15th & Wharton
The Scarpa home at 1239 South 15th, Street in Philadelphia.
Mario Scarpa was the youngest of 11 Children born to Ermelindo and Adelina Scarpa, both Italian imigrants who came to America at the turn of the 20th century and settled in South Philadelphia, PA. The young couple first lived on Carlisle Street, but then soon moved to the family home on 15th Street after the birth of their first child. Ermelindo was a musician and played the clarinet with the RCA Victor recording orchestra under the direction of Josef Pasternack. So, naturally he named all eleven of his children after the characters in famous operas! As Guy Marks remembered in a 1962 article ...."I am the youngest of their nine living children. My real name is Mario, after the hero in the opera 'La Tosca,' which my mother admired when she was carrying me. Their humor cropped up in naming some of my brothers and sisters. I have two brothers - named Thenistocles and Aristides. Among the girls there is Malfalda, Yolanda, Melba, and Gioconda. I guess I got off easy with the name bit."
The total of Mario's siblings included Victoria, Yolanda, Gioconda, Mafalda, Alba, Melba, Thenistockles (Domisticles), and Aristides. In fact, two of Mario's brothers had died of the scarlet fever at ages 2 and 5, but the parents just renamed his surviving brothers with the same names. As Marx later recalled "....On Sunday when Papa came home after playing at the last Mass, Mama would make macaroni, and after Papa tested it, we would eat. After the meal, our whole family would sing an opera, each member taking a part.The neighbors sent in the requests for the opera they wanted to hear during the week. I sang, but mostly I'd think, and Papa would ask, 'What is he thinking about?' I thought of a white telephone or a palm tree or a purple mountain I saw in a movie." All Mario wanted, he said was to be somewhere else, doing something else. So he'd run away from home but his siblings would bring him back.
At school he spent most of his time imitating his teachers, that often made his classmates laugh and frustrate his principal. As he again recalled in an interview...."Out of the 11 children - I was the only one who was a bum! I mean it. If ever there was a black sheep in a family, your looking at one right now. NOT THAT I ever involved myself in serious infractions of the law, but I considered myself different from anyone else. I had no ambition other than to see the world. I've been a loner since I was 14. I didn't even get through my first year of high school. When I played hooky, it was big time hooky, like going hundreds of miles away to Wisconsin and sending my high - school principal a wish-you-were-here postcard."
So after just three years of high school, Mario enlisted in the US Army on December 12, 1940. After serving just two years he signed up for six years with the Merchant Marines. "I was the despair of my parents. A postcard now and then would clue them I was in Rio or Hong Kong." Through those early years he worked many jobs including: bus boy, drill press operator, sold flowers and sailed around the world. What did his father think? "He's just crazy."
The total of Mario's siblings included Victoria, Yolanda, Gioconda, Mafalda, Alba, Melba, Thenistockles (Domisticles), and Aristides. In fact, two of Mario's brothers had died of the scarlet fever at ages 2 and 5, but the parents just renamed his surviving brothers with the same names. As Marx later recalled "....On Sunday when Papa came home after playing at the last Mass, Mama would make macaroni, and after Papa tested it, we would eat. After the meal, our whole family would sing an opera, each member taking a part.The neighbors sent in the requests for the opera they wanted to hear during the week. I sang, but mostly I'd think, and Papa would ask, 'What is he thinking about?' I thought of a white telephone or a palm tree or a purple mountain I saw in a movie." All Mario wanted, he said was to be somewhere else, doing something else. So he'd run away from home but his siblings would bring him back.
At school he spent most of his time imitating his teachers, that often made his classmates laugh and frustrate his principal. As he again recalled in an interview...."Out of the 11 children - I was the only one who was a bum! I mean it. If ever there was a black sheep in a family, your looking at one right now. NOT THAT I ever involved myself in serious infractions of the law, but I considered myself different from anyone else. I had no ambition other than to see the world. I've been a loner since I was 14. I didn't even get through my first year of high school. When I played hooky, it was big time hooky, like going hundreds of miles away to Wisconsin and sending my high - school principal a wish-you-were-here postcard."
So after just three years of high school, Mario enlisted in the US Army on December 12, 1940. After serving just two years he signed up for six years with the Merchant Marines. "I was the despair of my parents. A postcard now and then would clue them I was in Rio or Hong Kong." Through those early years he worked many jobs including: bus boy, drill press operator, sold flowers and sailed around the world. What did his father think? "He's just crazy."
Starting out on stage!
