The Children's Room

   Hi!  this is a special place just for YOU!
   I'm A Harpo, an entertainer who plays a guy named Harpo Marx. Most younger people don't know who Harpo was.  Here I explain who he was and why I play him.
   When I can, I'll add some really fun stuff to this page.

   I entertain people at places like fairs, parades, and parties. Wherever I go I bring some toys. These are just some of them. Sometimes I give toys away. It doesn't matter how old you are, anyone can have fun with them. A lot of adults like them, and many know who Harpo Marx was.  I perform for people of all ages. I also do a special performance that I did in a show called Vaudeville. The act is a comedy, and I also play a harp. In my act, I don't talk, but I really can talk, and I will if I have to, but not on stage.
   I do all this for fun, to make people happy.
   Sometimes I go to a park and find people to play with. Even in a store or a doctor's office, I always have some toys. They help keep me from being bored, and I never know when I'll see a child. I'm an adult and a kid at the same time, like the guy I play. Even when I'm not being him, I still have my toys. When I see you, I hope we can be friends.      So, iif you see me, just call me Harpo, but don't be surprised if I don't talk!

   Here's a little story about Harpo Marx:

   Long before there was radio and TV, a little over 100 years ago, there lived 5 brothers who's last name was Marx. They were very poor, but they had a lot of love. Their mom, her parents, and her husband, came from another country. Her parents were performers, and she was for awhile, too. She wanted her sons to be performers, too. The word for what performers do as a job is often known as showbusiness.  Being paid for something is part of being professional, which is part of doing business.
   When the Marx brothers were very young, there were shows that had different kinds of performers, known as Vaudeville. It was a variety show, where these entertainers came to play. Variety is a mix, where there's many different things that can be together, like a plate of food that has potatoes, meat, and beans. Well, in Vaudeville, there were magicians, clowns, dancers, singers, jugglers, and funny people called commedians. They were all entertainers.  These shows were done on a stage in front of lots of people, in a big building called a theatre. You may've been to a theatre where you saw a movie. In Vaudeville, instead of a screen, there was a stage. There are a few outdoor theatres, too.  The Vaudeville shows that are most famous, happened in the early 1900's.  Harpo Marx didn't want to do this, but his mom made him, so he tried to make it fun. He worked on the character he played, using his ideas, with the parts that were written for him. He talked with his hands a lot, doing what's called Pantomime, and also talked with his voice, but someone who wrote about their show in a newspaper, said his voice ruined the pantomimes.  Pantomime is a special kind of performance where the person doesn't talk with a voice, so it doesn't go right when someone does it and talks, too. Harpo was very hurt over what the newspaper report, called a review, said, but knew they were right, but he was so hurt, he made a promise, a vow, of professional silence, which means, he'd never talk when he was on stage or "in public". Being in public is where anyone can go, like a theatre.

So instead of talking, Harpo did the pantomimes. Pantomimes is when people act out an idea. Harpo also used props, which is anything that helps get the message across so people know what he's saying. He used a horn to express his feelings, he also made up his own pantomimes, and had his own language, whistling in different ways. The horn was attached to a long black pole, and when it honked, it had a very deep sound. In real life, I don't think a horn can make a deep sound when it's on a pole, if it's not attached to something, so they made the sound in the studio, and played the sound whenever he honked the horn. When he appeared in a live show, he had his horn on the bell thing it was made with, it sounded like a bicycle horn. He also whistled sometimes while he played his harp. Harpo loved being silly, and had fun making goofy faces. It isn't as easy as it looks to play him, but it sure is fun!

You can have fun, too, with a game called Charades, it's played by doing pantomimes and guessing what the person is trying to say. People play it at parties sometimes. Try it out, don't worry if you goof, just have a good time with it!

So Harpo got to like being in showbusiness, and decided to stay. The show they did was called a musical, where they sing a lot, as a group, and after awhile they did comedy, too. Comedy is when someone does silly things to make people laugh. Harpo got his nicname because he played a harp. His harp was a much bigger one than mine is. His mom wanted to make their show better, and thought a harp would do it, and she was right. The brothers traveled for many years before they got famous; then another newspaper review person wrote how much he liked them. When movies were invented, they got to work for a studio. A studio is a big place with all the things people need to make a movie. The people who work there get paid, those who have a big part get paid a lot. It took many years for Harpo to make his character to be like what he did in the movies. If it wasn't for what happened in Vaudeville, Harpo would never have thought of the part he played that made him famous. He also made a couple of records of his harp music. He loved playing music, it was not an act, meaning, it was not pretending, it was part of him and came from his heart, and he would do it even if it wasn't his job. He loved acting, too, and he is a lot like the person he is in the movies, but he doesn't do everything in real life that he did on stage, though they can make things look real in movies and TV that can't be done for real. A lot of people do the same job for a long time. We call that a career. Usually a career is when we like the job we do. Harpo made a career out of being silly and playing music. He also wrote a book about his life. He even had some of his music put on records, that's what we had before CD's were invented.
Harpo played his character for fun; it was more than just part of his job. The wig he wore for the act, was often worn even when he wasn't working. His first wig was very dark, the second wig was lighter but it didn't show well when he started wearing the tophat, so he got an even lighter one. The movies were made in black and white, so it was much harder to see the hat with a dark wig. His wigs were red, but looked blond in the movies. The big hat was called a tophat, the coat is called a trench coat, he just called it a raincoat. Sometimes he'd wear his whole costume, just for fun. He was a goofy person even as a child. When he grew up, a big part of him was still a kid. It's ok to be a kid and an adult. Growing up doesn't mean we have to stop being a kid. There's a time to work and a time to play. When people stop being a kid forever, they forget how, and lose a very speicial part of themselves. Harpo helped people remember that, and keep the child in them alive. That's what I do, too. It helps me as much as it does other people.
You can find out more about Harpo and his brothers online. If your parents don't know who the Marx Brothers were, your grandparents probably do.

horn

You may have seen horns like this one, on bicycles, the round part that gets squeezed is called a bulb, the part it stands on is called a bell. Because it's loud, I made something to put inside it to make it quieter, especially for indoors.

