Go West - Harpo Marx plays harp

[Msip12]

This man has skills. This is my favorite movie of the Marx brothers all because of this part XD

[amileya352]

Harpo was never Mad. Just silent. All the marx' brothers played instruments. Groucho wrote a wonderful biography. Check it out. =)

[1XXWILLIXX]

it is borring



[littlemissmello]

Seriously, is anyone doubting he could play the harp? He could play the harp alright!

Next to that; MAYBE the sound is indeed synched, we don't know for sure, as the strings of the loom aren't loom-strings but real harp-strings

[harpsong93]

0 dislikes... Nobody can dislike Harpo!

[JJRaff18221882]

Sounds more like Claude Debussy than something Native American

[alchaisy]

MAGIC HARPO

[EwokTheProducer424]

one of my favorite movies <3

[dcore64]

Just incredible... When you watch his face you can see when he goes from being a comedian to being a musical genius.

[stingosdungeon]

Priceless my friend...... PRICELESS. It WAS Harpo for sure and it was really good. thanks for going to the trouble of finding it and posting it... I've shared it allot.

[idealjaler]

MAGIC

[jeetkd]

I like his pat on the shoulder at the very end, makes me smile :) Fantastic playing.

[JJRaff1822]

Gotta be the best jam session in all of film history! (-:

[Menckenperson]

The combination is magical.....

[TomBarristerX]

As he did for all of movies in which he played harp, Harpo Marx would record the music in the studio. He would then synch-play it again for film, with the studio recording playing over a loudspeaker. That is how the effect of his playing the work on the loom is achieved.. The fact that he makes it look like he's actually playing the work on a loom is testimony to the man's genius and abilities.

[stingosdungeon]

@TomBarristerX

AMEN! Well put.

[TheMarxBrother81]

Harpo rocks!

[MsZelazny]

Watching him play makes my soul purr. He was so wonderful.

[FredDenmark]

Harpo played the tune twice first in the movie then on the soundtrack. If you carefully look at his fingers, his just imitating - I like when he plays jazz at 3:01 - At 3:05 you hear some bass strings, even Harpo does not touch the "Harp" ;o) But it dosent matter - it is Harpo

[SilentRedsDuck]

he did always say (in his autobiography) that he was a completely different person at the harp...

[ScatmanKirby]

I love the way the chief puts his hand on Harpo's shoulder after he's done playing. This whole scene is just beautiful.

Harpo is so cool.

[Thecheckerchex]

wish i could get this song on a cd or something..

[4freespeech]

I bet nobody posts the scene in this part

of the movie where Chico and the Indian

are "talking" and laughing together in outrageous gibberish and Groucho says

"Amazing what happens when two giant

intellects get together, isn't it?"

Racist as hell, but HILARIOUS!

[concord39]

4freespeech

If you want to see that part of the scene to you can see it here

watch?v=8f6VwOhLRfw

[Thecheckerchex]

i don't quite see how it's racist

[cutefidgety]

don't get me wrong, i love this piece and i'm adding it to my list of harpists' videos to listen to :)

i only wish i could play as well... nevermind what the image says! i'm here for the music :)

[cutefidgety]

actually... he wasn't actually playing the loom as a harp at all. why do i say so? because you can hear that he is adding accidentals to the music.

being a harpist myself, i know that if i want to add accidentals to the music, i must either change the lever (on a lever harp), or step/release the pedals (on a pedal harp) and harpo does none of these.

technically it's impossible to change keys on a harp that doesn't have levers or pedals. also, you hear a harp 'pedal mechanism buzz' at 2:20-2:24

[TomBarristerX]

@cutefidgety Harpo never played "live" in the recordings anyway. A perfectionist, Marx recorded his music in a studio and synched it in the movies.

[goldie0800]

That is beautiful playing by Harpo! I wonder what the name of the music is? I've been watching TCM which has a series of Marx Bros. movies ongoing today so I got to see several of Harpo's fine moments of musicianship.

[4205lr]

From the land of the sky blue water.

[voodoojamiroquai]

I love harpo!!!!!!!!!

