Ѕрат¤та ћаркс - Marx Brothers

Ѕрать¤ ћаркс были любимыми геро¤ми подростков поколени¤ телевизоров (50-е). »х комедии словно были предназначены дл¤ семей с детьми. Ѕрать¤ ћаркс были симпатичны многим рокерам рубежа 70х, на наибольше вли¤ние они оказали на –она ћэл (Sparks). The Marx Brothers Collection: A Night at The Opera, A Day at The Races, A Night in Casablanca ...

The Marx Brothers spent thirty years in vaudeville, starting as a singing act, before they changed to comedy and became masters of mayhem on Broadway and in Hollywood. There would have been six brothers had the eldest, Manfred survived, but the five that did live to grow and prosper spent their childhood in various vaudeville acts that their mother Minnie and their uncle Al Shean put together for them before they became enduring screen legends.
The Marx Brothers: chatty, punning Groucho, silent, horn-honking Harpo, faux-Italian stereotype Chico and poor, lost straight man Zeppo. Their iconic images are more famous than their films in many ways; many viewers whoТve never seen a moment of Duck Soup still recognise GrouchoТs stooped walk and cigar dangling just as they recognise the silhouette of Charlie ChaplinТs Little Tramp. Here, collected together for the first time, are the first five Marx Brothers features (The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup), the only five to feature all four performing Marx Brothers before Zeppo left in frustration. In the first two films, one can see the Brothers establishing their personas. Both The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers were toured extensively as vaudeville shows, so by the time they were set to film, much of it was already laid out: plot, characterisation, gags, timing, even the cast were all fairly set in stone. Around the thin premise presented to them, the Brothers simply did their thing with confidence and glee Ч having worked the stage shows for so long, they knew exactly where the laughs were and how to play them. (ItТs a struggle for them all, in fact, to not pause for the laugh in the middle of scenes.) Both films were huge successes in the early days of talking pictures, and more УscenariosФ were written for the Brothers to play around in. Both Monkey Business (misadventures as cruise-ship stowaways) and Horse Feathers (misadventures at a college, where Groucho pretends to be Dean) are little more than sketchy canvases on which the MarxТs established personas were acted out. There are some genius moments in both films Ч and both were quite big box office hits, particularly Monkey Business Ч but they were artistically unsatisfying, one gets the sense, particularly to Groucho, who believed that Monkey Business was a terrible film and was going to completely flop. The crown jewel Ч and the most fascinating film in the set Ч is Duck Soup, the masterpiece from the Marx Brothers. The political satire features Groucho as the Prime Minister of the bankrupt state of Freedonia; he declares war over a neighbouring country over the love of a woman, and political and social anarchy ensues. From GrouchoТs double talk to Chico and Harpo taking over propaganda duties to a trial scene and some of the most innovative comic/visual tricks, Duck Soup is a masterpiece. And yet, it was an utter failure financially. HereТs where The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection really drops the ball. The massive failure of such an icon of comic genius deserves some critical exploration or at the very least explanation, of which there is none. None of the five features contains commentary or more than cursory hints in a sparse booklet. There is no documentary featurette exploring the BrothersТ lives or history together. In fact, despite advertising an extra disc of bonus materials, it consists only of three brief Today Show appearances by Harpo, Groucho and HarpoТs son William. Total running time: less than 30 minutes Ч hardly a full discТs worth of bonus material. One should be happy that the advent of DVD allows this genius to be seen Ч several scenes from the films have already been lost and clearly couldnТt be restored Ч but one canТt help but notice the incredible missed opportunity that this reissue represents. (Universal)

The mother of the Marx Brothers came from Germany. She was born in Dornum on Nov 9, 1864, her name was Miene Schonberg. He brother Abraham Elieser Adolf is born on May 14, 1868, he later became known as the comedian Al Sheen.

The family lived in New York. When Minnie, how Miene was called now, was 18 she met Simon УSamФ Marx in a dance hall. He came from Alsace, France.In 1884 when Sam was 23 and Minnie was 20 they got married.

SimonТs and MinnieТs first child Manfred born in 1885, died in infancy before the age of three. Most likely the cause of his death was tuberculosis, but some sources say that he died in an accident. The other children were born in 1887, Chico, 1888, Harpo, 1890, Groucho, 1892, Gummo and 1901, Zeppo.

Minnie helped her brother Al Sheen getting into show business and decided early that her children should follow him. Chico played the piano in pubs, Groucho sang as a boy soprano. The brother appeared as The Four Nightingales and The Six Mascots.

The first performance in the Marx Brothers style as we know it was Fun in Hi Skule in 1912. Other shows were Mr GreenТs Reception, Home Again, On the Mezzanine Floor and IТll Say She Is which became their first big success in 1924. After Home Again Gummo left show business and became an agent. He was replaced by Zeppo.

What followed was The Cocoanuts a Broadway show which became their first film. This show as well as Animal Crackers was originally written for the stage and what we see today are more or less filmed versions of the stage productions. These stage performances gave them the possibilities to test the script before an audience and so they perfected the puns and timing. The went back on stage for test performances when filming A Night at the Opera.

From 1929 on they were mainly active in filming. In their first films they appeared as The Four Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo), but Zeppo left the movie business after Duck Soup. From 1929 to 1949 they made 13 films. After that Chico and Harpo more or less retired, but Groucho started a second career as a show master in the quiz show You Bet Your Life.

The Marx Brothers
Duck Soup
Marx Brothers Movie Posters
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