Postcard for Frank Palumbo's of Philadelphia
"I got into show business by pure accident. Some friends of mine pushed me on a night-club stage (Palumbo's) in Philly because I was pretty good at mimicking W.C. Fields, Wendell Wilkie, The Ink Spots - you know, the easily identifiable ones. The night-club offered me a job, but I didn't have the confidence to try it alone, so I took on a partner."
(They were known as the Al Mar Brothers)
"IT WAS ROUGH going - sometimes we clicked; sometimes we bombed. So, I quit show biz and became a bum again. For three years I drifted from job to job - driving a cab, pickling hams, construction work - then I decided show business was easier and I tried again."
August 16, 1947 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 37
Atlantic City
Guy Marks an added starter at Jockey Hyett's Jockey Club, where Lenny Ross leads the Tip Tops of 1947 revue... ----
From Eddie, My Life My Loves
By Eddie Fisher
"...I did land a job as the male vocalist in a road show edition of Stop The Music. Guy Marks, who also happened to be from Philadelphia, was the featured comedian on the show and we became lifelong friends."
February 5, 1949 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 47
Comic Marks Click
By Maurie Orodenker
...While the big gun is Miss Miranda, the current show has a newcomer who rates more than casual notice. A local lad, Guy Marks, with an ingratiating comedy and a flair for impersonations, does a delightful and humorous take-off on Arthur Godfrey parading a host of movie personalities before the mike, also letting off some of his sprightly satire on such songbirds as Margaret Truman. ----
July 22, 1950 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 43
Night Club Review (N.J.)
Wrapping up the floorshow roster is the Wildwood Hotel Hof Brau with Guy Marks, Jean O'Neil and Andy Russell, Art Crait Mathues, Joe Di Marco, Debbie Winston, Alan Sterling and Charlie Gaines band. ----
November 25, 1950 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 45
Flame Room, Hotel Raddison, Minneapolis - Jack Weinberg
Miklos Gafini, baritone shares the current bill with Guy Marks, impressionist and mimic.
....Guy Marks ran the gamut of mimicry, opening with Arthur Godfrey and giving a talent scout run down to include Vaughn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, and Enzio Pinza. Some of his gags fell flat, but that's because the diners didn't catch them fast enough. Show ran 30 Minutes on the nose. ----
November 10, 1951 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 55
Philadelphia
Guy Marks takes over as host at the Greenwood inn at nearby Merchantville, N.J., and brings the full-week show policy to the roadhouse.
----
The following marriage announcement ran in Billboard Magazine:
March 8, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 48
Marriages
MARKS -THOMAS-
Guy Marks, night club comedian, and Barbara Thomas, dancer, February 24 in Philadelphia. ----
Four months later the following story in Billboard reveals some of the growing pains Marks must have faced as a young nighclub
performer.
July 5, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 19
Band Quits - Refuses to Back Comic Who Heckles
Philadelphia. June 28.-
For the first time in memory, a band went on strike against a comic: it refused to play for him and was backed in its move by local American Federation of Musicians.
Guy Marks, comedy emsee, opened last week at Ciro's with the Ned Brill band behind him. When the band saw the comic it went off the stand claiming orders from Local 77 AFM were not to play for him. According to insiders the hassle began the previous week at Frank Palumbo's. Marks was on and, in part of his act, heckled the band. Band was Howard Reynolds. So, in the midst of one of Mark's hottest jokes the band played his exit music and Marks did a burn. Musicians claimed that comic was on for 45 minutes and anyway it was time to get off. Marks claimed he had been on only 13 minutes.
Marks charged backstage and gave Reynolds a "push." Reynolds charged it was more a "haymaker" than a push and got in touch with Frank Liuzzi, president of AFM Local 77, who notified musicians not to play for him. So Marks now does his act to four bazookas (not recognized as instruments by AFM). Ciro's is honoring contracts of the comic and the band. ----
July 26, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard)
...McHale's Corner has Guy Marks, the Harmonicaires, Dottie Meryle, Joe Connors, Vince Montano, Joanne Du Bois and Pat Dennis band. ----
October 17, 1953 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 49
Philadelphia
Guy Marks heads the opening show at Ciro's, with Lee Henderson putting in the line. ----
October 29, 1955 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 11
By Dietmeier
Joni James Chicago Theatre, Chicago
....Guy Marks, billed a comedian, mouthed some tunes but failed to touch a comic note. ----
In the late 1950s, Marks rented an apartment in the Big Apple, sharing the unit with five roommates, including fellow South Philadelphian's Eddie Fisher and Al Martino.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - September 9, 1957 - GUY MARKS JOINS NEW NIXON SHOW
A newcomer to the "Spanish Rhapsody" revue at the New Nixon is Comedian Guy Marks, who just closed a 26-week run at the Jockey Club in Atlantic City. He joined the Line-up on Friday night. ----
(They were known as the Al Mar Brothers)
"IT WAS ROUGH going - sometimes we clicked; sometimes we bombed. So, I quit show biz and became a bum again. For three years I drifted from job to job - driving a cab, pickling hams, construction work - then I decided show business was easier and I tried again."
