Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Marx Brothers and Fake Moustaches


The Marx Brothers

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The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers’ thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute as among the top 100 comedy films, with two of them (Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera) in the top twelve.

The core of the act was the three elder brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho; each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, did not develop their stage characters to the same extent, and eventually left the act to pursue other careers. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared in the first five films in relatively straight (non-comedic) roles.

Grouch Marx's Fake Moustache-

A fake moustache or false moustache is an item of prosthetic make-up used in dressing-up, acting, espionage and crime. National fake moustache day in the United States is on 24 February, while the international celebration is on 3 February.

Here are a few Notable false moustaches:

The most notable fake moustache of all-time was probably worn by Charlie Chaplin for his role as The Tramp. He initially wore it as a means of disguising his youth for the role.

Groucho Marx (see above) also used a fake moustache during his years in vaudeville and in the early Marx Brothers movies. However, his was drawn onto his lip with grease paint, containing no hairs or bristles. In later life he grew his own, real moustache. It, along with his cigar and waggling eyebrows, were his famous trademark.

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