If you are new to the Marx Brothers, this page will try to help you to decide where to start
Who are they?
If you have been sent to this site and don't really know who the Marx Brothers are, start with the "Biography" page to find out more about this comedy team which had a career spanning more than 40 years in vaudeville, movies and TV.
Even if you haven't heard of them before, you might have seen some of Groucho Marx' famous quotes.
The Movies
The top Marx Brothers movies are (in chronological order):
- Animal Crackers (1930)
- Monkey Business (1931)
- Horse Feathers (1932)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- A Night at the Opera (1935)
- A Day at the Races (1937)
While most Marx Brothers fans will agree with this list, there are various arguments about which is the best.
If you want to see the Marx Brothers in a more anarchic way like they started off on stage, the early movies made by Paramount are for you. Of the Paramount movies Duck Soup is generally considered to be the best, whereas Animal Crackers and The Cocoanuts are the closest you can get to a Marx Brothers stage show.
If you prefer a more structured plot you should go for the MGM movies A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races, of which A Night at the Opera is the better one.
All of the movies have some great scenes in them, so if you like the movies listed above, you should also try the later movies, A Night in Casablanca being my favourite.
The "Movies" page has more information about all movies.
Reading
There are many books written about the Marx Brothers and also several written by the Brothers themself (mainly Groucho).
The books written by Groucho and Harpo are fun to read, but often not very accurate on the facts, whereas other books will provide you with all the facts, but are not as entertaining.
A book which gives you a lot of information, but is still fun to read is "Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo" by Joe Adamson.
Must reads are also "Harpo speaks" and "Groucho and me"
Recommended fact books are "Monkey Business" by Simon Louvish and "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia" by Glen Mitchell.
For the Advanced
In the area of written publications about the Marx Brothers there is a lot to explore ranging from books in which they appear as characters to PhD theses about them.
Another good example of Marx Brothers humour can be found in various recordings which take their material mainly from radio shows