[RichardRoy2]

Always enjoyed the clever ways they'd make the harp appear from seemingly unlikely places in the films.

[DeliriLuxSolis]

i always thought it was amazing how he taught himself how to do it =) i wish i could do it hes so amazing too bad there will never be another harpo marx people just arnt that amazing anymore

[camerawork3]

I love the part at the end where the Indian pats him on the shoulder. It's such a poignant little moment

[juggernaut198]

Harpo could play, end of story. b/c of the technology back then they had to dub it into the movie, you can see the notes not always match up to what he's playing on other videos. but the point is, he could play everything that you're hearing, they just couldn't play back what he was actually playing b/c of lack of tech.

[monkeylad44]

He was so awesome, the guy could act AND play music

both so flawlessly.A true genius of music & video.

[martinimerlin]

Ginger Rogers taps were dubbed in the Astaire - Rogers films. That didn't make her less of a dancer. Harpo could play the harp.

I have friends who saw him play live in night clubs. One of his best routines is on "I Love Lucy" - he does an incredible version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" - that wasn't dubbed -- they didn't have the budget and it was shot in front of a live audience.

[nedsparks]

His dubber, Casper Reardon, may be seen in clips on YouTube.

[Wolff72]

I don't care if it's the original sound, all I need to know is that Harpo played like an angel and that he was a great, really great, musician. And I don't know why but this scene made me cry ;)

[ALALALALAL1]

it's just so beautiful *cry*

[OmegaMKzero]

its lyk the only time u

wld c hm wf a serious face

bt tht is awsum anyway

[mcul2112]

Wow...what a sweet scene. Thanks so much!

[goldenagenut]

What we're seeing and hearing are not the same but he was playing the same song apparently. I never get tired of watching Harpo play, or Chico for that matter.

[Notar89]

I think is really Harpo playing. Great!

[monkeylad44]

Of course it's really him!It always was!Haha

[PortavogieBoy]

For the record, Harpo is playing. The Marx Brothers, Chico and Harpo mostly, were music geniouses

[waboozz]

Hahahah this is so lovely! And the song is bloody amazing.

[Silentscreengoddess]

Without going into technicalities the "instrument" Harpo is "playing" in this video is as mute as he appears to be. He probably did play the piece but it would have been dubbed in afterwards as any sound he did make during filming would be most unmusical. Great all the same.

[Fankarlin]

It might be himself playing the indubbed music. ^^

[stmsat]

Maybe audio and video are not perfectly synchronized (my fault).

[undertkr2001]

@stmsat Doesn't matter friend. This is my favorite movie scene of all time. This movie was on when I was but 16. I loved the entire flick and laughed my ass off, but this part was the best. Thank you. No apology needed.

[AnEscapedMind]

@stmsat No, that's how it was in the movie "A Night at the Opera." Maybe, that's how it is here, too.

[diddymuck]

see 1:03 to 1:05, the harp notes continue after he's arrived at the last string. I understand another harpist "subbed" for this offstage, but Harpo was fully capable of playing this piece and others more complex.

[jeetkd]

Great piece, marx brothers never grow old

[diddymuck]

he's obviously not playing.

[stmsat]

Yeah, I suppose a loom wouldn't sound like that :D

I hope the real player is Harpo anyway :D

[LynnetteAndreaVictor]

@stmsat Actually in ancient times, looms could be harps, so it could sound like that, but most likely it was probably dubbed in. It doesn't make the music any less enjoyable though *has killed the replay button*

[goldenagenut]

I've been looking for this clip for so long,thank you so much for posting this! Go West was the first Marx Bros film I saw and the first Harpo solo I'd ever heard. I was stunned,what a talent, it's still my favorite. He and Chico made is look so easy and FUN!!!

[PaulPaddickFan]

I love harpo!

i feel like crying every time is see one of his harp songs on here..he's so good...and its just to bad he isnt alive today...then again he would be like 119..XD

[stmsat]

Yeah, it's probably "too slow" for today movies... :)

[thebone83]

One of my favorite pieces by Harpo! Great post...you don't see things like this in the movies anymore