Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American comedy troupe who achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 13 motion pictures. The five brothers were Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Groucho Marx, Gummo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, though Gummo and Zeppo both left the group over time, leaving Chico, Harpo, and Groucho as a trio. They are considered by critics, scholars and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century, a recognition underscored by the American Film Institute (AFI) selecting five of their thirteen feature films to be among the top 100 comedy films (with two in the top fifteen) and including them as the only group of performers on AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.

Their performing lives, heavily influenced by their mother, Minnie Marx, started with Groucho on stage at age 14, in 1905. He was joined, in succession, by Gummo and Harpo. Chico started a separate vaudeville act in 1911, and joined his brothers in 1912. Zeppo replaced Gummo when the latter joined the army in World War I. The brothers performed in vaudeville until 1923, when they found themselves banned from the major vaudeville circuits owing to a dispute with E. F. Albee. Failing in an attempt to produce their own shows on the alternate Shubert circuit, they transitioned to Broadway, where they achieved success with a series of hit musical comedies, including I'll Say She Is, The Cocoanuts, and Animal Crackers.

In 1928, the Marx Brothers made a deal with Paramount Pictures to appear in a screen version of The Cocoanuts, which was filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios during the Broadway run of Animal Crackers. The Cocoanuts was released in 1929, followed the next year by a film version of Animal Crackers.