HARPO MARX
▲▲ ▲▲
HARPO AT WORK
Harpo Marx: Musician and Artist
A self-taught virtuoso, Harpo played the harp in nearly every Marx Brothers film. He originally learned to hold it by looking at a picture of an angel.
Born in New York City, he dropped out of school at age eight due to bullying. He joined his brothers in vaudeville around 1910.
His silent persona reportedly began after a critic noted he was funny until he spoke, or because he had difficulty memorizing lines.
Anybody who has seen a Marx Brothers movie knows Harpo is a lunatic... a wild man capable of the craziest things imaginable... and even some things that defy the laws of physics. (In one movie, he pulls a full-grown dog out of his coat; in another, a lit candle burning at both ends.)
