Arthur Marx

Arthur Julius Marx was an American writer, the son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson. Marx was a nationally ranked tennis player before he was 18. While he was attending the University of Southern California, he won the National Freshman Intercollegiate Tennis title at Montclair, New Jersey. At the Tri-State Tennis Tournament, the event that evolved into today's Cincinnati Masters, Marx reached the singles final in 1940 before falling to Bobby Riggs. To reach the final, Marx knocked off future International Tennis Hall of Fame member John Doeg in the round of 16, Frank Froehling Jr. in the quarterfinals, and Gardner Larned in the semifinals. Riggs had blown through his competition to reach the final, and Marx gave him his toughest test of the tournament, stretching the future Hall of Famer to five sets before falling, 11–9, 6–2, 4–6, 6–8, 6–1. Marx spent four years in the United States Coast Guard during World War II serving in the South Pacific. He was assigned to the Coast Guard–crewed Army Marine Ship Repair Ship Duluth, which embarked an Army Marine Ship Repair Company for the repair work. After the war he worked as an advertising copywriter, a radio gag man for Milton Berle, and a writer of Hollywood movies (including four for Bob Hope), Broadway plays and TV scripts for such hit shows as My Three Sons, All in the Family, and Alice.