So, Roscoe W. Chandler is revealed to be Abe Kabibble, a Czechoslovakian fish peddler, eh?
My post here listed the various reasons why this could not be so, and why it would only have taken a second's thought for all who have claimed it is so to see that it isn't.
(I didn't explore the question of how important it all really is in the general scheme of things, but you'll find as time goes on that you've come to the wrong place if you expect me to be diverted by appeals to reason of that kind.)
The other thing I wasn't able to do is tell you who Abe Kabibble was, only that he wasn't Roscoe W. Chandler.
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Then, through the wonder of electronic communication, the answer arrived this morning.
Damian - who regular readers of the comments on this site will know lives in France where the Brothers' films are scarce and so shares with me the thirst for Marx minutiae for which I have no comparable excuse - has alerted me to the existence of Abie the Agent, a syndicated comic strip popular in the first few decades of the twentieth century, created by cartoonist Harry Hershfield. Abie was a Jewish immigrant car salesman created in response to a request from Hershfield's editor to write a strip revolving around Yiddish slang, Jewish humour and the immigrant experience in America.
And yes, folks - Abie's surname was Kabibble!
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He even looks a bit like Chandler!.
...........................Top: Abe Kabibble, aka Abie the Agent...........................Bottom: Roscoe W. Chandler, aka Abie the Fish Man
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Such was the character's popularity he was featured in two cinema cartoons in 1917, and was made the subject of a song (Abie! Stop Saying Maybe by Jo Swerling, author of Humor Risk).
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Hardened Marx obsessives will know this is far from the only time a newspaper comic strip had a hand in the development of Marx lore. The original inspiration for their -o names was the popularity of a series of comic strips by Gus Mager in which various monkey characters were given descriptive names ending in -o, such as a detective character called Sherlocko the Monk. Among many others: Braggo the Monk, Rhymo the Monk, Tightwaddo the Monk and this oddly familiar fellow...
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6 comments:
This is wonderful! And when you have the answers, it all seems so obviuos.
But wait a minute here... Was Groucho actually named after that monk? The two characters seem to talk and joke in the same way. I've wondered a lot about this, and I've only heard two reasons:
1 - Groucho used to wear his money in a "grouch bag" around his neck. (The boring reason.)
2 - He was "grouchy". (The too simple, and weird, reason.)
If he was named after Groucho the Monk, I'd have a satisfying answer!
This was my favourite discovery so far - and all thanks to Damian.
Groucho claimed all three explanations of his name over the years. The most likely to my mind is that the comic strip created the idea for giving them -o names in the first place because a)of the existence of the Groucho name already and b) because it applied to him specifically for 'grouchiness' or 'grouch bag' reasons.
The rest followed, once that was established.
Looking back at my previous comment, I wonder if it makes any sense at all.
I understand your twisted sense! At least I think we think the same way... Oh, this discussion starts to turn Grouchy!
At 91, I find odd ways of keeping my memories intact and last night I thought about my childhood love of the comic strips, including funny little Abie Kabibble. I was pleased about remembering this amusing character, so I decided to Google his name.....sure enough, here he is, just as I remember him in 1927!
Margaret R.
How lovely to hear from you Margaret, and so glad we were able to give you a smile!
If you want to share any of your memories about Abe, or that era generally, we'd LOVE to hear from you.
All the best,
Matthew
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