Mysteries & Scandals - Episode Groucho Marx
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00:00With a little help from his brothers, this acid-tongued comedian practically invented
00:07the phrase politically incorrect.
00:08Say, Dream Girl, how'd you like to get in the movies?
00:12Why, have you got any passes?
00:14No, but I could make a few.
00:16He could get away with all of that kind of little sexist things or whatever he said because,
00:23you know, he looked funny, he talked funny, he dressed funny.
00:28Let me ask you something.
00:29What's he got that I haven't got?
00:30Well, if he's young, he's handsome, he's strong.
00:33Stop.
00:34I withdraw the question.
00:35Their explosive humor was of a very different nature.
00:37They wanted to be the naughty Jewish boys, and they became the darlings of New York society.
00:42They could do nothing wrong.
00:45But behind Groucho's laughter lived a man who was insecure, misunderstood, and troubled.
00:50No one quite understood Groucho, and he kind of felt maybe a little bit of rejection.
00:55On this episode of Mysteries and Scandals, we'll reveal how the man who made America
00:58laugh couldn't find happiness in his personal life.
01:01My father said, there must be something wrong with me.
01:04He said, every woman that I touch starts drinking.
01:07We'll also examine how Groucho's in-your-face attitude got him into trouble on more than
01:11one occasion.
01:13Louis Mayer had it in for them because Groucho didn't show him proper respect.
01:17And we'll explore the vicious battles Groucho was forced to endure in his final days.
01:21We put on a lot of evidence, a tremendous amount of horrible types of activities that
01:27they had observed in the house, things that related to physical violence and abuse of
01:33Groucho.
01:34Groucho once said, behind every successful man is a woman.
01:37Behind her is his wife.
01:38I'm A.J.
01:39Benza.
01:40Join me as we look past the women, the mustache, and the cigar, and at the man Groucho marks.
01:51By 1977, Groucho Marx, the comedian who always managed a snappy comeback, was too frail to
02:12even manage his own affairs.
02:14The 86-year-old funnyman became embroiled in a vicious battle between his 20-something
02:18companion, Aaron Fleming, and his son, Arthur Marx.
02:22She started to take over.
02:23She put in nothing but a group of spies in the house.
02:26So if I ever came over to see him, she'd know exactly what I talked to him about.
02:31And I couldn't even get to him to tell him what was happening.
02:34At stake was an estate worth roughly two million bucks, a hefty chunk of change that Fleming
02:38was anxious to get her mitts on.
02:40Biographer Stephan Kanfer is the author of Groucho, The Life and Times of Julius Henry
02:44Marx.
02:45The combination of the unstable woman and the old man with money got to everyone.
02:50It eventually got to her.
02:52Anybody who was involved in this could begin to see her take over in a shadowy way that
02:57I think made them all very nervous.
02:59My wife, Lois, said to me, I sense there's going to be a lot of trouble with that girl.
03:05And there was, a lot of trouble.
03:08Unfortunately, this is one story that doesn't have a funny punchline.
03:12Film historian and biographer Joe Adamson.
03:14His name was Julius Henry Marx when he was born in New York in 1890.
03:19He was actually the fourth one born, but the first one died in infancy.
03:23And he didn't quite take after the rest of the family.
03:27And the other members of the family were extroverts, party people, show people, by nature.
03:36By nature, Groucho was more of an introvert.
03:38Well, I tell you, I originally wanted to be a doctor.
03:40I had an uncle who was a comedian, and he was making $250 a week.
03:45And all the doctors I knew around that time were making around $18.
03:50So I decided to skip the Hippocratic oath and get right into show business.
03:55Groucho had a little help from his mother, Minnie, a former vaudeville entertainer who
03:58envisioned a life in show biz for her boys.
04:01Biographer and friend Charlotte Chandler.
04:04Minnie Marx told her sons, what other business is there in the world for people like us?
04:10We could go into it without education and make the great success.
04:15And she believed that was their answer.
