Editing Zeppo Marx (section)

==Career==
===Early career and the Marx Brothers===
Zeppo replaced brother Gummo in the Marx Brothers' stage act when Gummo was drafted into the army in 1918. Zeppo had been employed as a mechanic for the [[Ford Motor Company]]. He had no desire for a show business career, but Minnie Marx insisted that he replace Gummo because she wanted to maintain the act as a foursome. Zeppo remained with the team in [[vaudeville]], [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and the first five Marx Brothers films as the [[straight man]] and romantic lead until leaving the act following ''[[Duck Soup (1933 film)|Duck Soup]]'' in 1933. He also appeared without his brothers in a minor role the [[Adolphe Menjou]] comedy ''[[A Kiss in the Dark (1925 film)|A Kiss in the Dark]]'' (1925), billed as Herbert Marx.  His performance was praised by the ''[[New York Sun]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/kiss.htm|title=Marxology - A Kiss In The Dark - The Marx Brothers|website=Marx-brothers.org|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref>

Barbara Sinatra said that he was considered too young to perform with his brothers, but when Gummo joined the army, Zeppo was asked to join the act as a last-minute replacement at a show in Texas. He and a Jewish friend were supposed to have a date with two Irish girls, but Zeppo canceled in order to board the train to Texas. His friend was shot several hours later by a gang that disapproved of Jews dating Irish girls.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Having watched his brothers for many years, Zeppo could imitate and replace any of the others when illness kept them from performing live on stage.

[[File:Time Magazine Cover Marx Brothers.jpg|left|thumb|Zeppo (far right) with his brothers Harpo, Groucho, and Chico on the cover of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] in 1932]]
Groucho said: "He was so good as Captain Spaulding in ''Animal Crackers'' that I would have let him play the part indefinitely if they had allowed me to smoke in the audience."<ref>Marx, Arthur. ''My Life with Groucho: Growing Up with the Marx Brothers''. Barricade Books (June 1992)</ref> However, Zeppo did not develop his own comic persona to play against those of his brothers. Critic Percy Hammond wrote in 1928:
<blockquote>One of the handicaps to the thorough enjoyment of the Marx Brothers in their merry escapades is the plight of poor Zeppo Marx. While Groucho, Harpo, and Chico are hogging the show, as the phrase has it, their brother hides in an insignificant role, peeping out now and then to listen to plaudits in which he has no share.<ref>''[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19281118&id=5W8bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=80oEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1522,4029042&hl=fr The Theater : Poor Zeppo Marx !]'', ''The Pittsburgh Press'', November 18, 1928.</ref></blockquote>

Zeppo did impersonate one of his brothers—only once—in a movie. There was a day during the filming of [[Animal Crackers (1930 film)|''Animal Crackers'']] when Groucho couldn't appear. The scene being filmed was Groucho and Margaret Dumont discussing strange noises during the theft of a painting. Zeppo stepped in, wearing Groucho's costume and makeup, and the scene was rigged so there was a power failure. Thus the action could be filmed almost in darkness, hiding the deception. The giveaway is when "Groucho" turns his head to investigate the noises, the light catches Zeppo's distinctive profile.

The popular assumption that Zeppo's character was superfluous was fueled in part by Groucho. According to Groucho's own story, when the group became the Three Marx Brothers, the studio wanted to trim their collective salary, and Groucho replied, "We're twice as funny without Zeppo!"<ref name="britannica">[http://blogs.britannica.com/blog/main/2006/11/on-the-silver-and-plasma-screen-duck-soup/ ''Duck Soup''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105232835/http://blogs.britannica.com/blog/main/2006/11/on-the-silver-and-plasma-screen-duck-soup/ |date=January 5, 2009}} – ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Groucho later said of his brother: "Except for the chorus girls, being a straight man in the Marx Brothers wasn't fun for him. He wanted to be a comedian, too, but there just wasn't room for another funny Marx Brother. ... But offstage, he was the funniest one of us".</ref>

Zeppo was mechanically adept and largely responsible for keeping the Marx family car running. He later owned Marman Products Co., which machined parts for the war effort during [[World War II]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>Aeroquip Corporation." ''International Directory of Company Histories'', edited by Tina Grant, vol. 16, St. James Press, 1997, pp. 7-9.</ref> The company produced a motorcycle called the [[Marman Twin]]<ref name="Marman Twin">[http://www.50sville.com/marman.html Marman Twin – Herbert Zeppo Marx – Marx Brothers<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717185038/http://www.50sville.com/marman.html |date=July 17, 2014}}</ref> as well as the [[Marman clamp]]s used to hold the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombs]] inside the [[B-29 bomber]]s ''[[Enola Gay]]'' and ''[[Bockscar]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Why a clamp? |url=https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/why-a-clamp |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=www.hemmings.com}}</ref> He obtained patents for a wristwatch that monitored pulse rate and sounded an alarm if the heartbeat became irregular,<ref name=":0" /><ref>US Patent and Trademark Office; US Pat. 3,473,526; "Cardiac Pulse-Rate Monitor", filed July 14, 1967 & issued October 21, 1969; 3,426,747, "Method and Watch Mechanism for Actuation by a Cardiac Pulse", a continuation-in-part filed November 20, 1967, issued February 11, 1969.</ref> and a therapeutic pad for delivering moist heat to a patient.<ref>US PTO; U.S. Pat. 2,590,026; inventor Zeppo Marx; "Vapor Delivery Pad for Distributing Moist Heat", filed June 14, 1950, issued March 18, 1952.</ref>

The 2024 book by Robert S Bader ''Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother'' said that Zeppo was deeply associated with gangsters, and was called to testify before a [[grand jury]] in 1958 about missing funds in a gambling syndicate. According to Bader his brothers were so worried about his associates and high-stakes gambling that they considered disowning him; but they were always personally close.<ref>{{cite news| last=Alberge | first=Dalya | title='This guy was shady': Zeppo Marx's underworld links revealed in new book |newspaper=The Observer| date=October 5, 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/05/this-guy-was-shady-zeppo-marxs-underworld-links-revealed-in-new-book}}</ref>

After retiring from the screen, Zeppo founded a large theatrical agency with his brother Gummo and they represented numerous screenwriters and actors, including their brothers.<ref name="Louvish">[[Simon Louvish|Louvish, Simon]]. ''Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers''. Thomas Dunne Books; 1st U.S. edition (2000). Also [https://books.google.com/books?id=LUDTxbB-ipoC&dq=Zeppo+agent&pg=PA277 e-text at Google Books]</ref>