This guy was far more talented then he ever got credit for. If you ever watch the shows/movies they did, you can see it. He made everything he did look so easy.
Different era. When he was a kid there was nothing else to do. May as well play piano for hours. Now social media and selling pictures of your private parts on OnlyFans is the focus of youth.
I remember my daughter watching this when she was about 5 or 6. She was awestruck. Impossible talent. What in life could possibly surpass the joy she felt in watching this. She fell in love with Chico....and Harpo.....and Groucho.
When my son was little he decided to put on one of my Marx Bros. DVDs. I was in the next room, and every now and then, I'd hear him bust out laughing. I didn't know what he was watching, but eventually decided to investigate. He obviously was too young to appreciate the verbal comedy of Groucho and Chico, but every time Harpo appeared, my little boy would bust a gut. He's nearly 30 now, and Harpo is still his favorite.
That is the soul of the definition of being gifted. Which is to say the ability to make something technically difficult appear to the onlooker to seem natural, easy and fluid.
Difficult to learn, but with mastery comes the reward of confident simplicity. I know a few skills, and a lot of people say I make some things look easy. And it is! If you can have fun with it, you can enjoy it, and others around you enjoy watching you do it!
When I was around 10 years old, my mother would take us to the library to rent old VHS movies, and she absolutely LOVED the Marx Brothers. At that time, I hated watching it. Almost 40 years later, here I am on RU-vid, commenting on how I've come to appreciate just what my mother was trying to show me at that time. These guys were so talented at everything.
Vaudeville was the cradle for many genuine entertainers that had to have many talents to survive a crowded stage. Nobody runs away from quality, that's why we still watch many of these clips.
@USA#1 !! Never heard of that. What I've always read was that Harpo was the most gifted in music as he learned like 6 different instruments. Harpo also dabbled in painting. Zeppo, I read, that he was the funniest of all the brothers off screen, according to groucho.
The amount of talent, skill, and no doubt endless hours of study, rehearsal, and practice must have been incredible to make it look so effortless and nonchalant.
He had been playing novelty piano like that at Coney Island in the early 20th Century, before he and his brothers were even a vaudeville act. And he performed it nightly in their three Broadway shows, before they started making movies. All of the brothers were unique and brilliant, and together, they were an immortal comedy team.
It might be just a legend, but it's said the reason his character had an Italian accent (a very broad one for sure) was that he had to fake a number of them to safely pass through different ethnic neighborhoodd to get to piano lessons as a kid.
@@THE-HammerMan No, sir, you are mistaken. It is widely reported that he learned bad piano habits from his first piano teacher (who only played with one hand) and ended up getting a second, batter teacher. Because his poor family couldn't afford two teachers, Chico was forced after each lesson to repeat the entirety of the less to his brother Harpo. Which proved to be a problem all around because Chico never wanted to learn the piano in the first place (it was his mother's idea) and certainly didn't want to hang around and teach Harpo as well.
When you had to have actual talent to make it into the movies. Chico might not have been known as the funniest Marx brother, but his piano playing skill was off the charts. I'm amazed at how often he hammered down with his palm, or simply played the melody side with one finger. He moved his hands so fast and seemingly effortlessly it looks like a special effect. He was a beast.
You mean the characters on ER were not actual medical professionals? Say it isn't so! I believed both Adrian Brody and Tim Roth in their respective roles as pianists that their characters can actually play. I don't need anything more in that regard.
No Dax, that is wrong. There were lots of untalented actors in the movies then and before-if the camera liked them, they made it. Let's not let a rose colored view of the past obscure the unique and wonderful talent of Chico...
@@emilegeorge6225 If you didn't know the story, Chico got his nickname because he was a notorious lady's man, i.e. chicks. Every one of the Marx Brothers Zeppo, Harpo, Chico, Groucho, and Gummo all got their nicknames from some characteristic about them. I can't remember how Zeppo got his (unless it had something to do with Zeppelins), but Harpo was a fantastic harp player, Groucho was notorious for his wisecracks and Gummo wore what were known as gumshoes in the day.