04:17The four Marx brothers, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Gummo, started out as a singing group.
04:22The only problem was the boys couldn't carry a tune.
04:25They turned from a singing act into a comedy act.
04:27And they just simply started lampooning themselves and the audience and everything else.
04:31And for the first time, their jokes went over.
04:34And Groucho said about this, we really expected to be tired and feathered and run out of town
04:39on a rail.
04:40And instead, they all laughed.
04:41Later, that was, her uncle Al said they can't go into big time vaudeville with this little
04:47act.
04:48So he wrote them an act called Home Again.
04:49That's what started them on the road to big fame.
04:53And that's when Gummo left the act and went into the army, and that's when Zeppo joined
04:58them.
04:59So their explosive humor was of a very different nature.
05:01And they were used to the decorous quality of other acts.
05:04They couldn't believe their eyes.
05:05I mean, the stage was barely enough to contain these guys.
05:08They were really quite daring and unique.
05:10There was no one like them.
05:11During the run of Home Again, Groucho added his signature cigar and mustache.
05:15He would glue on this crepe mustache.
05:19And one night, he got to the theater late.
05:21And there really wasn't time to apply this spirit gum to his face and glue on the mustache.
05:27So I took some black grease paint that was laying there, and I went like that.
05:32And I went on the stage.
05:34And I noticed that the laughs were just the same as when I had the grown mustache on there.
05:40The painted mustache remained Groucho's trademark, along with his love for pretty young girls.
05:43In 1920, Groucho fell in love with Zeppo's dancing partner, 18-year-old Ruth Johnson.
05:48The two were married, but it was no match made in heaven.
05:51He was very strong, and she didn't have a great sense of humor.
05:55She rarely could get a straight line out of him.
05:58What she did get out of him was a son, Arthur, born the following year.
06:01In 1923, the Marx Brothers made their Broadway debut in the musical I'll Say She Is.
06:06This act is I'll Say She Is.
06:09We went to New York with this act on Broadway, and it was strange the opening night.
06:14The audience literally threw their hats up in the air.
06:18The show was a certifiable hit.
06:19The brothers got their first taste of fame, and Groucho became the group's unofficial frontman.
06:24He was always the one who was always talking.
06:26He was always the one who was trying to get things on an even keel and get things organized.
06:31Author Steve Stollier worked for Groucho Marx.
06:33Groucho stood out over the other brothers in his quick sense of humor and also a physicality.
06:42Groucho early on became, in my opinion, the focus of the act, the main Marx Brother.
06:49Groucho's sarcastic ad libs were a hit with audiences.
06:52Marx became a pioneer in the world of comedy, but like all trailblazers, Groucho had a share
06:56of rocky roads.
06:57Up next, Groucho Marx and his brothers split for Hollywood and then split for good.
07:03In 1929, the four Marx Brothers scored a five-picture deal with Paramount Studios.
07:16The busy brothers shot movies by day and appeared on Broadway by night.
07:19Though Groucho had a knack for making people laugh, the quick-witted comic wasn't always
07:23a happy camper.
07:25And no one quite understood Groucho, and he kind of felt maybe a little bit of rejection
07:30here.
07:32Playing Groucho, playing this character who could say anything and was not insecure, was
07:38a way for him to get more attention, more love, more laughs, more money than he could
07:43ever get as Julius Henry Marx.
07:46Best-selling novelist Sidney Sheldon.
07:48But I think one of the reasons that he got away with what he did was because people thought
07:55he was kidding, and he wasn't.
07:58When Groucho said something that was derogatory, he meant it.
08:02See, thanks a lot for showing up.
08:04There's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for you.
08:06There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.
08:08That makes two of us who do nothing for each other.
08:10And Groucho, no doubt, had a few derogatory things to say when he lost his shirt in the
08:14stock market crash of 1929.
08:17Arthur Marx is the author of My Life with Groucho.
08:21Right after the crash, he was so depressed they couldn't get him out of the dressing
08:24room and onto the stage.
08:25They finally had to push him out.
