It is the fate of most families to have one standout sibling, one high-riser whose long shadow denies the others the same ultraviolet levels of praise and attention.
Of the five Marx Brothers — and there were, at least in their earliest versions, five of them — Groucho was that abiding genius, the surreal general of verbal schtick, and the primary face of the vaudeville clan.
In other words, who today remembers Gummo?
But there is a contingent of Marx Brothers fans who find in Harpo — the silent, bewigged brother — the components of a greater artist.
Charlene Fix is leading that charge. Poet and emeritus professor at Columbus College of Art Design, in Ohio, Fix will deliver her talk, “Harpo Marx as Trickster” — based on her book of the same name — at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Fix’s claim is that the character of Harpo slots naturally into the tradition of the trickster archetype evident in folklore, myth and literature across the centuries.
Fix’s book — a decade in the making — is one of the rare critical studies of the less celebrated Marx. And while Fix is a fan of the entire Marx Brothers trio — as they became after Gummo and Zeppo turned in their makeup tins for good — it is the character of Harpo that contains, Fix told the Register by phone on Wednesday, “something mystical and strange.”
Drawing on myths ranging from American Indian traditions to Jewish folklore, Fix identifies a handful of classic trickster characteristics: the knack for shape-shifting, a general mischievousness, a distracting talent for music, mastery as a thief, a “voracious hunger” (whether for food or sex), the temperament of a wanderer, a weakness for unscripted mania, and an urge to attack the powerful and stand up for the underdog. And this is to include only a few of the qualities Fix attributes to the fabled specimen.
But the effect of her analysis is really only brought home when these neat categories are enlivened by the many specific instances Fix finds in the filmed antics of Harpo Marx.
In her book, Fix arranges a chronological study of the Marx Brothers’ movies, peering intently at the qualities of Harpo for clues into his trickster DNA. This 2013 study includes a number of studio stills to illustrate her argument.
But on Saturday Fix will be armed with the Bowlus’s big screen, where the poetic effects of Harpo’s pratfalls stand to gain by animation.
Fix’s latest book — a collection of poems inspired by film — is called “Frankenstein’s Flowers.” Fix’s visit this weekend will be her first time at the Keaton Celebration, and her first time in Kansas.
Harpo Marx’s legacy draws praise
