View source for Sam Marx

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{short description|American vaudevillian (1869-1933)}}
{{other people|Samuel Marx|Samuel Marx (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Sam Marx
| image       = Sam marx.jpg
| caption     = Marx in 1923
| birth_name  = Simon Marx
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1859|10|23}}<ref name="famille">[http://judaisme.sdv.fr/perso/marxbr/geneal.htm ''La famille paternelle des Marx Brothers''] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Mertzwiller]], [[Alsace]], France
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1933|05|10|1859|10|23}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], U.S.
| othername   = Frenchie
| occupation  = Tailor (made [[cameo appearance]] in sons' film ''[[Monkey Business (1931 film)|Monkey Business]]'')
| yearsactive = 1880–1933
| spouse      = [[Minnie Marx|Minnie Schönberg]]
| children    = Manfred Marx (1885–1886)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/chrono.htm |title=Chronology |publisher=The Marx Brothers |date= |accessdate=September 20, 2013}}</ref><br />[[Chico Marx|Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx]] (1887–1961)<br />[[Harpo Marx|Adolph Arthur "Harpo" Marx]] (1888–1964)<br />[[Groucho Marx|Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx]] (1890–1977) <br />[[Gummo Marx|Milton "Gummo" Marx]]<br /> (1892–1977) <br />[[Zeppo Marx|Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx]] (1901–1979)
| website     =
}}
'''Samuel Simon Marx''' (born '''Simon Marx'''; October 23, 1859 – May 10, 1933) was the father of the American entertainers known as the [[Marx Brothers]], stars of [[vaudeville]], [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and film, and the husband of [[Minnie Marx]], who served as the group's manager.<ref name="famille"/>
==Life and family==
According to his birth certificate, Marx was born as Simon Marx in [[Alsace]], in France.<ref name="famille"/> Due to his place of birth, he was known as "'''Frenchie'''". His parents were Simon Marx and Johanna Haennchen Isaak. He came to the U.S. from France in 1880. He met Minnie in New York where he was working as a dance teacher. They married in 1884 and had six sons. Their first son, Manfred, born in 1885, died in infancy.<ref>{{cite web |first=Stefan |last=Timphus |title=The Marx Brothers – Family |work=www.marx-brothers.org |url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/marxes.htm |accessdate=May 19, 2009}}</ref> The other children were [[Chico Marx|Leonard (Chico)]], born in 1887, [[Harpo Marx|Adolph (Harpo)]] in 1888, [[Groucho Marx|Julius (Groucho)]] in 1890, [[Gummo Marx|Milton (Gummo)]] in 1892, and [[Zeppo Marx|Herbert (Zeppo)]] in 1901. Marx was an excellent [[pinochle]] player and taught the game to his two eldest sons.
==Career==
Marx became a tailor. According to Groucho, he was a talented cook, often convincing the landlord to delay their rent pay time with a good meal.<ref>{{cite web |first=Stefan |last=Timphus |title=The Marx Brothers – Parents |work=www.marx-brothers.org |url=http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/parents.htm |accessdate=May 19, 2009}}</ref> In his show ''An Evening With Groucho'', Groucho said:<ref>{{cite web |title=An Evening With Groucho Marx (transcript) |url=http://www.ibras.dk/comedy/marx.htm#Klauber |accessdate=May 19, 2009}}</ref>
{{quote|"My father was a tailor, and a very bad one, and Chico was always short of money, and he used to hock my father's shears, so whenever my father made a suit, of course it didn't fit, and the shears would be hanging up in the pawnshop on Ninety-first Street."}}
In his last interview, Zeppo joked that his late father "was a very bad tailor but he found some people who were so stupid that they would buy his clothes, and so he'd make a few dollars that way for food".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/spazprez/zli.html |title=The last interview with Zeppo Marx (August 1979) |accessdate=November 26, 2004 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041126211220/http://www.geocities.com/spazprez/zli.html |archivedate=November 26, 2004}}</ref>
==Cameo appearance with his sons==
Marx made a [[cameo appearance]] in his four sons' film ''[[Monkey Business (1931 film)|Monkey Business]]'' (1931),<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news |title=Samuel Marx, Father of Four Marx Brothers of Stage and Screen Fame |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 12, 1933 |page=17 |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/05/12/105134141.html#105134141.html?pageNumber=17&_suid=147094749463206243483555181057 |accessdate=August 11, 2016}}</ref> sitting on top of luggage behind the brothers on the pier as they wave to the First Officer, having slipped off the ship without being arrested as stowaways. (In some interviews, this scene has been mistakenly attributed to ''[[A Night at the Opera (film)|A Night at the Opera]]''.)
==Death==
Marx died in Hollywood, California, on May 10, 1933, from complications due to [[kidney failure]], aged 73.<ref name=NYTobit/>
He was survived by his brother-in-law [[Al Shean]], sons [[Chico Marx|Chico]], [[Harpo Marx|Harpo]], [[Groucho Marx|Groucho]], [[Gummo Marx|Gummo]] and [[Zeppo Marx]] and grandchildren Maxine, [[Arthur Marx|Arthur]], [[Miriam Marx|Miriam]] and Robert "Bob" Marx. He was interred at [[Mount Carmel Cemetery (Queens)|Mount Carmel Cemetery]] in [[Glendale, Queens]] next to his late wife [[Minnie Marx|Minnie]] (who predeceased him in September 1929).
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/marxes.htm Family — The Marx Brothers]
*{{IMDb name|555675}}
*{{Find a Grave|6092597}}
{{Marx Brothers}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Sam}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1933 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bas-Rhin]]
[[Category:Alsatian Jews]]
[[Category:American male actors]]
[[Category:American people of French-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:French emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney disease]]