Minnie Marx order, and a hard bargainer with theatre managements. As a tribute to her, all the brothers' daughters were given names that began with 'M': Chico with Maxine; Harpo with Minnie; and Groucho with Miriam and Melinda. Gummo and Zeppo had no daughters. Marx and some of her sons appear briefly as characters in Glen David Gold's novel "Carter Beats the Devil"; the narrative identifies her as Minnie Palmer, and only gradually offers clues that the struggling vaudeville act traveling with her are the later-famous Marx Brothers. Marx (played by Shelley Winters) was also the main character in the stage musical
Harpo Marx was occasionally referred to by the other Marx Brothers, who were careful to imply that his character's not speaking was a choice rather than a disability. They would make joking reference to this part of his act. For example, in "Animal Crackers" his character was ironically dubbed "The Professor". In "The Cocoanuts", this exchange occurred: In later films, Harpo was put into situations where he would repeatedly attempt to convey a vital message to another person, but only did so through nonverbal means, usually by whistling or pantomime. These scenes reinforced the idea that the character was unable to speak.