Chico had been making plans for an own band since the winter of 1940. Having linked up with jazz band manager Ben Pollack, he launched his solo career in January 1942. Pollack was the head but Chico had name recognition and fronted the band at the piano. They assembled a group of sixteen solid musicians including eight brass (three trombones), six saxophones plus a vocal group. The band was planned under the name Chico Marx and his Ravellies (or Ravellis) and was to follow a short series of solo radio sketches to be called Chico's Barber Shop. Apart from a pilot, the radio sketches never materialized but mutated later as TV-show College Bowl. Variety once referred to the band as Chico Marx and the Chicolets, but there is no other reference to them under this title. By mid-February 1942 billing had been amended to Chico Marx and his Orchestra or Chico Marx, his piano, and orchestra or - simply - Chico Marx Orchestra. All along, the music-stands and the drumskin sported a cartoon of Chico's head.

Chico's band did fairly straightforward dance-band material, enlivened by his distinctive fingerwork on the keys. Chico performed 15 minutes of his inimitable piano solo but the show usually started with a couple of tunes from the orchestra. After the first numbers Chico would come out for a short monologue and then introduced the vocalists. While they were singing in group or solo, Chico would sit on the edge of the bandstand eating a banana or - due to the wartime shortages - a carrot. When the singing was over, Chico stuffed the banana skin in the breast pocket of the vocalist. Then an old-style vaudeville act like The Manhattan Knights would be brought on, followed by more sentimental tunes with ironic remarks from Chico.

The band opened in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on 15 January 1942, moving on to the Windsor, Bronx and the Central, Passaic, New Jersey. In March, the band appeared in Cleveland, accompanying harmonica-player Larry Adler. On 13 March 1942 the Chico Marx Orchestra performed at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, a show which was broadcast locally over radio station WCAE as Stargazer Programme, hosted by Ray Spencer. A nine-minute segment of this show has survived but Chico is not heard on it. Vocalists at the time included Bobby Clark and Cpl. Ziggy Lane. Three days later, 16 March 1942, the band again performed at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, this time in Keep 'Em Smiling, a public service broadcast for Defense Stamps. Vocalists were Ginny Perkins and - again - Ziggy Lane. Chico was interviewed and got evasive about questions regarding his personal life, then spent some time introducing members of the newly-formed ensemble. Lane was also interviewed. The program was originally scheduled to run 15 minutes, but it was allowed to run over by another 7 minutes. It was broadcast locally over radio station WWSW.

From Ohio the tour continued to the west with one-night stands in Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Kenosha, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City and then Los Angeles. Some time ago there was a set of autographs from the spring of 1942 on sale on eBay. Chico's signature was dated "April 30th 1942, 10:45" and below this were some of the band's autographs, including Ziggy Lane, Marty Massala, Marty Napoleon, Bob Clark, Wally Brown and Nick Collins. These autographs are dated as May 30th 1942. Wally Brown (October 9, 1904 - November 13, 1961) was a vaudevillian (from Malden, Massachusetts) and the same may have been true for Collins. In June, two records were issued, with vocals by Ziggy Lane and Skip Nelson. In July, Chico Marx Orchestra played at the Palace on Main Street in Peoria. In August 1942, just before turning 17, Mel Tormé joined the band as singer and vocal arranger, and eventually replaced George Wettling as the band's drummer. They headed back east during the autumn of 1942.

Detail from a postcard of the Blackhawk restaurant in Chicago
while the Chico Marx Orchestra were playing there

In October, the band opened a two-month engagement at the Blackhawk Café in Chicago, broadcasting hightlights on a local radio show and drawing a crowd of 4000 to a venue supposed to hold 500 persons. Fuel rationing forced the band to remain in Chicago for two more months. Several of the band members were born in Chicago and of course Chico was no stranger to the town either, having lived there with the rest of the Marxes from 1909 to 1920 (see The Marx Brothers in Chicago). One evening Harpo surprised Chico with a visit to the Blackhawk and apart from playing the harp, Harpo is also reported to have held his trademark nonsensical speech from the dance floor, a speech which originated from Fun In Hi Skule and re-appeared over the years, for example in the stage version of Go West. More broadcasts followed after Tormé had joined the band, like a show for KLZ, Lake Side Park, in Denver (also featuring Elisse Cooper, Johnny Frigo and Bobby Clark as vocalists) and the Fitch Bandwagon on 20 December 1942, hosted by Toby Reed and eventually available on record.

