August 19: On This Day in World History … briefly
His gravestone bears no epitaph, but in one of his last interviews he suggested one 'Excuse me, I can't stand up.'
1977: Groucho leaves his Marx
Groucho Marx, the wise-cracking comic who made his name by creating mayhem on stage and film, died of pneumonia in Hollywood on August 19. He was 81 – although in true Marx brothers style – admitted to being 86.
Groucho (real name Julius) and his real-life brothers Leonard (Chico), Arthur (Harpo), Milton (Gummo) and Herbert (Zeppo) owed their success to their indomitable mother Minnie, who was convinced that her boys had talent, despite their own reservations.
Their film career was launched in 1929, after success on Broadway. Groucho’s trademarks of cigar, moustache and stooping walk, as well as his way of orchestrating antics of the equally zany Chico and Harpo won him massive popularity around the world in films like ‘A Day at the Races’ and ‘A Night at the Opera’.
After retiring from films at the end of the 40s, Groucho began a new career in radio and television, as host of the weekly show ‘You Bet Your Life’. Earlier in 1977, the $2.9 million (£1.6 million) estate of the thrice-married Groucho was the subject of a bitter legal wrangle between his companion and secretary for 17 years, Erin Fleming (37), and his only son Arthur (56). The court decided to place the ailing comic under the guardianship of neither, choosing his grandson Andrew instead.
Groucho was hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with pneumonia on June 22, 1977, and died there nearly two months later at the age of 86 on August 19, four months after Gummo’s death.
He was cremated and the ashes are interred in the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by his three children and younger brother Zeppo, who outlived him by two years.
Litigation over his estate lasted into the 1980s. Eventually, Arthur Marx and his sisters were awarded the bulk of the estate, and Erin Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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