Zeppo Marx that "Herbie" was tagged with the name "Zippo" because he liked to do chinups and acrobatics, as the chimp did in its act. The youngest brother objected to this nickname, and it was altered to "Zeppo". In a TV Interview, Zeppo said that Zep is Italian-American slang for baby and as Zeppo was the youngest or baby Marx Brother he was called Zeppo. Zeppo replaced brother Gummo in the Marx Brothers stage act when the latter joined the army in 1918. Zeppo remained with the team and appeared in their successes in vaudeville, on Broadway and the first five Marx
I'll Say She Is autobiography "Harpo Speaks" (1961), Harpo wrote that theatre critic Alexander Woollcott encouraged the Brothers to use their stage names in any subsequent production, which they did, starting with their next Broadway show, "The Cocoanuts" (1925), which was later turned into a film version in 1929. Having toiled on the Vaudeville circuit for nearly a quarter century, this would be the last stage performance that The Marx Brothers would perform for Vaudeville theaters. Once "I'll Say She Is" hit Broadway, they never left. They would have two further Broadway hits, "The Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers", which were then filmed in the