Elisse Cooper, Mel Tormé, Johnny Frigo and Chico Marx
radio broadcast for KLZ, Lake Side Park, Denver

Throughout the war years Chico continued touring, taking time off only for a short illness in the winter of 1942-43 during which Harpo stood in for him for one week at the Cleveland Palace. The band broke up in July 1943 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco. After a vacation in the summer of 1943, Chico continued to tour. In October something dubbed the Chico Marx Hollywood Revue was playing the National Theatre in Louisville and in November he was in New Orleans with Chico Marx Hollywood Cavalcade. The modest success of his band also led to a TV-show, the 30 minute College Bowl. This was a low-budget musical-variety series in 1950-51, filmed entirely on one stage set representing the soda shop near a college campus where the students hung out all day. Chico played the manager of this establishment and presided over the festivities while a group of clean-cut college boys and co-eds sang and danced in his soda shop. One of these kids was the young Andy Williams. There was a piano in one corner of the soda shop, and Chico played this to accompany the singing college kids or dids a piano solo. For an elaborate dance number, one of the kids would put a nickel in the (prop) jukebox, and this would be the cue for some recorded orchestra music to play.

Chico Marx Orchestra on film?

As far as I know, the Chico Marx Orchestra was never caught on film. However, they left some traces in A Night In Casablanca and Love Happy, the Marx films that followed. In A Night In Casablanca, Chico is performing with a small jazz orchestra and it's likely that the routines that followed was based on performances by the Chico Marx Orchestra. The first number is even The second movement from the Beer Barrel Polka, followed by Moonlight Cocktail, a #1 hit for Glenn Miller and also featured on Mel Tormé's 1960 theme record Swinging on the Moon (consisting solely of songs about the moon as a romantic symbol). Beer Barrel Polka starts with Chico tapping a conductor's baton to get the attention of the band, then swinging the baton a couple of times in the air before throwing it at one of the trumpeters.

Moonlight Cocktail is played with Chico and another pianist and has them and the whole band bouncing up and down in rhythm with the music. Soon, the bounces of Chico and the other pianist become unsynchronized and more and more violent. Finally, Chico has to stand up, caressing his behind with one hand while continuing to play with the other. Love Happy features Chico and violinist Leon Bellasco performing Gypsy Love Song, a recreation of Chico's routine with band member Johnny Frigo (and perhaps an even older number dating back from the days of Nightingales and Mascots when Chico performed in a similar way with either with cousin Lou Shean, Arthur Gordon or George Lee). Chico also performed a similar piano/violin-duel in a 1948 TV show, i.e. before Love Happy.

Records

We Must Be Vigilant / Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland
(Hit 7003), June 1942, vocals Ziggy Lane
(We Must Be Vigilant is basically American Patrol with lyrics)

Sweet Eloise / Here You Are
(Hit 7004), June 1942, vocals Skip Nelson

Desi Arnaz & Chico Marx: The Great Hollywood Orchestras (Laserlight 15767), CD 1992
Radio show Fitch Bandwagon, recorded 20 December 1942

Abraham vocals Mel Tormé

Velvet Moon vocals Skip Nelson

Pagliacci instrumental

Swing Stuff instrumental swing version

Beer Barrel Polka Chico

Mister Five by Five vocals Kim Kimberly

Chicago Strut instrumental

Other songs performed

This Love Is Mine vocals Ziggy Lane (13 March 1942, Stargazer Programme WCAE)

Dear Mom vocals Ziggy Lane

Chattanooga Choo-Choo instrumental

Deep in the Heart of Texas instrumental (13 March 1942, Stargazer Programme WCAE)

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree vocals Elisse Cooper (16 March 1942, Keep 'Em Smiling WWSW)

