Within a Sky Full of Earth

Harpo Marx, (November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was one of the Marx Brothers, a group of Vaudeville and Broadway theatre entertainers who later achieved fame as comedians in the Motion Picture industry. He was well known by his trademarks: he played the harp; he never talked during performances, although he often blew a horn or whistled to communicate with people; and he frequently used props.

In January of 1910, Harpo joined two of his brothers, Julius (later "Groucho") and Milton, to form "The Three Nightingales". Harpo was inspired to develop his "silent" routine after reading a review of one of their performances which had been largely ad-libbed. The theater critic wrote, "Adolph Marx performed beautiful pantomime which was ruined whenever he spoke."

Harpo got his stage name during a card game at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg, Illinois: the dealer (Art Fisher) called him "Harpo" because he played the harp. His other brothers were given names to match their personalities or hobbies; his brother Leonard became "Chicko" (Chico) because he was always chasing women ("chicks"), and his brother Milton became "Gummo" because he wore gum-soled shoes.

He taught himself to play the harp because he could not sing, or dance, and did not talk very well, so he needed something to do. Harpo learned how to hold it properly by going to a five-and-dime store where he found a picture of a girl playing a harp. No one in town knew how to play the harp, so Harpo tuned it as best he could, starting with one basic note and tuning it from there. Three years later he found out he had tuned it incorrectly, but he could not tune it properly because if he had, the strings would have broken each night. His way placed much less tension on the strings. Although he played this way for the rest of his life, he did try to learn how to play correctly, and he spent considerable money hiring the best teachers. They, however, spent their time listening to him, fascinated by the way he played. In the movies he is actually playing the harp with his own alternate tuning.
[SOURCE WIKIPEDIA]

School was all wrong. It didn't teach anybody how to exist from day to day, which was how the poor had to live. School prepared you for Life - that thing in the far-off future - but not for the World, the thing you had to face today, tonight, and when you woke up in the morning, with no idea of what the new day would bring.
When I was a kid there really was no Future. Struggling through one twenty-four-hour span was rough enough without brooding about the next one. You could laugh about the Past, because you'd been lucky enough to survive it. But mainly there was only a Present to worry about.
Another complaint I had was that school taught you about holidays you could never afford to celebrate, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It didn't teach you about the real holidays like St. Patrick's Day, when you could watch a parade for free, or Election Day, when you could make a giant bonfire in the middle of the street and the cops wouldn't stop you. School didn't teach you what to do when you were stopped by an enemy gang - when to run, when to stand in your ground. School didn't teach you how collect tennis balls, build a scooter, ride the El trains and trolleys, hitch onto delivery wagons,own a dog, go for a swim, get a chunk of ice or a piece of fruit - all without paying a cent.
School didn't teach you which hockshops would give you dough without asking where you got your merchandise, or how to shoot pool or bet on a poker hand or well to sell junk or how to find sleeping room in a bed with four other brothers.
School simply didn't teach you how to be poor and live day to day. This I had learn for myself, the best way I could. In the streets I was, according to present-day standards, a juvenile delinquent. But by the East Side standards of 1902, I was an honors student.
[EXCERPT FROM Harpo Speaks! • ALSO AVAILABLE IN The Book of Life A COMPENDIUM OF THE BEST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND MEMOIR WRITING]