Speaker 1: I guess what Will? What's that mango? So I know
Speaker 1: you're avidly following the Australian Open right now, but it
Speaker 1: reminded me of this great Groucho Marks. Fact. Did you
Speaker 1: know that Groucho Marks's son was an acclaimed tennis player? No?
Speaker 1: I didn't. Yeah, he was ranked in the US and
Speaker 1: it took a young Bobby Riggs five sets to beat him. Wow.
Speaker 1: You might know Riggs from winning Wilbledon at one or
Speaker 1: more famously for challenging and losing to Billy Jean King
Speaker 1: in the Battle of the Sexes you know, many years later,
Speaker 1: of course. Yeah, but Groucher's son was actually the real deal.
Speaker 1: That is crazy. I did not know that. And uh,
Speaker 1: tennis wasn't his only skill. He later wrote screenplays for
Speaker 1: Bob Hope and penn scripts for sitcoms like On the Family, Maud,
Speaker 1: The Jefferson's. And that's just first of nine facts about
Speaker 1: the Marx Brothers. Let's dive in a their podcast. Listeners,
Speaker 1: welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as
Speaker 1: always I'm joined by my good friend Mangesha Ticketer and
Speaker 1: on the other side of the soundproof glass, sipping from
Speaker 1: a big bowl of duck soup. That's our friend and
Speaker 1: producer Tristan McNeil. Now, usually we'd have our researcher Gabe
Speaker 1: Louisier on the line as well, but things have been
Speaker 1: a little different this week. There's been yet another snowstorm
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Now I'm in New York this week, so
Speaker 1: I'm I'm actually not dealing with a snowstorm, Howard things
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. I go. You and Tristan, I think are
Speaker 1: the only ones in the office now right, I know
Speaker 1: it's a totally empty except for us. In these nine facts. Wow,
Speaker 1: real troopers. Okay, well, I'm guessing that you can do
Speaker 1: better than a fact about Groucho Marx's tennis playing son.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was awesome. But do you want to
Speaker 1: take a take the next one as well? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna stick with the sports theme here. And
Speaker 1: here's one about Harpo. Did you know he was in
Speaker 1: the Croquet Hall of Fame? I didn't. So this is
Speaker 1: the description from the U. S Croquet Association on his game,
Speaker 1: and it's pretty great. So quote usually clad only in
Speaker 1: the briefest of trunks, even when others were in flannels,
Speaker 1: Harpo would just bound around the court, laughing and stretching
Speaker 1: mouthful of an entire pack of gum. But apparently he
Speaker 1: was really serious about it, Like he used to store
Speaker 1: his croquet tools and just like cold room in his house,
Speaker 1: and it was especially built just to keep the humidity
Speaker 1: out so it didn't warp his mallets. That's so strange,
Speaker 1: all right. Well, speaking of Harpo and strangeness, that did
Speaker 1: you know that he used to practice the harp for
Speaker 1: two to three hours every day and he would do
Speaker 1: this in every room in the house. In fact, according
Speaker 1: to Harpo's son Bill, his dad quote maybe the first
Speaker 1: multitasker ever. He even had a harp in the bathroom
Speaker 1: so he could play when he sat on the toilet.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of a toilet harp. So I
Speaker 1: know we've talked about T. S. Eliott's friendship with Graucho
Speaker 1: Marks in the past, but here's what I'd never heard before.
Speaker 1: So Alice Cooper and Groucho Marks were actually really good friends.
Speaker 1: And apparently they started their friendship when Groucho told Alice
Speaker 1: Cooper at a party that his onstage theatrics were total vaudeville,
Speaker 1: and Alice Cooper agreed, and their friendships really interesting. So
Speaker 1: Grocho Marks was this total insomniac and late in the
Speaker 1: night he'd call Alice over and they drink Budweiser, smoked
Speaker 1: cigars and watch all movies late into the nine until
Speaker 1: Groucho passed out. And also Groucho used to take his
Speaker 1: friends to Alice Cooper shows, So this is totally true.
Speaker 1: George Burns and Fred Astaire have seen Alice Cooper and concert.
Speaker 1: That's pretty crazy. Yeah, But but the friendship wasn't just
Speaker 1: one way. When Alice Cooper paid to restore one of
Speaker 1: the o's in the old Hollywood sign, he dedicated it
Speaker 1: to Groucho Marks. Actually, you know, there's another friendship that
Speaker 1: I didn't realize. So Groucho was good pals with Elton John.
Speaker 1: In fact, he used to kid him that his name
Speaker 1: was reversed, that it should be John Elton and I
Speaker 1: happen to agree with him on this one. But one
Speaker 1: night he ribbed him so much that John finally threw
Speaker 1: his hands up in exasperation and joke, don't shoot me,
Speaker 1: I'm only the piano player, which of course became the
Speaker 1: name for his next album, That's Funny. So here's one
Speaker 1: about Zeppe Marks, A K. Herbert, who was actually an
Speaker 1: incredible inventor. So after leaving show business, he invented a
Speaker 1: wristwatch that could sense heart attacks, which he did by
Speaker 1: monitoring your pulse, and he had a number of other
Speaker 1: inventions too. He developed a new type of heating pad.
Speaker 1: He even started a company that made clamps for the
Speaker 1: war effort, and supposedly it was his company's clamps that
Speaker 1: secured the fat Men and Little Boy bombs in place. Well,
Speaker 1: if you're ever wondering about the power of comedy, Groucho
Speaker 1: Marks once halted trading at the New York Stock Exchange.
Speaker 1: Apparently he spied the mic on stage and couldn't help himself.
Speaker 1: He started performing songs and telling jokes and went on
Speaker 1: for something like fifteen minutes as the traders just stopped
Speaker 1: and watched him. It only stopped when he joked that
Speaker 1: they were all dallying too much and that they should
Speaker 1: start working before they ruined some important person's finances. M So,
Speaker 1: I know this isn't about one of the Marx brothers,
Speaker 1: but it is about a Marx, Karl Marx, and I
Speaker 1: had to include it because it was so stupid. Did
Speaker 1: you know that Karl Marx named all four of his
Speaker 1: daughters Jenny. They had they had different middle names, but
Speaker 1: he doled out the first names equally. There's Jenny, Caroline, Jenny, Laura, Jenny,
Speaker 1: Evelyn Francis, and Jenny Julia Eleanor and they all got
Speaker 1: to be Jenny Marx's. Wow. All right, Well, here's what
Speaker 1: I know you're going to love. Did you know that
Speaker 1: there was a Marx Brothers movie that almost got made
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, and it was going to be
Speaker 1: about the Marx brothers visiting the United Nations. Apparently Billy Wilder,
Speaker 1: who made all these great comedies, who was staying at
Speaker 1: the u N during some political craziness and thought all
Speaker 1: the chaos would make for a great setting. He dreamed
Speaker 1: of this movie about Groucho as a mob boss trying
Speaker 1: to rob Tiffany's while all the city's cops were protecting
Speaker 1: a delegation at the u N. And even though the
Speaker 1: Marx Brothers hadn't made a movie since the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: they were all on board. It is until health problems
Speaker 1: slowed them down and kept them from actually filming the movie.
Speaker 1: That's really interesting and actually, while I'd love to see
Speaker 1: that movie. I think that's a great fact I'm worth
Speaker 1: keeping around, So I think you get the trophy for
Speaker 1: this week. All right, Well, thank you and thank you
Speaker 1: guys for listening. We'll be back with a full length
Speaker 1: episode tomorrow y