Pronounced Chick-o

Chico Marx died 50 years ago today.  I finally got around to reading his daughter Maxine's book Growing Up With Chico--probably the only book on the Marx Brothers I hadn't read.

She wrote the book to respond to recent things Groucho had said about her dad, years after Chico had died.  Groucho, who couldn't help but insult people, said some nasty thing which had been used in a book, and Maxine wanted to show the father she adored.

Not that she whitewashes him.  It's still the Chico we've all heard about--feckless with money and faithless with women.  Though this time, we hear about it from below, seeing how it hurts his wife and family.

Maxine was born in 1918, the first child of any Marx Brother.  Luckily for us, she concentrates on the Brothers' greatest era--the 20s, when they conquered Broadway, and the 30s, when they conquered Hollywood. (A nice corrective to Harpo's book.) Some of the stories she no doubt reconstructed through speaking to others, but plenty of it is what life was like as the child of a star.  She also talks about dealing with Uncles Groucho and Harpo.

One thing she gets across is how important Chico was to the team.  He was actually the last of the main three to join their stage act.  As the oldest son, he'd been out on his own, in a piano act, while his mother Minnie put her other boys on the stage.  They were doing better than Chico, but once he came aboard, he saw how good they were and realized their potential.  He took over management of the group and at every step of the way made the connections that took them to the next level.  They became headliners in Vaudeville, but when that seemed to be over, he convinced them they could make it on Broadway and met the man who'd finance their show.  When movies beckoned, he met with Adolph Zukor and convinced Paramount to pay them more than their original asking price.  When they needed to find a new studio, Chico made a connection with Irving Thalberg, head producer at MGM with whom he played bridge, and the Brothers became bigger than ever.

Chico was perfect for this role.  Not only was he optimistic and canny, he was also more outgoing than Harpo and more charming than Groucho.  We may never have heard of the team if he hadn't pushed them.

As far as a performer, he was also perfect for his brothers.  Both Harpo and Groucho demanded attention, and Chico was willing to support them on stage and on screen.  In fact, half of Harpo's scenes are only possible with Chico.  And the Groucho-Chico routines are some of the most beloved comedy bits they ever did.  Then there was his piano-playing, where he got to shine on his own.  Groucho may have affected to hate it, but the audiences then--and today--love it.