Minnie Marx "Minnie's Boys". Minnie Marx Minnie Marx (born Miene Schönberg, 9 November 1865 or 1864 – 13 September 1929) was the mother and manager of the Marx Brothers, wife of Sam Marx, and the sister of vaudeville star Al Shean. Marx was born Miene Schönberg in Dornum, Germany. Her parents Fanny née Salomons (1829–1898) and Levy "Lafe" Schönberg (1823–1919) were members of the local Jewish community. Her mother was a yodeling harpist, her father a ventriloquist. Her younger brother, Abraham Elieser Adolf, the future "Al Shean", was born in 1868. About 1880 the family emigrated to New York City, where Minnie
Zeppo Marx mouth and sings. It has taken forty years, of course, for the full humor to come across. For a normal comedian this may be bad timing, but for a Marx Brother it's immortality. Almost every crooner of 1932 looks stilted and awkward now, but with Zeppo, who was never very convincing in the first place, the effect crosses the threshold into lovable comedy. "I think you're wonderful!" he oozes charmingly to Thelma Todd, and we "know" he never met her before shooting started. Allen W. Ellis wrote in his article "Yes, Sir: The Legacy of Zeppo Marx": Indeed, Zeppo is