# Did Harpo Marx ever speak on film **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869 "2001-10-07T02:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/21 "2001-10-07T23:05:41Z")
Osip, you are quite correct. It was the speech in **Chasing Amy** that I was think of. Eric ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/22 "2001-10-07T23:21:02Z")
dwtno said > [@](#): > > He had time to put out an autobiography? Happen to remember what the > book is called? “Harpo Speaks” ---
**Author:** ![dwtno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/23 "2001-10-07T23:47:05Z")
I think **Folkie** was refering to an autobiography by Allan Sherman, at least that’s what I understood the statement to mean. I was suprised because I never realized Sherman even _wrote_ an autobiography. Harpo’s book I know. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/24 "2001-10-07T23:55:38Z")
I asked about Harpo at my film newsgroup. Here is the reply: No. For the nitpickers: Harpo appeared solo in a small role in the 1925 Richard Dix vehicle TOO MANY KISSES. Harpo, in the silent film convention, moved his lips & we saw a title card with his character’s dialogue. So that’s the only time Harpo “spoke” on screen. Harpo does whistle in several films, so you can hear his “voice.” Harpo was offered an extra $50,000 by the producer of AT THE CIRCUS to speak a line in that film, but turned it down. FYI, recordings of Harpo’s voice apparently do exist. I’ve never heard any of them, but he supposedly sounds like a raspier, slower speaking Groucho. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/25 "2001-10-07T23:58:16Z")
Allan Sherman, 1965, _A Gift of Laughter_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/26 "2001-10-08T02:29:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Harpo spoke on stage a number of times. He loved playing with people’s heads! He would usually start off with “Unaccustomed as I am at speaking…” and watch the jaws drop in the audience. This is a garbled version of what Harpo wrote in “Harpo Speaks.” He said that, after he retired from films, he would appear at various banquets, stand up, and begin “Unaccustomed as I am at public speaking.” It would immediately bring down the house and he didn’t need to say anything more. ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869/27 "2001-10-08T02:31:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwtno \* > \*\*I think **Folkie** was refering to an autobiography by Allan Sherman, at least that’s what I understood the statement to mean. I was suprised because I never realized Sherman even _wrote_ an autobiography. > > Harpo’s book I know. \*\* D’oh Teach me to skim read posts [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-harpo-marx-ever-speak-on-film/85869.md?page=1)