Portrait of Harpo Marx

Birthday profile

Harpo Marx

Harpo Marx, American comedian and musician (died 1964)

Born
November 23, 1888
Died
September 28, 1964
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1888

About Harpo Marx

Arthur "Harpo" Marx (born Adolph Marx; November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was an American comedian, actor and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Groucho and Chico, Harpo's comic style was visual, being an example of vaudeville, clown and pantomime traditions. In all of his movie appearances, he wore a curly reddish blonde wig and did not speak, instead blowing a horn or whistling to communicate. Marx frequently employed props such as a horn cane constructed from a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn. Most of the Marx Brothers' stage and film appearances included a song performed by Harpo on the harp in his unique style, for example "When My Dreams Come True" in The Cocoanuts (1929) and "Alone" in A Night at the Opera (1935).

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Harpo Marx was born

Harpo Marx was born in 1888. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineGreat Blizzard of 1888 paralyzes US East Coast
  • Technology milestoneKodak box camera — "You press the button, we do the rest"
  • Defining fadKodak camera craze
  • World population~1.48B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderGrover Cleveland
  • U.S. population57.6M

1888 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Harpo Marx's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18882026
Population57.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.