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Separated at birth?

The New Neo Posted on by

You’ll never guess who this is from looking at it, even though it’s a very famous person who’s usually instantly recognizable:

It’s Groucho Marx without his trademark mustache and bushy eyebrows or eyeglasses.

And to me it looks a lot like this guy, Gene Siskel the movie critic. A lot:

Comments

Separated at birth? — 15 Comments

  4. rickl: Yes:

    In real life, Groucho was a dedicated student of the guitar and owned two Gibsons. He would drive his family to distraction with his practicing. He once had the opportunity to meet the great classical guitarist Andres Segovia after a concert. Segovia agreed to come to Groucho’s house for dinner on the condition that there would be no guitar playing by either party. However, after dinner, Groucho brought out his Gibson guitars and prevailed upon the master to accompany the comedian as he played Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C-Sharp Minor.” Groucho’s performance of this piece had once prompted his wife to say, “Why don’t you go back to playing by ear? You used to be so much better before you knew what you were doing.” Segovia finally said he could play no more because the steel strings of Groucho’s guitar hurt his fingers.

    Also see this, about Groucho as a musician. Sample: he got his start as a boy soprano in a Protestant church, and got paid a dollar for his performances.

    Groucho on the guitar, in the movie “Horse Feathers”:

  7. I love Julius. Being a Groucho nut, I did recognize him in that first shot. And it reminded me that when he did his war bond tour in the ’40s with a bunch of other movie stars, no one recognized Groucho in his street clothes, so he had to nip back into the train and come out with his mustache and eyebrows painted on. Then they all went nuts.

  8. One more reason to admire Groucho. The yes link in Neo’s comment provided a potential clue for how Julius got his nickname.

    After mother Minnie sent him money for the return train fare to New York, Groucho did a double act with an English singer and beauty named Lilly Seville, and they played the circuit in Texas at $11 a week. After seven weeks, Lilly ran off with the lion-tamer on the same bill, and once again, Groucho lost all his money and was stranded ( he soon learnt to carry his money in a “grouch bag ” around his neck, a common practice with vaudevillians ). His mother came to his rescue and then found him a job as the juvenile singer in a touring production of a play called ” The Man Of Her Choice ” – Groucho sang three Jewish songs. There were many other singing engagements of a similar nature after this.

    Back in the day I bought two T-shirts from the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge emblazoned with a picture of Groucho. One was for me; the other was for a family friend who was an incorrigible punster.

  9. I guess I’m just a contrarian. In that picture I think Groucho looks like Stanley Tucci.

  11. Barry: I didn’t mention it, but I thought he looked a fair amount like Gershwin, too.

    But Gershwin was handsomer, IMHO, and with a stronger jaw.

    And this post might interest you.

  12. “Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in MY pajamas, I don’t know !”
    Groucho.

  14. re: Mr. Siskel – my memory (very sad that Siskel has been gone for so long) was that he was also audibly indistinguishable from Tom Selleck, or at least the younger Tom Selleck. I remember on occasion hearing a voice speak without seeing the screen, and expecting to see Selleck on screen, and voila, it’s Gene Siskel.

  15. You know, I’m still in my early 30s, and I totally knew who the first one was right away! But then, I’m probably one of the few people in my generation who own Marx Brothers Boxed sets on DVD…

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