I Dood It vocals Elisse Cooper (16 March 1942, Keep 'Em Smiling WWSW)

It Ain't Necessarily So vocals Bobby Clark

My Momma Done Told Me vocals Bobby Clark (13 March 1942, Stargazer Programme WCAE)

Gypsy Love Song Chico & Johnny Frigo

Blues In the Night Larry Adler (harmonica)

Begin the Beguine Larry Adler (harmonica)

Hawaiian War Chant vocals Ginny Perkins

Now They Call It Swing vocals Ginny Perkins

Please Think Of Me sheet music from 1942 attributed to Chico Marx and his Orchestra

I highly recommend Desne Villepigue's extensive website about her father Paul Villepigue. It contains a lot of information on the musical genius of Paul and also includes more info on Chico's band.

Mel Tormé vocals, drums
(13 September 1925 - 5 June 1999) Born in Chicago to immigrant Russian Jewish parents, Tormé began singing publicly at the age of four, acting by age nine, and playing drums in Chicago's Shakespeare Elementary School drum and bugle corps by the time he was a teenager. In 1940, at the age of 15, he auditioned a song he had written, "Lament to Love" for bandleader Harry James, also playing drums at the audition. James did record "Lament to Love" for Columbia Records, and it spent a week at number ten in the charts in August 1941. In August 1942, Tormé joined Chico's band. When the band broke up in July 1943, Mel Tormé continued to sing and compose for several decades.

Johnny Frigo bass, violin, vocals
(27 December 1916 - 4 July 2007) Born in 1916 on the south side of Chicago, Frigo's earliest gigs were playing string bass and tuba in nightclubs and amusement parks. About the time with Chico's orchestra, Frigo says: "I joined him in Kansas City. Chico heard that besides bass, I played violin so he told me to bring my violin to the next performance...he called me up with my fiddle and started asking me questions, I gave him answers. Some of them turned out funny and, after two or three cities, we had a routine. But then I saw one of the Marx Brothers' movies. There was this actor named Leon Bellasco...he was a continental-type head waiter - he played all those parts - and he also played violin. While I was watching this movie I realized that Leon was doing all the little routines I had created with Chico".

Barney Kessel guitar
(17 October 1923 - 6 May 2004) Kessel was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. One of the finest guitarists in jazz history, he was largely self-taught after just three months of lessons at the age of 12. At age 19 Kessel went from Muskogee to Los Angeles. Some local musicians told him about a rooming house for musicians not far from the bus station. There was nobody there when the phone rang in the hall, so Barney answered. They were looking for the guitar player. Kessel said "I am the guitar player", went down for the audition and landed his first job which was with Chico. " We played a lot of theaters, we did the Roxy in New York. We played the Blackhawk restaurant for four months in Chicago, and when Chico did his numbers - his stage show - he would lead the band, we'd play with him". After touring for a year, Kessel settled in Los Angeles. He later was to play with band leaders like Charlie Barnet, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Charlie Parker.

Paul Villepigue saxophone, clarinet
(12 July 1919 - 19 June 1953) Villepigue was born in Ottawa, Kansas. He worked as composer, arranger, and teacher of modern music from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, from big band to bebop to modern jazz. For the four-month engagement in Chicago, Chico Marx added some of the local talent to his orchestra, including Paul Villepigue and Vern Yocum. During that period, Villepigue wrote at least a dozen arrangements for the band, among them Velvet Moon (which can be heard on the Arnaz/Marx Laserlight CD).

Marty Napoleon piano
Born 2 June 1921 in New York City. The nephew of trumpeter Phil Napoleon and the younger brother of fellow pianist Teddy Napoleon, Marty Napoleon originally was a trumpeter but heart troubles caused him to switch to piano. He still couldn't read music when he joined the Chico Marx Orchestra without realizing they were touring theatres playing for acts. On about the second week out, Chico told the band that the next day they'd be playing for harmonica player Larry Adler, and part of his library contained Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, piano solo and all. He asked one of his friends in the band to help him learn to read, and slowly but surely began a period of study that eventually took him to the professional level he'd always hoped to achieve. When interviewed in 2002 by Leo Ball for Allegro, Marty said : "I spent an awful lot of time with that band in the bathroom". Napoleon gained his greatest fame for playing with Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and Coleman Hawkins. He semi-retired in the 1980s.