One of my favourite things about watching a Marx Brothers movie was watching Chico play the piano. Whenever Chico plays the piano, he looks like he has a lot of fun doing it!!!.
The brothers' comedy whether verbal or musical was always good natured without smut or swearing. They showed how entertainment should be in my humble opinion
My youngest is a decent piano player and old movie fan. She thought, at first, this was just a stunt. The look on her face when she realized he was actually playing was priceless.
This clip is from 1939s AT THE CIRCUS, one of the later Marx Brothers films, I just watched it on TCM (without Turner Classic, I see no reason to own a TV), laughed hysterically, and was, as always, amazed by Chico's piano prowess. He makes it look incredibly easy, although (as with his brothers) it is the product of YEARS of intense study and practice from early childhood. Like all of their films, it showcased excellent orchestral and broadway performances as well as the incredibly talented musicianship of Graucho, Harpo, and Chico. Since I am able to play a bit of most stringed instruments, I can spot all but the best fakes. I can attest that every Marx Brother's instrumental.performance (including Graucho's guitar) is authentically excellent.
Reminds me of my Dad’s wonderful piano playing!!! ❤️. People just don’t seem to be playing like this any more. Oh dear. It’s simply such a wonderful gift. A lost art. Thank-you.
Amazing coincidence. Every time I play the piano, and particularly the Beer Barrel Polka, all these beautifully turned out girls gather around and watch and listen admiringly. Amazing.
There are many serious pianists that can make playing look effortless. Then there's Chico, who shows that if you aren't having fun, then you aren't truly a serious pianist.
They're out there, just not famous. Rick Crom, comedian in NYC, plays piano, operatic singer, writes funny songs, and is hilarious. He has an Off-Broadway show called "Newsical" that he regularly rewrites to stay current.
Watching the You Bet Your Life game show videos here on RU-vid bring absolute joy to me. The people are so interesting and real and Groucho is so so nice.
bravo THANKS FOR POSTING Many folks did not realize that Chico was very good at the piano and Harpo was excellent on the Harp. I can still remember these movies and I am getting on in yrs.
He looks like he having fun and the people around him just smiley then he give this playful look over at the camera breaking the forth wall letting us know it's all for fun and laughs just enjoy our silliness.
I loved watching Chico and Harpo playing. Sometimes they were fooling around like in this video. But sometime their music was serious, and their faces changed and got serious too.
In 1976 the entirety of NTC San Diego training company 946 performed a “Groucho Marx” while passing in review before the Company Drill Instructor. He WAS NOT in any way amused, and thus we paid dearly. 😍 Loved it!
The Marx brothers were some of the most talented musicians to have ever live. I would love to hear what they were capable of if they were being serious.
If I may say so, wrong way to look at it. Chico and Harpo were very talented musicians, but not talented enough to give the world as much pleasure as musicians as they did as comedians with music as their second string. Comedy is where their genius lay, so they made the right career choice, in my opinion.
@@jameswest8280 Yes, no point in analysing them. When I was a boy they made me once laugh so hard I literally thought it might kill me! Literally! Can't laugh like that nowadays, but still think they were supreme comic geniuses.
@@hermoglyph2255 -- the huge difference between the "actors of yesterday & today most of those from yesteryear were taught to sing dance play music etc not just learn lines & these brothers made & sold many a recording of their music
His piano skills and comedy remind me of Oscar Levant. We mear mortals have been privileged to share the same planet with these extremely talented men and women.
Chico was a wonderful husband, too. His wife said that even after 20 years of marriage, her heart would still speed up at the sound of his approaching step.
Many of the old time comedians were also fine musicians or singers. Jack Benny and Larry Fine were both fine violinists, Oliver Hardy was trained as an opera singer. Just to name a few.
Because they want to show media manufactured crap''a control ,brainwash,there propaganda' of an elite to control the children's mind of thinking and thought process' slave'''
