Julius Henry Marx, aka ‘Groucho’ Marx, was born October 2,
1890, in New York City, New York. He and
his brothers Adolf (Harpo) and Leonard (Chico) made up one of the zaniest
comedy groups in American history – The Marx Brothers. On stage and in the movies, they kept
audiences in an uproar with their outrageous puns, satires, musical
donnybrooks, and all-around bad-boy behavior with those who were obviously
their betters. Groucho was the nominal
leader of this band of merry Andrews, and as such usually had the best lines in
their plays and movies. He was also a
noted raconteur in his private life, using his irrepressible wit to skewer
stuffed shirts and deflate the pompous vaporing of so-called experts in any and
every field. Here are five gems on
finances that came from him, and that we can all learn from:
-->
·
“A
hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.’
Groucho was one of the first Hollywood stars
to insist on using a stand-in for any stunts he considered to be even slightly
dangerous. He advised his children to
work at boring jobs rather than risky ones; the money’s the same, he insisted,
and you don’t have to spend time and money taking care of injuries.
·
“The
only primrose path I know of is Wall Street!”
Groucho learned his lesson after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. He invested in a wide variety of financial
instruments, from real estate to bonds to precious metals, and was able to help
his other brothers when their incomes dwindled at the end of their film career
because they had insisted on investing in nothing but stocks.
·
“Alimony
is like buying hay for a dead horse.”
Well, okay, this is more bitter hindsight than sound financial advice,
since Groucho had 3 wives during his lifetime.
But he managed to stay friends with all three of his ex-wives and they
eventually agreed to drop their alimony demands on him – thus proving once
again that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar!
·
“I
find television very educational. Every
time someone turns on a set I go into another room and read a book.”
Groucho
was an avid reader and book collector. Towards
the end of his life he estimated he had spent a total of four-hundred dollars
on television sets, which were now worth nothing, and had spent well over
twenty-thousand dollars on books, which were now worth nearly a million
dollars. He obviously knew the wisdom of
spending money on things that not only give pleasure, but increase in value.
·
“The
secret of life is honesty and fair dealing.
If you can fake those you’ve got it made.”
Groucho’s friends knew him to be a hard
bargainer, but an honest one. When he
made a deal, he stuck by it no matter what.
This came in handy in the mid 1930’s, when the Marx Brothers’ movie
career was considered to be over. The team
was let go by Paramount Studios and Groucho decided to take them into radio for
a trial run. When MGM Studios requested
them for a movie, Groucho told them that they had already signed a contract for
radio and would not back out of it.
Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, was so impressed with Groucho’s honesty
and integrity that he personally bought out the team’s contract with the radio
network, and the team began work on what many consider to be one of the
greatest movie comedies every made, “A Night at the Opera”.
Written by:
Tim Torkildson spends part of each year teaching English in Thailand. He spends the other part of the year writing
financial blogs for companies such as Hoffman Consulting.
Useful Social Media and Blogging Tips.
Any feedback, questions or ideas are always welcome. In case of Computer related buying-selling we recommened Computer Market and you can mail us anytime.