Deaths

From the furthest generation back here are the death certificates of the Marx maternal grandparents, Louis Schoenberg (1920) and Fannie Salomons (1901). Fannie died at 179 East 93rd St., in the same house where Zeppo was born two months previously.

Here are the death certificates for the Marx parents.

Minnie from 1929.

And Sam from 1933. Zeppo was the informant and apparently knew nothing about his paternal grandparents. His residence at the time was the Garden of Allah Hotel.

And the oldest brother, Manfred born Jan 1886, died 17 Jul 1886 at 426 East 87th. On the first floor of a building occupied by eight families.

I went to the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills and got all four Marx brothers death certificates from the book Celebrity Death Certificates 2.

First Chico from 1961.

Harpo from 1964.

Groucho from 1977.

And Zeppo from 1979.

And here, purely for prurient interest, is Thelma Todd’s death certificate from 1935. As Thelma Alice Todd DiCicco. In her will she left her ex-husband a dollar. The death was ruled an accident. She was cremated and after her mother died in 1969 her ashes were placed in her mother’s casket and buried in her hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Hearse Feathers

In case you’re looking to go visiting, here’s how to get to some final resting places.

Sam and Minnie

Minnie died on 13 Sep 1929 in Zeppo’s guest bedroom at 169 E. 78th St., Manhattan. At 10pm as per the death certificate, but at 2am as per Stephan Kanfer’s Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx. A time that makes more since seeing how she had already headed home after a long family meal and had to double back.

Sam died at Harpo’s bungalow at the Garden of Allah Hotel, 8152 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, on 11 May 1933 at 7:15 am.

Sam and Minnie are buried at Mt. Camel Cemetery, Glendale, New York. The front gate of the cemetery is at 83-45 Cypress Hills Street, Glendale.

They are in Section 2, block 10, path 9, lot 373, graves 1 and 2.

Here’s the far view.

And closer.

The location of the Marx graves are circles on this map.

While you’re there you should really visit Henny Youngman who’s in section 9, row 9, on the far upper left on the map. If only because he told the joke: “When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown in my mother-in-law’s face.”

And possibly clearing up a minor Marx mystery. At Minnie’s funeral Alexander Woollcott got a laugh by pointing to a grave with an Irish name and saying, “I think there’s a spy in the cemetery.” Harpo in Harpo Speaks says the name was Kelly. Stephan’s Kanfer’s Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx says it was O’Flaherty. Maxine in “Growing Up With Chico” says the name was Tom O’Casey. There are virtually no Irish names in the cemetery and I believe the correct spy is in the plot next to the Marxes: John Morrissey, d. 27 Mar 1928.

Groucho

Groucho died 19 Aug 1977 at 7:25pm at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. With him were Arthur, daughter-in-law Lois, and grandson Andrew. Erin Fleming had left 15 minutes earlier.

Groucho was cremated at Groman’s Mortuary in Los Angeles and his ashes are at Eden Memorial Park, 11500 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California.

Specifically, in the West Columbarium in the Court of the Tribes Mausoleum. It’s circled on this map.

There are outdoor crypts around the mausoleum but Groucho is in a small room inside.

Arthur Marx bought Row G, Niche 11 for Groucho’s ashes on 19 Aug 1977.

I visited in June 2024.

Once you go in the small door the niche is on the back facing wall as you walk into the room.

A recent visitor said the secret word.

Chico and Gummo

Chico died at home, 123 N. Elm Dr., Beverly Hills, on 11 Oct 1961 at 10:30am, holding the hand of his second wife, Mary, to whom he bequeathed his entire estate. His estate has been reported as being $10,000. But it’s actually described in probate records as being in excess of $10,000. The home currently at 123 N. Elm Dr. was built in 2000.

Gummo died at the Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, California on 21 Apr 1977.

Chico and Gummo are both at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale, California. In the Freedom Mausoleum, upper right (labeled “Court of Freedom “) on this map.

Specifically for Chico: Freedom Mausoleum, Patriots Terrace (lower floor), Corridor of the Patriots, Sanctuary of Worship (right/south side wall), Single Mausoleum Crypt #22018.

Go through the main entrance and take a left. On your immediate right is a staircase leading down to the Patriots Terrace/Independence Terrace on the lower floor.

At the bottom of the stairs take a right.

At the end of the corridor take a right. Then the corridor on the first right is the Sanctuary of Worship. Chico is on the right wall Single Mausoleum Crypt #22018 (2 columns in, 2 rows from top).

