Happy Birthday Groucho!

Julius Henry Marx (later known as "Groucho") would have been 118 years old today. Did you know his early ambition was to be a doctor? However, family finances forced him to leave school at age 12. Groucho and his four brothers started their careers in New York City as a vaudeville singing group, "The Four Nightingales." Gummo left the act to become a real estate agent before the boys hit the big time in the movies. Zeppo (whom I always found to be curiously attractive--see photo-- considering the gene pool) became a theatrical agent after "Duck Soup" in 1933. But Groucho, Harpo (my personal favorite) and Chico (originally "Chicko," due to his reputation as a ladies man!) went on to make 15 feature films, entertaining millions to this day. Interesting note: According to Wikipedia, a guest on Groucho's quiz show You Bet Your Life told the quizmaster she came from Chico, California and Groucho responded that he had a brother named "Cheek-oh." Happy Birthday, Groucho! (Click here to watch a rare clip of Harpo being "interviewed" on the Today Show in 1961. Click here to read a fascinating and revealing transcript of Zeppo's final interview from 1979.)