THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Groucho Marx Dies at 86
LOS ANGELES—Amer-
ica's irreverent funny man,
Groucho Marx, who with
his brothers turned a fam-
ily vaudeville act into one
of the country's top comedy
teams, died last week at
age 86.
A small family memorial
service at Hollywood's
Temple Beth F,1 was con-
ducted by Rabbi Joseph H.
Wagner. Erin Fleming, the
comedian's frequent com-
panion and business man-
ager, was not invited to the
service. A brother, Zeppo,
—''wives.
Born Julius Henry Marx,
we New York native
earned renown for his
unique comedy style—that
of turning the insult into an
art and comedic form. As
an example, Albin Krebs of
the New York Times re-
called:
-
"His humor was based on
the improbable, the unex-
pected, the outrageous. In a
Marx Brothers play he
would interrupt a scene by
stepping to the footlights to
inquire urgently, 'Is there a
doctor in the house.' When
an unsuspecting physician
rose, he would demand to
know: 'If you're a doctor,
why aren't you at the hospi-
tal making your patients
miserable, instead of was-
ting your time here with
that blonde?' And during
one of his television quiz
shows, which were im-
mensely popular in the
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In Memory of
My Beloved Husband
BEN LEVINSON
Who passed away
Aug. 15, 1973. Our love
and memories of you
are forever. Sadly
missed by your wife
Clara. children and
grandchildren.
GROUCHO MARX
1950's, when a contestant
was asked her age and said
she was 'approaching 40,'
he replied, 'From which di-
rection?' "
The effrontery carried
over from the plays into the
Marx Brothers movies, es-
pecially those which fea-
tured Margaret Dumont. Ac-
cording to Krebs:
"In 'Animal Crackers,' as
well as in eight other Marx
Brothers
pictures,
Groucho's
long-suffering
comic foil was Margaret
Dumont, whose haughty
demeanor suggested the epi-
tome of the grande dame.
In their scenes, Groucho
was invariably the mangy
lover intent on fleecing the
rich society matron of her
last cent, while at the same
time hurling at her the
most ungentlemanly insults.
" 'You're the most beauti-
ful woman I've ever seen,
which doesn't say much for
you,' he ardently told Miss
Dumont in 'Animal Crack-
ers.' In 'Duck Soup' (1933),
as he, Chico and Harpo
fended off Miss Dumont's
enemies, he said of her, 'Re-
member, we're fighting for
her honor—which is prob-
CARDS OF THANKS
The family of the late
Samuel-David Feldman ac-
knowledges with grateful ap-
preciation the many kind ex-
pressions of sympathy ex-
tended by relatives and
friends during the family's
recent bereavement.
The family of the late
Yetta Greenberg acknowl-
edges with grateful appre-
ciation the many kind ex-
pressions of sympathy ex-
tended by relatives and
friends during the family's
recent bereavement.
411111=1111111•1111 ■ 11.
IN MEMORIAM
The HEBREW BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
(Chesed She' Emes), remembers their de-
parted Board Members whose Yorzeit is
observed in the month of Elul.
ALBERT PARVEN
2nd of Elul
August 16th
SAMUEL KOSIT
13th of Elul
August 27th
LOUIS ROSE
(V. P. -1959-1960)
3rd of Elul
August 17th
JOSEPH WEISBERG
14th of Elul
August 28th
JAY IRVING GRANT
11th of Elul
August 25th
JACOB FOON
13th of Elul
August 27th
41• ■■ 1111111 ■ 11111.
OBITUARIES
ably more than she ever
did.' "
MAX OBERFIELD
18th of Elul
September 1st
PETER S. GOLDSTEIN
(Treas. -1954-1956)
24th of.Elul
September 7th
Groucho's chief trade-
mark, the painted on mus-
tache, came as a result of a
tiff with the manager of the
Fifth Avenue Theater. Com-
ing in too late to put on a
paste-on mustache,
Groucho painted one on
with greasepaint. Following
the show, the manager de-
manded "the same mus-
tache you gave 'em at the
Palace." With that,
Groucho handed him the
paste-on mustache, and the
greasepaint fake became a
trademark. Coupled with
his everpresent cigar, coat-
tails and loping walk,
Groucho became a favorite
of impressionists for many
decades.
The offspring of a Ger-
man Jewish couple,
Groucho had three wives,
none of whom were Jewish.
He had two children Mi-
riam and Arthur with his
first wife, the former Ruth
Johnson whom he divorced
in 1942. With his second
wife, the former Catherine
Gorcey, he had a daughter
Melinda.
With Melinda, of whom
he was most proud, he was
faced with an anti-Semitic
incident. Melinda was pre-
vented from swimming
with friends at a country
club that excluded Jews.
Marx wrote the club presi-
dent an indignant, highly
publicized letter in which
he said, "Since my little
daughter is only half-Jew-
ish, would it be all right if
she went in the pool only up
to her waist?"
Groucho's second mar-
riage ended in 1950, and in
1953 he married Eden Hart-
ford, whom he divorced in
1969. Miss Fleming had
soon become his constant
companion.
SOMA BENSMAN, died
Aug. 19. She leaves two
sons, Lawrence and
Morris; a daughter, Mrs.