For Gummo (and Helen) the directions to the lower level are the same. Lower level of the mausoleum, turn right into the main, north/south hallway. But then the Sanctuary of Brotherhood (nice touch) will be the first hall on your left (across the main hallway from where Chico is interred and on the same side). Gummo’s crypt (#21057) is on the left, three tiers in from the main hallway and three rows up.

Harpo

We now dip into the speculative. Harpo died at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Palm Springs at 8:39 pm on 28 Sep 1964, a day after heart surgery. With him were Susan, and two of his sons. He left an estate of over one million dollars. He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA. Rumor is that his ashes were scattered in the sand trap at the seventh hole of the Rancho Mirage Country Club, 38-500 Bob Hope Dr, Rancho Mirage, CA.

Here’s the golf course view:

And a bit closer so you can see the sand traps near the pin.

Zeppo

Zeppo died at the Eisenhower Medial Center in Rancho Mirage, California at 12:10 am on 30 Nov 1979. He left an estate of 1.1 million dollars. He was cremated and his ashes are said to have been scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

Manfred and his Schoenberg Grandparents

Manfred died 17 Jul 1886 at 426 East 87th at 11pm. He’s buried in Washington Cemetery at 5400 Bay Parkway in Mapleton, Brooklyn. His grandmother, Minnie’s mother, Fanny (Salomons) Schoenberg, died in 1901. His grandfather, Louis “Lafe” Schoenberg, died in 1920.

Washington Cemetery is divided into five cemeteries and they are in Cemetery #1. It’s bordered on three of its sides by major Brooklyn streets: Ocean Parkway, Bay Parkway, and McDonald Avenue.

They are all at post 149. Manfred in row 4 grave 10, Louis in row 8 grave 5, and Fannie in row 8 grave 4. (Interestingly, Manfred is in the cemetery database as “Manfred or Louis”).

Enter the cemetery at the the gate at McDonald Avenue and Bay Parkway and take an immediate right.

Hug the fence and follow the path that’s paralleling McDonald Avenue.

Post 149 is in the southwest corner of cemetery #1, off Evergreen Ave. The road/path in front in this photo is Evergreen and the correct section is just past it. Lafe and Fanny are in the front row.

Put 40.6188822, -73.9747433 into Google Maps and it gets you right to Fanny and Lafe.

(The “father” and “mother” stones are footstones of the Jacobs’ just behind, it’s believed. But they do correctly mark Lafe on the left and Fanny on the right)

Or just use this QR code.

To get to Manfred go one row behind Fanny to row 7 grave 4.

Walk back down row 7 towards Evergreen Ave until you get to Isadore Samuels in row 7 grave 10. The Samuels are in front in this photo Manfred circled in back.

Walk straight back three rows to Manfred at row 4 grave 10.

Here’s Manfred’s grave (circled) as seen from Lafe and Fanny’s graves.

Manfred is directly in front of Simon Cohen, who is in row 3 grave 10.

Google map coordinates are 40.6189628 -73.9746718.

Here’s a QR code:

Here’s a good look at how Lafe, Fanny, and Manfred are oriented in relation to each other- courtesy of Google Earth.

Assorted Others

Margaret Dumont

Margaret Dumont died 6 Mar 1965 at her home in Hollywood, California. She was cremated and her ashes were interred in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory, 1605 South Catalina Street, Los Angeles, California.

In 2023 her ashes were removed from the vault and placed in their own niche. It’s at the ground level to the right as you first enter the chapel.

George Fenneman

George Fenneman died 29 May 1997. He was born in Beijing, married his college sweetheart, and while they were courting he took her to see the Marx Brothers presenting “Scenes from A Day at the Races” at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco in April 1936.

He was cremated and the location of his ashes is unknown.

Thelma Todd

Thelma Todd’s ashes are buried with her parents John and Alice Todd, in Bellevue Cemetery, 170 May St, Lawrence, Massachusetts, Section 19, Lot 5548, grave 10 (cemeteryfind.com)

Art Fisher

Art Fisher, the vaudeville monologist who gave the brothers their nicknames, retired from show business in 1912 and sold pianos in Boston.

He was born in Vermont, grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, lived most of his life in Boston, and died in Lowell 22 Aug 1974 at age 95.

He’s buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, section B, plot 24.

42°36’25.4″N 71°18’53.0″W gets you right to him.