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Marx Brothers fans rejoice: There’s a recording of Harpo speaking

JL;DR SUMMARY Fans of the Marx Brothers are thrilled to discover a recording of Harpo Marx, famously known for his mute performances, speaking during a March 1964 benefit concert for the Riverside Symphony Orchestra. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HistoryComedySymphonyHarpo MarxMarx BrothersRecording1964Peter And The WolfHarpo Speaks!Rare Find

Places mentioned

Riverside, California, United States
"On March 20, 1964, he gave his final performance at a concert for the Riverside Symphony Orchestra in California."
Israel
"having grown more connected to his Jewishness after a 1963 trip to Israel."
New York, United States
"evoking the storytelling of an old-time New York-born Zayde (dressed in his traditional costume at the concert, he donned a new accessory: reading glasses)."
Pasadena, California, United States
"Looking in the tape box for Pasadena, Sherman instead found the Riverside tape."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 80635
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-04-23 05:31:01 UTC
Curated 2026-04-23 08:31:23 UTC