August 16, 1947 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 37
Atlantic City
Guy Marks an added starter at Jockey Hyett's Jockey Club, where Lenny Ross leads the Tip Tops of 1947 revue... ----
From Eddie, My Life My Loves
By Eddie Fisher
"...I did land a job as the male vocalist in a road show edition of Stop The Music. Guy Marks, who also happened to be from Philadelphia, was the featured comedian on the show and we became lifelong friends."
February 5, 1949 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 47
Comic Marks Click
By Maurie Orodenker
...While the big gun is Miss Miranda, the current show has a newcomer who rates more than casual notice. A local lad, Guy Marks, with an ingratiating comedy and a flair for impersonations, does a delightful and humorous take-off on Arthur Godfrey parading a host of movie personalities before the mike, also letting off some of his sprightly satire on such songbirds as Margaret Truman. ----
July 22, 1950 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 43
Night Club Review (N.J.)
Wrapping up the floorshow roster is the Wildwood Hotel Hof Brau with Guy Marks, Jean O'Neil and Andy Russell, Art Crait Mathues, Joe Di Marco, Debbie Winston, Alan Sterling and Charlie Gaines band. ----
November 25, 1950 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 45
Flame Room, Hotel Raddison, Minneapolis - Jack Weinberg
Miklos Gafini, baritone shares the current bill with Guy Marks, impressionist and mimic.
....Guy Marks ran the gamut of mimicry, opening with Arthur Godfrey and giving a talent scout run down to include Vaughn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, and Enzio Pinza. Some of his gags fell flat, but that's because the diners didn't catch them fast enough. Show ran 30 Minutes on the nose. ----
November 10, 1951 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 55
Philadelphia
Guy Marks takes over as host at the Greenwood inn at nearby Merchantville, N.J., and brings the full-week show policy to the roadhouse.
----
The following marriage announcement ran in Billboard Magazine:
March 8, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 48
Marriages
MARKS -THOMAS-
Guy Marks, night club comedian, and Barbara Thomas, dancer, February 24 in Philadelphia. ----
Four months later the following story in Billboard reveals some of the growing pains Marks must have faced as a young nighclub
performer.
July 5, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 19
Band Quits - Refuses to Back Comic Who Heckles
Philadelphia. June 28.-
For the first time in memory, a band went on strike against a comic: it refused to play for him and was backed in its move by local American Federation of Musicians.
Guy Marks, comedy emsee, opened last week at Ciro's with the Ned Brill band behind him. When the band saw the comic it went off the stand claiming orders from Local 77 AFM were not to play for him. According to insiders the hassle began the previous week at Frank Palumbo's. Marks was on and, in part of his act, heckled the band. Band was Howard Reynolds. So, in the midst of one of Mark's hottest jokes the band played his exit music and Marks did a burn. Musicians claimed that comic was on for 45 minutes and anyway it was time to get off. Marks claimed he had been on only 13 minutes.
Marks charged backstage and gave Reynolds a "push." Reynolds charged it was more a "haymaker" than a push and got in touch with Frank Liuzzi, president of AFM Local 77, who notified musicians not to play for him. So Marks now does his act to four bazookas (not recognized as instruments by AFM). Ciro's is honoring contracts of the comic and the band. ----
July 26, 1952 The Billboard (Billboard)
...McHale's Corner has Guy Marks, the Harmonicaires, Dottie Meryle, Joe Connors, Vince Montano, Joanne Du Bois and Pat Dennis band. ----
October 17, 1953 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 49
Philadelphia
Guy Marks heads the opening show at Ciro's, with Lee Henderson putting in the line. ----
October 29, 1955 The Billboard (Billboard) Page 11
By Dietmeier
Joni James Chicago Theatre, Chicago
....Guy Marks, billed a comedian, mouthed some tunes but failed to touch a comic note. ----
In the late 1950s, Marks rented an apartment in the Big Apple, sharing the unit with five roommates, including fellow South Philadelphian's Eddie Fisher and Al Martino.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - September 9, 1957 - GUY MARKS JOINS NEW NIXON SHOW
A newcomer to the "Spanish Rhapsody" revue at the New Nixon is Comedian Guy Marks, who just closed a 26-week run at the Jockey Club in Atlantic City. He joined the Line-up on Friday night. ----