got laughs without speaking, quite a feat.His sol o harp was featured on at least one 78 rpm album. Chico's animated cross over piano was stolen for a scene in the Music Man. And it need not be said, that their humor has stood the challenges of time. Alan Alda and Woody Alan will long be forgotten before Groucho, their proto-type. What was once funny in Vaudeville remains funny, only on HBO and comedy central not on the commercial networks. Spontaneity and improve were essentials of the era, and they too are timeless.
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