George Wettling drums
(28 November 1907 - 6 June 1968) Born in Topeka, Kansas, Wettling was one of the great Dixieland drummers. He moved with his family to Chicago in 1921 and became a part of the Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s. He played with virtually everyone in the Chicago jazz field, as well as Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Sidney Bechet, Artie Shaw, Paul Whiteman and Muggsy Spanier. After stints with Joe Marsala and Ben Pollack, Wettling became a regular with Eddie Condon on his Town Hall broadcasts and at his club. He died in 1968 in New York City.

Marty Marsala trumpet
(2 April 1909 - 27 April 1975) The younger brother of clarinetist Joe Marsala, Marty was a trumpeter who was at his best in Dixieland-oriented settings. He started out as a drummer, playing in Chicago with groups led by Red Feilen and Joe Bananas. Marsala switched to trumpet in the late 1920s. Although he gigged steadily, Marsala was virtually unknown until 1936, when he moved to New York and recorded with his brother. He was with Will Hudson's Orchestra for a short time in 1937 but mostly played with Joe's band until 1941. After playing with Chico Marx's band (1942-43), Marty served in the Army (1944-45) and then rejoined Joe for a short time in 1945. He moved to San Francisco in the mid-'50s and gigged with Kid Ory and Earl Hines. From the late 1950s on he was less active due to erratic health, although he played off and on until retiring in 1965.

Bob Miller piano
(1895 - 1955) Bob Miller was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he obtained a close acquaintance with southern melodies. In the early twenties Miller played the piano for a dance band called the Idlewild Orchestra, which performed on the steamer Idlewild on the Mississippi River. In 1928 he moved to New York where he worked as an arranger for the Irving Berlin Company before establishing his own musical concern, the Bob Miller Publishing Company. In the decades following the 1920s Miller produced scores of lucrative and lastingly popular compositions, including the well-known Eleven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat, Twenty-One Years, a prison song which has inspired countless others, and the World War II hit There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere.

Vern Yocum saxophone, clarinet
(15 April 1909 - 13 September 1991) Vern and his brother Clark grew up singing and playing instruments in Pennsylvania Dutch Country until they were seduced by jazz. In the late 1940s Yocum began to rely more and more on doing music preparation on the West Coast, which was something that he had done to earn money while in bands directed by Tommy Dorsey and Boyd Raeburn. By 1950 he had completely transitioned into this field after managing and playing with The Bob Keene Band. His collection resides at The University of Arizona

Kim Kimberly vocals
Born Armide Whipple, Kim sang under that name with Bob Crosby’s Bobcats and Jimmie Grier while attending Fairfax High in Hollywood. In 1940, she took the stage name Kim Kimberly for the Ben Pollack band, where she met and married trumpet player Bobby Clark. Both Kim and Bobby stayed with Pollack when his band became the Chico Marx Orchestra. Kim also sang with Les Brown's band and was very close to Hoagy Carmichael. Kim Clark Munroe, daughter of Kim and Bobby, says: "My parents divorced when I was 2, and my mom gave up showbiz and married a second time to a Marine pilot in 1946".

Bobby Clark trumpet, vocals
After the stint with the Chico Marx Orchestra, Bobby continued to play, mostly in Les Brown's Band during all the Viet Nam era USO's and beyond until his death in 1981. Kim Clark Munroe: "I remember Chico and his wife babysitting for me when I was very small. My parents lives seem so exciting compared to mine, but those were exciting and interesting times"

Elisse "Sugar" Cooper vocals
Elisse sang with the band for about a year (1942). She had previously sung with the Hudson-De Lange orchestra ( 1938-1940), during which time she made a few Bluebird records with Delange, and a couple with Tony Pastor's Orchestra. Chico called her Sugar "cause she's so sweet"

Ginny Perkins vocals

Ziggy Lane vocals

Skip Nelson vocals
Most known for his vocal works with the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey orchestras.