The Marx Brothers were a group of American comics that originally consisted of five brothers, Leonard (Chico), Adolph (Harpo), Julius (Groucho), Milton (Gummo) and Herbert (Zepp).The massive success came thanks to the work I'll Say She Is (1923-1925), The Cocoanuts (1925-1928) and Animal Crackers (1928-1929). The Cocoanuts would be the first title to be made into a film for Paramount under the name (in Spain) of the four coconuts (1929). Groucho accepted an honorary Oscar for the Marx Brothers in 1974, three years before his death.

The musical talent of the brothers was that they belonged to a family of artistic tradition. Harpo was particularly gifted, so he could play almost any instrument, but his specialty was the harp, whose name, according to a theory derived theirs in several films we see Harpo playing the harp. Chico was an excellent and histrionic pianist, and Groucho played the guitar.His first performances were in vaudeville, Groucho made his debut in 1905, primarily as a singer. In 1907 he and Gummo were singing together, with Mabel O'Donnell formed the Three nightingales. The next year, Harpo became the fourth Nightingale. In 1910 the group was expanded, involving a mother and aunt Hannah, changing his name to The Six Mascots. During a performance at the Opera House in Nacogdoches (Texas) there was an interruption due to the sound of heavy blows produced on the outside, on the road. The audience rushed outside to see what was happening, and when he returned, Groucho began to insult the audience, saying "Nacogdoches is full of cockroaches, and other lindezas against them and the state of Texas. But far from angry, the audience erupted in laughter, so the family began considering the use of the comic possibilities of the group.Gradually the proceedings evolved, and along with the songs featured comic numbers, usually small musical comedies, as the number of schools in which Groucho embodied a teacher marked German accent, and the students were Harpo, Gummo, and since 1912, Chico. The latest issue of the school, called "Back Home" was written by Al Shean. At this time Gummo was forced to leave the group to fight in WWI. Zepp was replaced in the last years of vaudeville shows, and joined the new stage on Broadway and the movies that came out below.

During World War antigermánico sentiment grew in the U.S., so the family tried to hide his German origin. Harpo changed his real name from Adolph to Arthur, Groucho and stopped doing character roles "Germans."By then the brothers, now called "The Four Marx Brothers" began to develop his unique style of comedy, and develop each one a distinctive character. Both Groucho and Harpo acknowledge in their reports that the now famous characters they carried were created by Al Shean. Groucho began to paint a thick mustache with bitumen, and took a fancy to walk strides, Harpo was a red wig, playing a horn and pretended to be dumb, Chico began to speak with a fake Italian accent (which copied a few neighbors) and Zepp adopted a gracious gesture juvenile trouserpress.The artistic personalides Groucho, Chico and Harpo is said that they were based on the true personality of each one (though certainly Harpo could speak). Zepp, moreover, was the funniest of the brothers off the stage, although their roles were serious and not very artistic, insightful. He was the youngest of all, and grew up under the supervision of their brothers, learned to imitate to perfection, so that in case of need could be replaced. "He did so well for Captain Spaulding in The Conflict of Marx, which would have stopped doing that role indefinitely, as long as I had been allowed to smoke on stage," said Groucho.In the 1920s the Marx Brothers became a favorite of American theater. With their hard and strange sense of humor was sharp satire of high society and human hypocrisy. It was also famous for its ability to free improvisation on stage. Take one famous example: I once asked a girl Harpo chorus across the scene while he was pursuing the same, to see if Groucho, who was in it, was puzzled. However, to the delight of the audience, that said simply, calmly watching the clock: "Wow, this is the first time I see one chasing a taxi passenger," and when Harpo changed direction during the persecution of the girl said: "You can put your clock on time at 9:20." On another occasion while Groucho Zep played a romantic scene between racks, shouted: "It's trash!" Groucho, not immutable replied: "Tell him we do not today."Under the leadership of Chico and the creative direction of Groucho, the vaudeville of the brothers was such a success that became the stars of the Broadway musical theater, first with the musical revue I'll Say She Is (1924 - 1925), followed by two musical comedies, The Four Coins (1925 - 1926) and conflicts of Marx (1928 to 1929). The librettist George S. Kaufman worked in the past two shows above, and helped to improve the definition of the characters of the Marx Brothers.