Happy Birthday, Bill Marx

Having already written posts about Chico’s sole progeny Maxine, and two of Groucho’s children, Arthur and Miriam, it seems equitable that this January 8 we pay birthday tribute to Harpo’s oldest child Bill Marx (b. 1937).

I was honored to appear on the same episode of The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with Bill in 2014, and on Noah Diamond’s 2022 program If You Get Near a Song, Play It. I have high hopes that I’ll encounter him at this year’s Marxfest, although my fear is that I’ll do what Harpo supposedly did when he debuted with his brothers at Henderson’s Music Hall, Coney Island. On the other hand, Bill was raised by Harpo, the nicest of all the Marx Brothers, and by all reports he takes after his dad.

Harpo married Susan Fleming quite late in life, therefore his oldest child (of four) is a full generation younger than Chico’s and Groucho’s oldest. Yet he is old enough to have known and worked with his dad and uncles during their last years. He was 24 when Chico passed, 27 when Harpo died, 40 for Gummo and Groucho, and 42 for Zeppo. It’s plenty of time to have known them, and know them he did. Like his older cousins, he went into show business, and carved out a distinctive niche for himself. Unlike his cousins (but like the children of George Burns and Gracie Allen), Bill and his younger siblings were adopted. I have always been struck by the extraordinary though apparently coincidental fact that Bill not only talks and acts like a genetic Marx, but actually looks like one, especially now that he’s older. He actually exceeds his dad and uncles in conventional handsomeness however; he might have served the family act very creditably in a Gummo/Zeppo role.

Bill literally worked for his dad starting at age 12, touring with him and managing his props. Can you imagine a cooler job than setting up Harpo Marx’s harp? By the time he was 16, the musically gifted Bill was already working with his dad as a conductor and arranger. He ended up attending Juilliard and becoming a composer, musician, and recording artist in his own right.

1963

Bill also briefly dabbled in acting as a young man, appearing on The Dupont Show with June Allyson and the sitcom version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington with Fess Parker in the early 60s. His first movie soundtrack was Walk the Angry Beach (1961), but a decade later was when he seriously delved into composing and arranging scores for films, most of them low-budget horror flicks, but many of them well known to lovers of the genre: Count Yorga, Vampire (1970); The Return of Count Yorga (1971); Deathmaster (1972); Terror at Red Wolf Inn (1972); Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973); Act of Vengeance (1974); Johnny Vik (1977); The Astral Factor (1978); and Mr. Too Little (1978). He was also involved with the music for the comedies Weekend Pass (1984) and Big Trouble (1986).

Bill was in the 1982 documentary The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell, and when Limelight reprinted Harpo Speaks in 1985, he appeared on The Today Show and Late Night with David Letterman in support of it. Since the ’80s he has been a popular high end lounge act as a piano player, especially in L.A. In 2007 he released his own contribution to the Marxian oeuvre, Son of Harpo Speaks. He also maintains the terrific official Harpo Marx website Harpo’s Place.

For more on the Marx Brothers, please readThe Marx Brothers Miscellany: A Subjective Appreciation of the World’s Greatest Comedy Team — and come see us atMarxfest, May 17-26, 2024!