08:27Groucho was hoping for a brighter future when the gang moved out to sunny California
08:30in 1931.
08:32In Hollywood, the Marx brothers made three films, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and
08:36Duck Soup, actor and comedian Richard Belzer.
08:40Duck Soup is my favorite because it's a great anti-war movie, in addition to being a wild
08:47knockabout musical.
08:49But it's a satire of war, so any time you can make people laugh and make fun of the
08:53institution of war, I think you're way ahead of the game.
08:57Unfortunately, Duck Soup laid an egg at the box office and the Marx brothers' goose was
09:01cooked at Paramount.
09:02Lucky for them, success was in the cards.
09:05Chico played cards routinely with Irving Thalberg.
09:09One night at cards, Chico said, everybody says we're washed up.
09:13I don't think we're washed up yet.
09:15And Thalberg said, I don't think you're washed up either.
09:18I think you're very funny.
09:19They sign up with Irving Thalberg, the biggest producer in Hollywood.
09:22They make it not at the opera, but they at the races with tremendous hits, and they have
09:26a comeback.
09:27And then Irving Thalberg died.
09:31After Irving Thalberg died in 1936, the quality of their films went down markedly, and one
09:39of the theories is because Louie Mayer had it in for them because Groucho didn't show
09:43him proper respect.
09:45Louie B. Mayer hated Groucho because he once met him on the lot and said, how are things
09:49going, Groucho?
09:50I said, I don't think that's any of your business.
09:51Well, of course, it was his business.
09:53MGM was his business, and he couldn't wait for the brothers to fail.
09:57Actress and comedian Judy Tenuta.
10:00Louie B. Mayer was a big fat pig, and everybody hated him.
10:04So is it any wonder that, you know, he gave the Marx Brothers trouble?
10:08You can't have some big fat pig come in there just because he's got a jockstrap and a chair
10:14and a desk to tell you how to do comedy.
10:17Yeah, that's wrong, daddy.
10:20Okay, Judy, regardless of Mayer's animosity, Groucho Marx was ready to break out in his
10:25own.
10:26When we come back, Marx leaves his brothers and his wife, but you can bet your life he
10:29ain't through yet.
10:31Hi, I'm Greg.
10:40After filming The Big Store in 1941, the Marx Brothers went their separate ways.
10:44Groucho wanted to make it as a solo performer, and apparently his wife, Ruth, had the same
10:47idea.
10:48And finally, the day came when she got her own place to live, and he walked her out to
10:53the car, and he wrote me another letter.
10:56He says, your mother finally moved out today, and it was kind of an awkward moment for me.
11:03I didn't know what to say.
11:04So finally, I stuck my hand out and said, Ruth, well, it's been nice knowing you.
11:08If you're ever in the neighborhood again, drop in.
11:10In 1945, 54-year-old Groucho married 24-year-old Kay Gorsy.
11:15The following year, the Marx Brothers got back together for the film A Night in Casablanca,
11:20but Groucho had no plans to make the reunion permanent.
11:23Groucho wanted to be a solo act, and it was just very hard for him to get along with even
11:30his brothers.
11:31It was impossible for him to get along with anybody else.
11:34Groucho was on his own for the 1947 film Copacabana, but the musical hit a sour note at the box
11:38office.
11:39That's when Marx made his mark on the radio.
11:41It was a producer who said, how about if we do a game show, you be the host, you talk
11:46to the guest, you ad lib, and then you ask a few questions at the end, and that's the
11:49game.
11:50He said, I will not do it.
11:51He finally did it.
11:53You bet your life hit the airwaves in 1947 before making the leap to the small screen.
11:58When he went on TV in 1950, his career was kind of lagging, and all of a sudden, he burst
12:05on this new medium of television.
12:07The thing that was great and revelatory about him was that he was a smartass, and it was
12:12sanctioned because it was on television.
12:14Is it true that many girls become carhops in order to be noticed by movie producers?
12:18Yes, I believe that is true.
