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
Groucho Marx from Dornum in northern Germany when she was 16 years old. His father was Simon "Sam" Marx, who changed his name from Marrix, and was called "Frenchie" by his sons throughout his life, because he and his family came from Alsace in France. Minnie's brother was Al Schoenberg, who shortened his name to Al Shean when he went into show business as half of Gallagher and Shean, a noted vaudeville act of the early 20th century. According to Groucho, when Shean visited, he would throw the local waifs a few coins so that when he knocked at the door he