Harpo speaks

[TigreOkage2080]

harpo has a horrible radio voice...get it...

he never talks... aw screw you guys

[49bobbyk]

Woollcott and Harpo were supposed to have had an affair according to Groucho. My mother knew a woman who took harp lessons from him. She said that he was a wonderful person.

[dallaskenn]

@49bobbyk Harpo and Alexander Woollcott, really? Where or when did Groucho confirm this?

[TomBarristerX]

The man with Harpo is critic Alexander Woollcott, who was a critic for New Yorker magazine. Woollcott and marx were members of the Aloquin Round Table, a sort of think tank of writers, critics, and celebrities.

[Rab379]

i dont know whether i want to listen to this or not???

what do you guys think, should i do it? :S

[143AC]

This footage was not used in"The Unknown Marx Brothers"

tv documentary.

[143AC]

This was newsreel footage taken outside of NYC's

Criterion Movie Theater in 1936.When "The Great Zigfeld"premired.The man interviewing Mr.Harpo Marx was

CBS Radio newsman Ted Husing.

[HeraldMB]

I tried to get a friend to watch this but she refuses, lol. She wants to keep the magic alive so to speak. ;)

I told her how Harpo sounded though, and she was quite surprised. She expected him to have a higher voice, judging by his screen persona.

[ProjectHumanoid]

he says "You gotta do the talkin' on the air"

[JurassicPlank]

It sounds like: you gotta do d talkin t d mike!

[zoxofzox]

ultra rare and very interesting! see also "harpo laughs". sounds alot like chico, actually....

[peterack]

The first time I heard Harpo speak was on tv watching a full re-broadcast of the Ed Murrow interview. At the conclusion Ed (from the studio) says goodbye to Harpo, his wife, and their son. As the trio waves "bye"at the camera...one can hear all three of them say "byyyyyyeeeee" - including Harpo. A little slip since he was so intent on beingsilent during the whole thing.

[grendizerfell]

This is absolutely amazing.

[hulkmania75]

honk honk

[purplepeachandblack]

Harpo seems to speak on "The Unknown Marx Brothers" DVD. It happens in an interview with Ed Murrow on Person to Person (a bonus feature). Harpo & his wife give a tour of their home. At one point they take a golf cart to go around back. As the cart drives away Harpo says "Honk Honk" (off camera). Unfortunately I don't know how to rip and upload. Perhaps someone out there can do it? Can anyone confirm this or am I hearing things?

[anhacus]

General Patton had a high voice and he didn't like it. He wished he had a deep and menacing bass to complete his image.

[pferrara929]

"Harpo Speaks" was an inspirational read. If you enjoyed reading it, check out You Tube's "Harpo - US".

[DaMama4]

In his autobiography "Harpo Speaks", he said he had a high voice with a Brooklyn accent. I hear the Brooklyn but it is kinda low. Well either way I'm saving this! Harpo is my hero!

[CaptSpalding]

I was just thinking about how he had described his voice. This video is a keeper even if it is only 5 seconds long!

[frankieshane]

olly olly oxen free

[argetlamgirl711]

OMGOSH HE SPOKE!!!

[LIZZYRULES]

oh my god, a bunch of freakin' rocket scientists trying to break down dialogue. Are you kidding me? How come there's so many comments over confusion about this? CLEARLY IT'S HARPO..THAT IS WHY THE VIDEO IS CALLED HARPO SPEAKS...DDD

[gottagetmac]

You know, Teller, from Penn and Teller, has a low voice too. I think we just expect silent people to have high voices, for whatever reason.

[cheesein]

It kinda makes sense since all his brothers have a reasonably deep voice (none of them have high voices at least). So I'd expect Harpo to have a similar voice.

[aronaamora]

Wow...I did not think there was a recording of him speaking anywhere.

[hiddentube]

When was this?

[fromthesidelines]

It's been said that Harpo had a voice similar to Groucho's...only higher-pitched. This newsreel excerpt

[obviously from "Hearst Metrotone News" in the mid-'30s; MGM also owned radio station WHN in New York at the time] seems to confirm that fact.

[negatiivethree]

I thought I read it was lower than Groucho's and similar to Chico's.

[ellenlinn7]

That is absolutely Harpo's voice- I recognize it from a recording I heard online. And if you read his lips, you will see that it's him! A lovely, mellow baritone voice- wouldn't it be lovely to hear more!

[bhlynd]

I did just that and you are right! It's almost amazing because you would NEVER expect Harpo to have a voice like that...

[Kealabear]

wonderful point PB...you can totally tell that it's harpo talking the first bit, because of the way he moves his head and mouth...the other guy only says 'yes'...

[GeneLebell]

simple and profound... Harpo is God!

[pbmachinima]

I used to have a longer audio clip of this. Harpo is saying, "You've gotta do the talking, I can't." Who else would say that except Harpo?

[dejahthoris]

Everyone who says that it isn't Harpo saying "You gotta do the talking" is way off. Just watch the vid, can't you see his lips move? The only thing the old guy says is "Yes"

[FinKwitch]

If you watch carefully (and listen) you'll hear that Harpo says the "you have to..." part and the taller man adds "yes" at the end, while Harpo is still speaking!

[mjfprod]

Again..It would be wonderful if it was Harpo speaking (other than HONK HONK)m but alas it is NOT him. Jarpo is too far away from the microphone. He also would not have such a deep baritone voice (it was noted high by many biographers) and the other man's voice in memorable on 1930s radio. Sorry again!

[mjfprod]

I am afraid to say that the taller older gentlemen has been speaking to the rdaio crowd. It is him that says "You've gotta do..." But it is Harpo who adds the "Honk Honk". Classic clip, though!

[spideyvid]

Harpo says "you gotta do the talking again" the other guy only moves his lips in sync with "again" so the only voice on this tape is Harpo's

[bhlynd]

Yes- I believe that the talking we hear is the taller gentleman. Unfortunately, I believe we'll have to be happy with Honk, Honk :)

[melancholick]

It's not. Watch Harpo's mouth. It's hard to see, but he's speaking in synch to the "You gotta do the talking" bit, whereas the other fella is just moving his lips.

[hiddentube]

Which one is Harpo.

[takineko]

The one who says honk honk

[takineko]

LOL! how cute!

[spideyvid]

I always thought that he had a high brooklyn accent. (as he described in his book "Harpo Speaks"

[BobLefty61]

Wow...great clip. I've been wondering how his voiced sounded for about 35 years! He sounds very much like Groucho (oddly enough!).

[Flickerfly]

Oooh, he's got a deep voice. Almost as shocking as the first time I heard Buster Keaton!

[ogamiito]

there is a story with a stupid girl who said to her friends, when she saw Harpo, something like "Oh my god, this is Harpo Marx!! Do you think he's really mute??"

And he answered : "Maybe i am, but i'm definitely not deaf!!" The Marx bros had the same awesome repartee in the real life than in their movies

[omiewise]

well... the word honk doesnt say much about a persons voice.

[NemesisKismet]

Well at the beginning he does say "You gotta do the talking" so... Little more than honk. XD

[smokinaces]

honk, honk

[YukiSagara]

o.O

[LydiaWynne]

Wow! That's the best...

[browncoatsunite]

wow! thats the first time i ever heard him speak and thats not at all what i always thought he would sound like.

[MrX420]

ditto

[alfiesgal]

harpo could've been cagney's henchman...this reminds me of a famous charity photo he posed with cagney, buster keaton, and maybe burns. imagine the thunderous baritones of that grouping!