A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Marx Brothers were kings of comedy on stage and in movie theaters in the years between World War I and II.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GROUCHO MARX: One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That's Groucho Marx, who did most of the talking, along with his brothers Chico and Zeppo. And then there was Harpo, who played the harp.
(SOUNDBITE OF HARP PLAYING)
MARTÍNEZ: Harpo didn't speak on screen, but you can hear him now.
HARPO MARX: Believe it or not...
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE)
H MARX: ...I'm going to talk.
(APPLAUSE)
MARTIN: That's him in a recording from 1964 recently discovered by an archivist. It's from a benefit concert in Riverside, California, just six months before Harpo died. The restored audio has just been released. It's in an album - "Harpo Speaks."
BILL MARX: My name is Bill Marx. I'm the son of Harpo Marx. I did not hear Harpo. I heard my dad, Arthur Marx. I just heard his voice as I would hear him at the breakfast table.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H MARX: We'd like to tell you a story. Once upon a time...
ROBERT BADER: My name is Robert Bader. I'm a longtime Marx Brothers fan, and that sort of led me to write several books about the Marx Brothers. The Riverside show was known to have been recorded, but nobody knew where the tape was. A dear friend of mine named John Tefteller is an audio engineer and restoration person, and John accidentally found it. Extensive restoration was done on the tape, and we have a absolutely beautiful recording of Harpo's final performance.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H MARX: And each character is represented by a different instrument. First, the bird. He is represented by a flute.
(Playing the flute).
BADER: Harpo plays a few harp solos. He also narrates a performance of "Peter And The Wolf."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H MARX: Early one morning, Peter opened the gate, went out into the green meadow.
BADER: This is the only time Harpo was going to do a performance where it was known that he would speak, and he allowed it to be recorded.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H MARX: But no matter how hard the duck tried to run, she couldn't escape the wolf.
BADER: This performance took place in the spring of 1964 as the Republican presidential primaries were heating up. And Groucho co-wrote the libretto with Harpo, and Groucho was very politically active and always outspoken.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
H MARX: Imagine the triumphant procession - Peter at the head. After him, the hunters leading the wolf. Then Goldwater, Rockefeller and Nixon.
(LAUGHTER)
B MARX: I'm so grateful that he's out there as a different human being, in a sense. He retired 43 times. He never, never lost sight of probably the most important part of his life. And that was music.
(SOUNDBITE OF HARP PLAYING)
MARTÍNEZ: That was Bill Marx, son of Harpo Marx, along with author Robert Bader. You can hear Harpo's voice on the album "Harpo Speaks." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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