Groucho Marx undistinguished vaudeville singing group billed as "The Four Nightingales". The brothers Julius, Milton (Gummo Marx) and Arthur (originally Adolph, but Harpo Mark from 1911) and another boy singer, Lou Levy, traveled the U.S. vaudeville circuits to little fanfare. After exhausting their prospects in the East, the family moved to La Grange, Illinois, to play the Midwest. After a particularly dispiriting performance in Nacogdoches, Texas, Julius, Milton, and Arthur began cracking jokes onstage for their own amusement. Much to their surprise, the audience liked them better as comedians than as singers. They modified the then-popular Gus Edwards comedy skit "School Days"
Marx Brothers being an actor!" Zeppo replaced him in their final vaudeville years and in the jump to Broadway, and then to Paramount films. During World War I, anti-German sentiments were common, and the family tried to conceal its German origin. Mother Minnie learned that farmers were excluded from the draft rolls, so she purchased a poultry farm near Countryside, Illinois — but the brothers soon found that chicken ranching was not in their blood. During this time, Groucho discontinued his "German" stage personality. By this time, "The Four Marx Brothers" had begun to incorporate their unique style of comedy into their