You can see how different the harp looks when it's standing on the floor, and when it has the rod pulled out.

My harp is much smaller than Harpo's was. See how it looks when I'm standing with it. I am a short person. I have to hold the harp when the rod is extended. Sometimes it's easier to play that way.

Harpo had to teach himself the harp, without any books or lessons. Before he got famous, his parents could only afford one teacher, for his brother, Chico, who played piano. Harpo wanted to learn, too. When they were in Vaudeville, his mom bought the harp, and Harpo had to repay her. When he got famous, he found a teacher to show him the right way to play, and tried to learn it properly, but couldn't do it. She didn't get mad, and told him he was doing ok with his own way of playing. For awhile, I played in my own way, too, I still don't play exactly right, but it's ok. I have my own style, just as Harpo had his.

My first wig was red. The color looks better on me but not as good with the hat like the blond one does. Harpo's first 2 wigs were very dark, and, because the pictures weren't in color, it was hard to see the hat, so he got a light red one, but it looked blond on film. I can't find any like it, so I use the blond one.
Everyone knew his hair was a wig, even I could tell, not just because his eyebrows were dark. Harpo didn't have much of his own hair.

See the horn as the real Harpo had it.

I am a lot like Harpo. Many people think Harpo was a clown, but I don't think so, and a lot of other people don't think so either. He did some things a clown would do, but that doesn't make him one. Some people are afraid of clowns, and a couple of boys were afraid of me when they saw me, because of a bad movie about some clown guy that killed people. There may have been a real guy like that, but that isn't what most clowns do. These boys were too scared to listen to me explain why I dress funny and act funny, but the other children nearby were not afraid. They played with me and we had lots of fun. It's fun for an adult to have that child part of them come out sometimes.

   Sometimes I get mean looks from some kids who don't understand why I like to play Harpo. It really hurts. They might also see that I can't see very well. Some people are scared of someone who has trouble seeing, or walking, hearing, talking, or doing things that are easy for most people. When you see someone different, it might be scary, because you don't know what it is, so you might think it will hurt you. Even if you learn about it, you still might be afraid, you still might not like it. That may be ok, as long as you're not mean about it. No one likes all the same things. Being different is ok, too, but, as much as we are different, we are also a lot alike.
   If something bothers you, you should tell someone so they can help you see if you really need to be afraid, angry, or sad about it. Everyone feels those things sometimes, and we don't always know what to do. When people do activities like comedy, sing, dance, paint, write, among other things like those, it helps them do something with those feelings, and makes them not hurt so bad.  When I sing, dance, play music, do comedy, and things like that, I'm doing what's called art. There's a lot of stuff that's part of art, like what I do and what many people in the arts do to help them feel better. Because it helps us, and is also fun, we often share that with others, and help make them feel better, too. Sometimes even crying, pounding something, or yelling, or stomping our feet can make us feel better, but it's more fun to do other things to help take away bad feelings. I help people by sharing art, and other creative things. Doing art is called creativity, which means, we make something up in our heads, and make it real. It has to be done in a way that doesn't hurt anyone, not even the person doing it. It's not good to hold our feelings inside. I help people get their bad feelings out and find a good way of handling them. Doing arts and crafts is one way we can have fun and feel better, too.
   Some people are mean for fun and that's how they feel better so we have to stay away from them. A lot of what we see on TV and in movies is very mean and very bad.  You need to know that it's not ok to be like that just because you saw someone do that. Some people think those things are cool, and funny, especially when bad people get away with it and keep hurting others. Sometimes we have to hurt someone, but only if they're hurting us in a way that can be very serious, meaning, we might be in real danger if we don't defend ourselves. There's a time to fight back, and a time to walk away if you can, or run from danger if you have to. In the movies, Harpo only hurt people if they hurt him, or someone he cared about. Sometimes I think he didn't have to get back at the bad people, but in movies, people do things they wouldn't do in real life. As long as you know it's just a movie, it's ok. This goes for books and other stuff, too.  There's a lot of different kinds of entertainment, some is bad, some is good.

My real name is Ariel. When I started playing Harpo, I didn't think it'd become a career. For most of my life I was very shy, but playing Harpo helped me and now I'm not as shy. I also sing for people, and teach them how to handle their problems in a good way. My favorite ways of doing that are by using creativity and entertainment. For many years, I was a singer. I wish I could be in a band, travel, make records, talk to people about something called Natural Healing, which includes helping people handle bad feelings; I also want to talk about being disabled, and show people I am a lot like everyone else. I help a lot of people in my own special way. Although I have trouble seeing, and I don't hear so good sometimes, I can still do most things everyone else does. I love helping people, making friends, learning about other people, learning new things, having fun, and most of all I love making people happy.

If you see something here that you don't understand, please ask someone. I explain things the way I understand them, and try to share my ideas in a way that you will understand, especially something that might be new to you.
I hope you have someone to talk to who you can trust, someone who listens to you and really cares about you, who will spend time with you and answer your questions. I love you very much.

Sincerely,

A Harpo