the genius of Harpo

Harpo Marx from the 1946 film A Night in Casablanca.

He's such a brilliant harpist and he makes it all look so effortless. The sound quality is a bit hissy, but overall not too bad on this clip and doesn't detract from his amazing harp playing.
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They used to show Marx brother films on TV a lot when I was a kid. I loved the way he always use to fashion a comedy harp out of whatever prop came to hand in the film.

I remember my very first (elderly!) harp teacher saying that she saw him play live at the London Palladium in the late 1940's and that he played 'straight' (no comedy) harp solos and was AMAZING.

He was completely bonkers in his films, but he had such a lovely gentle humour whenever he played the harp. The scene with the multiple harps in the mirrors always stuck in my memory banks from watching his movies as a child.

What's not to love about Harpo?

A lovely website all about Harpo set up by his son here