The sons of poor Jewish immigrants, the brothers were literally forced into showbusiness by their stage-struck mother, Minnie. Groucho (Julius), Harpo (Arthur), Chico (Leonard), and Gummo (Milton)-later replaced by Zeppo (Herbert)-started in vaudeville where constant touring honed their surreal comic sketches and humorous ditties.

In 1924, the Marx Brothers' musical revue "I'll Say She Is" made them the toast of Broadway. Their next stage show, "The Cocoanuts," was the first of many collaborations with Margaret Dumont, the funniest straight woman of all time. What made Dumont hilarious is that although she was Groucho's hapless foil, onstage and onscreen, she apparently never realized he was insulting her, despite such remarks as "You're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, and that's not saying much!"

Each Marx Brother had his own distinct persona: Chico was the hustler, always ready with a scam; Harpo, the curly-haired, girl-chasing mute who "spoke" with a horn and hid all-purpose gadgets under his coat and hat; Zeppo was "the unfunny one" who left to become an agent after five movies; and, of course, the leering, wisecracking, conniving Groucho, whose bushy eyebrows, black-rimmed glasses, greasepaint moustache and unlit cigar launched a million imitators and countless joke masks.

The Marx Brothers made their early movies for Paramount, which gave full rein to their trademark buffoonery with little consideration for credible plots. But after their 1935 move to MGM, production chief Irving Thalberg insisted on believable storylines and romantic sub-plots, with musical interludes replacing Groucho's nonsensical but joyously funny songs like "Hello, I Must Be Going," "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It," and "Hooray for Captain Spaulding."

While the comedy standard of Marx Brothers' movies held up in their early MGM movies, it began to drop with 1939's "At the Circus," their ninth film, and fourth at MGM. Their cinematic outings became more infrequent, and after "Love Happy" in 1950, their big screen days were over.

Harpo and Chico went into semi-retirement, making occasional television guest appearances, but Groucho began a new career as quizmaster for the popular TV and radio show "You Bet Your Life," freely indulging his mastery of quick thinking by raining down insults upon contestants. Thanks to his work in movies, and on TV and radio, in later life Groucho became an entertainment industry icon. At his 1972 Carnegie Hall comeback, hundreds of youthful concertgoers paid him tribute by coming dressed as Groucho.

Chico Marx died in 1961 at 74, and Harpo in 1964, age 73. In April 1997, Gummo, 85, passed away, and on August 19 that year, the irreplaceable, 87-year old Groucho. For once, Groucho's timing was off-he shuffled off this mortal coil just three days after Elvis Presley, whose unexpected death consumed the media. (Zeppo died in 1979 at 78)

Almost three-quarters of a century after they first delighted audiences, the Marx Brothers' movies remain the most irrepressibly demented comedies ever committed to celluloid, crammed with snappy one-liners, tortured puns, and sublime silliness. Their total anarchy, and devil-may-care irreverence for societal and political sacred cows would most likely not be tolerated by today's film industry executives, more concerned with targeting lucrative demographic groups.

But what's funny is funny, and the Marx Brothers have been rediscovered by generation after generation, with no end in sight.

-- Jane Garcia