WERE THE MARX BROTHERS REALLY BROTHERS ZIP
And 'Zeppo' certainly fits the bill: it's energy and pace, somehow it's got zep and zip and zap and pow and whizz and fizz. So all Zeppo needed was a name that fitted: a light, fun, memorable comedy name. Even then, they could never have dreamed that they would become principally known by these names, and therefore that they would be asked to explain them. Zeppo took an -o name because he was replacing Gummo in the act, and needed a snappy -o name of his own. Art Fisher was not involved it was not just a bit of fun, and the convention already existed. But Zeppo's name was created differently. The idea that eventually they would be known by the names he invented, and even use them in private life, for the rest of their lives, would have been unimaginable. The original nicknames were given spontaneously (by Art Fisher during a poker game) with no particular purpose in mind and certainly with no eye to longevity. There's really no reason to think it should.
WERE THE MARX BROTHERS REALLY BROTHERS FREE
Let us free ourselves of one mistaken certainty: that it has to mean something. We have to ask why! Why does everyone know for certainty that Milton wore gumshoes, but nobody can be certain whether Herbert was named after a chimp or an airship? Why the confusion? Why the profusion? Not only have all these solutions been offered, but there are also those people who have stated outright that they didn't know the answer, and most of the suggestions that were offered were offered tentatively, unsurely. Suddenly a fifth brother shows up and the tally jumps to eleven.) The point is that we have four brothers sharing five possible name explanations between them. He might have said 'You being so grouchy, it's no wonder you carry a grouch bag! Hey, I'll call you Groucho!" This is wild speculation of course, but fortunately irrelevant to the discussion. He decided to give him a nickname, settled on 'grouch' as the defining theme, and then went for Groucho because that name formation already existed. It mightn't have just as easily been Grouchy or the Grouchster, or Grouchface, or Grouchadoodledandy: it had to be Groucho. (How do we know he was the first named, and why is that important? Because the name 'Groucho' already existed, in various contexts, most notably in a popular comic strip. Okay, we have two for Groucho - a grouchy demeanour and the possession of a grouch bag - but (a) that's still a far cry from six alternatives, and (b) the rules are slightly different for Groucho, because he was the first named. I can't help wondering if the supposedly accidental dropping of the 'k' in his name, with its resultant change in pronunciation, wasn't likewise deliberate, and for the same reason.) (Yes, there is that story in some press reports that he was noted for his love of eating chicken, but my guess is that this is not a genuine alternative but a deliberate bit of press agenty deception, to disguise a true meaning that was a tad risque. This is madness! There's only one explanation for Harpo's name. Vi) I don't have the first clue what this one even means, but Noah Diamond recently unearthed it, so let's add it for completeness: when dealing cards he adopted a rapid spin that dropped the card in front of each player "like a golf ball falling dead to the pin." How we get from here to 'Zeppo' is up to you. According to Wikipedia, this was Zeppo's own contribution to the seething whirlpool: I've not seen it cited anywhere else. V) 'Zep' is Italian-American slang for 'baby' Herbert was called this because he was the youngest. Iv) It was inspired by a freak show pinhead called Zip, who shared Herbert's 45-degree forehead. Iii) It was inspired by a performing chimp called Mr Zippo, who shared Herbert's penchant for acrobatics. Herbert would say, "Hiya, Zeke", and Gummo would reply, "Hiya, Zeb." Ii) It originated when they were pretending to be rustics during their brief experiment in farming. I) There were zeppelins flying overhead when he was born.
(This is a sentence for Arthur Sullivan to set to music if ever there was one.) The first mystery is the sheer multiplicity of offered possibilities. We know the meaning and origins of the other four Brothers' names, more or less, but Zeppo's, for some reason, is mired in confusion, doubt and disagreement.
It's odd, isn't it, that nobody seems all that sure why Herbert called himself Zeppo when he joined the Marx Brothers?
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