Warren A. (Muriel) Zwie-
gel; and eight grand-
children.
The 14th Century reli-
gious philosopher, Meir ben
Yitzhak Aldabi, was moved
to write his book "Shevilei
Emuna" (Paths of Faith),
by the belief, prevalent in
the Middle Ages, that the
Greek philosophers (espe-
cially Plato and Aristotle )
derived the essentials fo
their knowledge. from Jew-
ish sources.
mouth, Oak Park, died Aug.
23. Survived by her hus-
band, Harold A. ; her
mother, Mrs. Mollie Chess;
three sons, Joel W, Neal J.
and Alan; a brother, Jerry
Chess; a sister, Mrs. Nor-
man (Shirley) Siegal.
* * *
ABE BRANDMAN, 54, of
* * *
17165 Hilton, Southfield,
died Aug. 20. Survived by
MORRIS LERNER, 75,
his wife, Ann; a son, Je-
died
Aug. 24. He leaves his
rome of Highland; two
daughters, Mrs. Robert -wife, Heda; two daughters,
(Linda) Brankiewicz and Mrs. Eli (Jeanette) Kurtz
Rochelle; two brothers, Da- and Mrs. Esther Brown; a
vid of Hollywood, Fla., and step-son, Dr. Peter Rheins-
of Baltimore, Md. ; six
Maurice of Swanton, Ohio; tein
grandchildren. Services 10
and three grandchildren.
a.m. today at Ira Kaufman
Chapel.
* * *
* *
LEON MAGID, 62, died
PAULINE
BERNICE
GOLDEN, 51, 13590 Dart-
L. Benenson, 56
Laurence L. Benenson, a
sales manager with Beck-
with-Evans Co. at its Troy
location, died Aug. 22 at
age 56.
A native Detroiter, Mr.
Benenson was associated
with the carpet company
for the past 20 years. He
was a World War II veter-
an. Mr. Benenson was a
member of the Disabled
American Veterans and
Cong. Beth Shalom. He re-
sided at 23821 Morton, Oak
Park.
He leaves his wife, Faye;
two sons, Howard and Dr.
Alan; a daughter, Deborah;
a brother, Harvey, a sister,
Mrs. Sam (Pearl) Farber;
and one granddaughter.
Aug. 20. He leaves his wife,
Dorothy; two sons, Dr.
Alan of Durham, N.C., and
Jerome; two daughters,
Mrs. Phyllis Portnoy and
Judith of Ann Arbor; and
five grandchildren.
* * *
JACK B. REED,
80, died
Aug. 20. He leaves his wife,
Hilda; a son, Benjamin;
and three grandchildren.
* * *
EVA SCHWARTZ, 87, for-
merly of Windsor, died
Aug. 20 in Overland Park,
Kan. Survived by four sons,
Morris of St. Petersburg,
Fla., Harry of Toronto, On-
tario, Meyer of Windsor
and Leonard of Southfielda
daughter, Mrs. Thomas
(Bert) Rogovein of Over-
land Park , 18 grandchildren
and 16 great-grandchildren.
Interment Windsor.
* * *
OSCAR WEINZWEIG, 89,
13821 Kenwood, Oak Park,
died Aug. 20. Survived by
his wife, Libbie; a son, Dr.
Max Warren; a daughter,
Mrs. Benjamin (Freda)
Kroll; a step-son, George
Karnes; a brother, Morris
Wein; and nine grand-
children.
* * *
HARRIET WEISS,
51,
died Aug. 18. She leaves her
husband, Albert; and two
daughters, Andrea Joy and
Jill Robin.
* * *
ILENE M. WILSON, 31,
23610 Edinburgh, Southfield,
died Aug. 22. She leaves her
husband, Edward G. ; two
sons, Scott and Mark; a
daughter, Stacy; her par-
ents. Mr. and Mrs. Cy
(Frances) Sinai; a brother.
Raymond Sinai; and a sis-
ter, Mrs. Sally Kozda cf
San Diego, Calif.
WE REMEMBER
71-1:TN 71111
During the
coming week
Yeshivath Beth
Yehudah will
observe the
Yahrzeits of the
following de-
parted friends,
with the tradi-
tional Memorial
Prayers, recita-
tion of Kaddish
and Studying of
Mishnayos.
Sidney A. Deitch
DETROIT
MONUMENT WORKS
14441 W. 11 Mile Rd.
Gardner, Perm, Coolidge & Greenfield
399-2711 Eve. 626-0330
"When some people talk
about their family tree.
they trim off a branch here
and there. -
—Lark Bragg
Among the movies made
famous by the Marx Broth-
ers were "The Coconuts,"
"A Night at the Opera," "A
Day at the Races," "The
Big Store," "A Night in Ca-
sablanca," and "Love
Happy."
With "You Bet Your
Life," a radio-television
quiz show that began in
1947 and lasted a decade,
Groucho forged a new ca-
reer for himself as a single.
The program was, at one
time, the highest rated TV
show in the country.
The
comedian,
over
whom a bitter court
struggle had been taking
place of late to determine
whom shall be his con-
servator, is said to have
left an estate valued at
more than $2.75 million. His
grandson, Andrew, was
named his conservator.
a Friday, August 26, 1977 55
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