The Marx brothers were American stage and film comedians whose lunatic antics dominated comedy during the 1930s.

Samuel Marx, an immigrant tailor, and Minna Schoenberg, a German vaudevillian turned factory worker, met and married in New York and raised five sons: Leonard (Chico), born in 1891; Adolph (Harpo), 1893; Milton (Gummo), 1894; Julius (Groucho), 1895; and Herbert (Zeppo), 1901.

A true stage mother, Minnie Marx tirelessly arranged interviews and created skits and revues for her boys. In Chico's vaudeville debut he wrestled, clowned, and played piano. Harpo began his career performing in two nightclubs; since he used identical routines, he was fired for presenting "used" material. Unable to find a job, he discovered his grandmother's "broken-down harp" and by his own unorthodox methods became a virtuoso. Possessor of a delightful soprano voice, adolescent Groucho won a part in The Messenger Boys, a benefit revue for San Francisco earthquake victims. But his tour with...