The Lafe Schoenberg Bicentennial

Born 200 years ago today, the deceptively influential Louis “Lafe” Schoenberg (1819-1920).

Schoenberg was a magician and ventriloquist from Dornum, Lower Saxony, Germany. He performed for over 50 years, but was hardly famous for his own career. I call him “deceptively influential” on account of his progeny. For he was the maternal grandfather of The Marx Brothers, as well as the father of their mother and manager Minnie and Al Shean, of the team of Gallagher and Shean. Of the Marxes, I believe that he was particularly influential on the top hatted and magical clown Harpo. But he was also influential on the young Groucho, who played a German-accented “Dutch” character in the tradition of Weber and Fields early in his career. Lafe lived to be over a hundred, long enough to see his descendants score big hits in vaudeville.

A century after his passing, my friends Noah Diamond and Seth Shelden did Marx Brothers fans the world over a true service by locating the grave marker for Lafe and his wife Fanny (sadly untended and overgrown) at Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn:

The video they took of their moment of discovery was one of the highlights of this program, and a truly moving experience.

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!