In his superlative biography of the brothers' early stage careers in vaudeville, Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage, Robert S. Bader confirms that the Marxes were in Galesburg, Illinois beginning on 14 May 1914. They were still toiling away in vaudeville, and on the bill with them was Art Fisher. Likely, the poker game took place during that week. A popular comic strip, known by many names including Sherlocko the Monk and Knocko the Monk, was inspiring vaudevillians to assume their own nicknames ending in -o.
Harpo Marx says in his autobiography, Harpo Speaks, that as Fisher dealt a card to each brother, he gave them one of these “-o” nicknames, based on their personalities and/or interests. To Arthur, who played the harp, he gave the nickname Harpo.
"Harpo Marx"
Leonard was dubbed Chicko, in honor of his favorite pastime: chasing the ladies aka the "chickens" aka the "chicks". The name was always pronounced “Chick-oh”, not “Cheek-o". (The pronunciation is also a key way to single out a real Marx Brothers fan from a poser). According to Harpo, a typesetter accidentally left off the “k” one night. Chico never felt the need to correct it, probably because he was busy with a chicken. The brothers always retained the original pronunciation.
Bader provides another reason Leonard might have become Chico. Citing a 1923 Variety article, the term “chicken chasing” referred to the practice by theater owners and bookers of only hiring women willing to succumb to their sexual advances. Did Chico Marx engage in Harvey Weinstein-esque casting couch tactics? No one will ever know for certain. The brothers in their interviews and books never cite this possible reason, likely because Chico was a married man with a daughter.
Least well known of the brothers is Gummo, who left the act before they became film stars. He became a very successful agent and manager. Gummo, by his own accounts, was the least talented and had no interest in being on stage. However, he is often said to be the best dancer in the group. No surprise then that the various backstories for his nickname relate to feet.
Plagued by perpetual holes in his shoes, Gummo took to wearing gumshoes. Another variation is that Gummo creeped around backstage like an old-fashioned detective (“a gumshoe”). He half-joked in an interview once that he was called Gummo “because [he’d] never stick to the stage.”
Gummo served as the straight man in the Marxes' stage acts, a role youngest brother Herbert would inherit. Herbert was not present at the card game, but the origin of his nickname, Zeppo, is perhaps the most odd and remains a subject of discourse. The zeppelin is often credited as the source of Zeppo’s name. Groucho backs this up during his one-man show at Carnegie Hall in 1972, claiming Zeppo was born around the same time the zeppelins began making their first transatlantic flights. Even Zeppo himself, in a 1979 BBC interview, confirms this. In a behind the scenes photo from the set of Monkey Business (1931), an illustrated zeppelin airship appears on the back of Zeppo’s canvas chair.
Unfortunately, history doesn’t support Groucho or Zeppo. Zeppo was born in 1901; the first transatlantic flight made by a zeppelin was not until 1924.
In that very same interview with the BBC, Zeppo gives a contradictory account of his name, one which Gummo and Chico’s daughter, Maxine, recount in separate interviews. The brothers' parents bought a farm outside Chicago, and the brothers got to calling each other by stereotypical rural names like Zeke and Lum. Herbert became Zeb, which morphed into Zeppo. Harpo provides another explanation in his autobiography.
As Harpo tells it, Herbert was nicknamed Zippo after "Mr. Zippo", a popular chimpanzee act. Both Herbert and the chimpanzee apparently had an affinity for acrobatics. Herbert disliked being named after a simian and insisted the name become Zeppo. Bader believes this story in Harpo Speaks is a kind gesture on Harpo’s part to spare his younger brother more embarrassment. Zeppo was likely named after a circus freak named Zip the Pinhead.
Born William Henry Johnson, Zip the Pinhead was displayed in P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York, the hometown of all 5 brothers. Johnston likely suffered from microcephaly, a medical condition resulting in a smaller-than-normal head and brain. There is a visual similarity between Johnson and Zeppo. Bader posits that the name likely started as a cruel taunt by Zeppo’s older brothers.
And then there’s the one and only Groucho.
"Groucho Marx"
Born Julius Henry Marx, many who knew him believe the origin of his nickname was obvious: he was grouchy. Groucho himself said, “I was always stern and serious.” Others attribute the name to his grouch-bag, a money pouch that vaudevillians wore around their necks to keep their money and contraband in.
Despite Groucho’s insistence that it was his temperament, both Harpo and Chico cite the grouch-bag. Groucho would claim later in life that he was named after “Groucho the Monk”, a supporting character in Knocko the Monk, the very same comic strip that had inspired Art Fisher to give the nicknames to begin with.
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