Zeppo Marx was from East Frisia in Germany; and his father was a native of France, and worked as a tailor. As with all of the Marx Brothers, there are different theories as to where Zeppo got his stage name: Groucho said in his Carnegie Hall concert in 1972 that the name was derived from the Zeppelin airship. Zeppo's ex-wife Barbara Sinatra repeated this in her 2011 book, "Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank". His brother Harpo offered a different account in his 1961 autobiography, "Harpo Speaks!," claiming (p. 130) that there was a popular trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo, and
Gummo Marx thought the news would be a further detriment to his health. Groucho died four months later on August 19, at age 86. Gummo and his wife Helen are interred next to each other in the Freedom Mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Gummo's older brother Chico is in a crypt across the hall from them. His grandsons are actors Gregg Marx, Chris Marx, and actor/producer Brett Marx, who as a child actor appeared as "Jimmy Feldman" in 1976's comedy film "The Bad News Bears". When Richard J. Anobile asked Groucho in "The Marx Bros. Scrapbook" which