12:20Well, then, I'll bet there are more movie producers trying to get noticed by carhops.
12:26Groucho's sardonic humor earned him the 1950 Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Personality,
12:31but Marx wasn't winning any awards at home.
12:34Groucho and second wife Kay were on the outs, and their daughter, Melinda, was caught in
12:37the middle.
12:38It seems Kay had a penchant for the sauce.
12:40She started drinking.
12:41She started drinking so heavily, and she would take Melinda around in the car when she was
12:45a kid, and she was drinking and driving, and my father was afraid that Melinda would get
12:49killed.
12:50My father got custody of Melinda, and then he actually sent Kay to a sanitarium.
12:55The couple divorced in 1951.
12:58Three years later, Groucho was at it again with wife number three, 21-year-old Eden Hartford.
13:03Groucho liked arm candy, like most men.
13:06Groucho was, I think, very flattered by the fact that Eden Hartford was a beautiful woman
13:11and was interested in him.
13:13I think she may have been interested in him for many other reasons, but she was interested
13:18in his celebrity.
13:19They got along okay, except she was sort of a dumbbell.
13:25She did start drinking.
13:26She finally realized this was a big mistake, his marriage, and so did he.
13:29One day, my father said to me, there must be something wrong with me.
13:33He said, every woman that I touch starts drinking.
13:36That was sort of a sad story.
13:38He was going through this terrible emotional period.
13:42After You Bet Your Life was canceled in 1961, Groucho Marx was out of work and single at
13:46the age of 70, and the drama was just beginning.
13:49Straight ahead, Marx fights for his life, and his family fights for his dough.
13:55They were the T.L.I.N.E.
13:57Entertainment's homepage.
14:02In 1970, 80-year-old Groucho Marx was living a peaceful life at his home in Beverly Hills,
14:07but not for long.
14:08In need of an assistant to answer his fan mail, Groucho hired an aspiring actress, Erin Fleming,
14:14but the 29-year-old soon became more than just Groucho's secretary.
14:18Erin Fleming was really one of those hangers-on that celebrities attract.
14:24Groucho told me, this is the first time I've really been with a woman who was good-looking
14:29and intelligent, and she really did admire him as living legend Groucho Marx.
14:36Steve Stolier was hired by Erin Fleming to work for Groucho in his house.
14:40Gradually, her responsibilities grew to the point where she became his personal manager,
14:46and then beyond that was really making every important decision.
14:50Groucho's family questioned Fleming's motives.
14:53Author Marx believed Erin was in the relationship for the money.
14:55He wanted to make him, put him wise as to what she was trying to do.
14:59He wouldn't believe it, he kept saying she loves me.
15:03We all knew it wasn't true.
15:04I'm older than she is.
15:06I think she's 28, but there's no difference in that.
15:13I once said that a man is as old as the women he feels.
15:17He wanted to please her, and he did pretty much what she wanted him to do.
15:23I think he stopped seeing some people that she didn't like because of that,
15:29and she was influential in that way.
15:33There was that feeling that Groucho's life wasn't his life, that she was apparently,
15:39for many people, a gold digger because she was so much younger,
15:43and that he didn't have the right to go back to show business because
15:47he couldn't do it as well as before.
15:49But people were clamoring for it, and Carnegie Hall wanted him.
15:52At the ripe old age of 81, Marx played the legendary New York concert hall
15:56in an evening with Groucho.
15:58The packed house included actor Richard Belzer.
16:00The reaction that he got, I think, so imbued him with energy
16:05because he was slow and tired and old.
16:08When that crowd, it was really an amazing moment,
16:12and you could just see him get energy, literally, from the room.
16:18Aaron Fleming tried to resuscitate Groucho's career.
16:21Marx made numerous TV appearances, and in 1973,
16:24the aging comedian received an honorary Oscar.
16:27Then Fleming began to bite the hand that was feeding her.
16:30I saw numerous examples of Aaron's fury.
16:34There was clearly verbal and emotional abuse,
16:37and Aaron was given to screaming fits, slamming of doors, throwing things.
16:44But it would often have a very detrimental effect on Groucho,
16:47where if she threw a fit, he would end up shivering and crying,
16:52and it was heartbreaking to witness that.
16:55In March of 1977, attorney J. Brynn Shulman filed a petition
16:59to have Arthur Marx appointed Groucho's personal conservator.
17:03The legal contest began.
17:04A couple of private detectives had been retained by Ms. Fleming
17:10to do some investigative or debugging,
17:14and that in their investigative efforts,
17:17they found a number of items in the storm drain outside of Groucho's house
17:22that included some 20-odd syringes, I believe,
17:26and some medicine vials,
17:28and they were very concerned with what these items were.
17:31They had Groucho's name on the vials.
17:33He went into Aaron and said,
17:35I just found this in the storm drain in front of the house.
17:37What should I do with it?
17:39And Aaron said, bury it in the backyard.
17:42So the detective, to his credit, took it to the Beverly Hills police,
17:47who ran tests on the drugs and found that there were traces of barbiturates
17:52left in the syringe.
17:54We put on a lot of evidence.
17:56Nurses, a cook, I think the housekeeper,
18:00all who testified to things that related to physical violence
18:05and abuse of Groucho by Aaron Fleming.
18:08A judge decided to appoint a third party,
18:10Groucho's grandson, Andy Marks, as conservator during the conflict.
18:14While Aaron and Arthur were duking it out in court,
18:16Groucho was in Cedars-Sinai battling pneumonia.
18:19When I just left the hospital, I got a call from Andy.
18:22He said, you better come back.
18:24Your father's blood pressure is getting low and they can't raise it.
18:29So that was the end.
18:30We went over and he was lying in bed, practically unconscious by then.
18:35We went over and I held his hand and he died.
18:38Julius Henry Groucho Marks was 86.
18:41His body was cremated and his ashes were interred in the San Fernando Valley.
18:46But the controversy over his estate lingered on.
18:48After Groucho died, the Bank of America then became the executor of his estate.
18:57Seeking to essentially recover money and property
19:00and to cancel some contracts that had been entered into
19:04between Aaron Fleming and Groucho Marks.
19:08Aaron was her own worst enemy because the jurors felt she had something to hide.
19:14She had undergone psychiatric examinations when she was clinically labeled,
19:20you know, mentally disturbed.
19:23In the end, Aaron Fleming lost the fight and walked away with nothing.
19:28The real tragedy about it, Groucho,
19:30is all this happened to a man who was a funny person who made us all laugh.
19:35Hold me closer, closer, closer.
19:39If I hold you any closer, I'll be embarrassed.
19:41And it's very sad that there was times that he had to stop laughing.
19:48I loved him a lot and I always will.
19:51I always remember the good times I had with him,
19:53how much fun he was and how he tried to help me.
19:57And what a really good father he was because he was conscientious about that.
20:02When Groucho died, it was a terrible loss.
20:04Very few people have the nerve to be so openly anti-establishment.
20:10And he was, he said anything that came into his mind.
20:13And he said it in such a way that people accepted it
20:16and thought it was either funny or brilliant or both.
20:19Groucho Marks should be remembered as a brilliantly inventive,
20:25funny, bright, wonderful presence.
20:30Cinema, television, stage.
20:33He really was just a totally unique, original creation.
20:41Groucho once said,
20:42the secret of success is honesty and fair dealing.
20:44If you can fake those, you got it made.
20:47How are you going to beat a guy like that?
20:48I'm AJ Benzo.
20:49Join me the next time we take a stroll down the flip side of the Walk of Fame.
20:55And my father wanted to join this ritzy beach club.
21:05My father said he'd like an application.
21:07And the man said, well, I'm sorry, we can't accept you because you're Jewish.
21:12My father looked at the manager and said, well, how about my son?
21:16He's only half Jewish.
21:17Can he go in the water up to his knees?
21:20We never got in the club.