Zeppo, p.34
Zeppo, page 34
The trouble began for Zeppo when Jean called him in San Diego and demanded he marry her. She threatened to move to Australia if he didn’t. Zeppo rushed back to Palm Springs and confronted her in the gift shop at the Tamarisk Country Club the next day, shouting, “You’re not leaving.” In the civil lawsuit Jean Bodul filed against Zeppo for assault and battery, she claimed he pulled her hair and threatened to break her nose as she attempted to get into her car. Zeppo claimed he was trying to get his house key and credit card back from her. The incident was kept quiet and didn’t initially make the newspapers. But when the case finally made it to Indio Superior Court, Zeppo once again made headlines for his violent temper.
According to his authorized biography, when Fratianno got out of prison in August 1973, he spoke about Jean with Johnny Rosselli: “I don’t know what to do about that broad. She’s turning into a lush. Oh, Jesus. It’s terrible. She gets violent and throws things, goes on rampages. I get out of there in a hurry. . . . She’s got this obsession about getting hitched.”
Jean Bodul’s determination to marry a rich man paid off when she somehow convinced Fratianno to marry her in 1975. News coverage of the case against Zeppo described Bodul as being the estranged wife of notorious mobster Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno. They may have fought constantly, but she was anything but estranged from him when the trial finally began on November 11, 1978.
Fratianno cooperated with another author, Michael J. Zuckerman, on a second book. Vengeance Is Mine was published in 1987. Zuckerman wrote, “It amazed everyone in Rancho Mirage that anyone would have the audacity to beat up on Jimmy Fratianno’s main squeeze. But the defendant was Zeppo Marx. . . . He apparently took Jean at face value. And he didn’t seem overly impressed by the reports of her boyfriend.”
Preparing for the trial, Bodul’s attorney, Jacques Beugelmans, spent hours on the phone with Fratianno gathering information about Zeppo. Zuckerman wrote, Fratianno “was only too willing to help Beugelmans with this particular Marx Brother’s not-so-comical reputation in Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Zeppo was known as a ‘degenerate gambler,’ he had been thrown out of Tama-risk after a cheating scandal, and had a reputation as a curmudgeon, womanizer, and a man with a violent temper, or so Jimmy said.” Other than the false claim about being thrown out of Tamarisk, even Zeppo would have to admit that Fratianno’s description of him was pretty accurate. Bodul describes meeting Zeppo in Vengeance Is Mine:
It was at the wedding reception. I was standing with my girlfriend Diane, and she was dragging me over with her to see Sinatra when Zeppo came over and Sinatra introduced us. . . . I thought Zeppo was really quite handsome and distinguished-looking . . . he found out where I lived—I was living with my father at the time. . . . Well, at first, I didn’t want to go out with him because I thought he might be mean—just a vibration, a feeling, you know. Well, he wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. He started sending me flowers and candy and things, and after a while I started going out with him.
She also detailed the incident that led to the lawsuit:
We were at Tamarisk. I was pretty drunk. I always drank stingers at Tamarisk. Anyway, he’d been after me to move in with him for several weeks and I just didn’t want to. I guess I—no, I’m quite certain, I still loved Jimmy. Anyway, we started arguing at the clubhouse, and I staggered out, and we argued and pushed and shoved all the way up to his driveway, where I tried to get into my car, and he got absolutely crazy and began hitting me and grabbing my hair and pounding my head against the car door. He pulled clumps of hair out of my head. Oh, he’s dreadful.
Apparently Bodul was attracted to violent men. Fratianno pled guilty to planning the 1977 car bombing murder of a Cleveland crime boss and, in exchange for a light sentence, became a government informant for the second time. Fratianno and his wife were placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program and moved to an undisclosed location—believed to be Oklahoma City—under assumed names.3
When she came to court to sue Zeppo, Jean Bodul was protected by federal agents, who had placed her in El Paso, Texas, while Fratianno was busy testifying for the government on the East Coast. Her attorney pushed the false narrative that she was no longer with Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno. The Bodul trial would be Zeppo’s fourth tangential connection to Fratianno, who as an informant provided the true details of the 1937 Les Bruneman murder, and in 1968 was one of the hit men sent to eliminate the government’s star witness in the Friars Club case. Fratianno was also personally close to Chico and told his biographer that he and Chico worked a horse racing betting wire scam together in the 1940s. Presumably Zeppo profited from their efforts.
While waiting for the Bodul trial, Zeppo saw headlines about other participants in the Friars Club case. Johnny Rosselli got out of prison in 1973 after serving three years of his five-year sentence. Albert “Slick” Snyder, who was not indicted for his significant role in the scandal, was found strangled in his apartment in November 1974. Snyder had been sent to prison on a perjury conviction, but as an unindicted coconspirator in the Friars Club case was believed to have avoided more severe punishment by providing evidence against his partners after some well-publicized reluctance to talk. Police investigating Snyder’s murder announced they could find no motive for the crime. Johnny Rosselli had a pretty good motive. He’d just spent three years in prison—largely as a result of Snyder’s testimony. Whether related to Snyder’s murder or any number of other things, retribution soon came to Johnny Rosselli. In August 1976 his body was found in a large drum floating in a Florida bay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It Was a Very Bad Year
ZEPPO DROVE TO LOS ANGELES WITH ROXANN PLOSS ON JANUARY 16, 1977, for what turned out to be Groucho’s final public appearance. The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Wilshire Hyatt House hotel. Roxann recalls, “Zeppo was on the dais near his brother, and I was a few feet away at a table of strangers. The whole evening made me quite uncomfortable. At one point Groucho tried to sing ‘Hooray for Captain Spaulding’ and was so frail he could barely be heard. Erin Fleming jumped up and finished the song with him. It is not a happy memory for me.”
If Zeppo thought Groucho was in rough shape at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1972, more than four years later one can only imagine what he thought as Groucho struggled through the event. Roxann was embarrassed for Zeppo, who had agreed to make a rare public appearance for the occasion. She says, “He never once mentioned the evening again.”
The spring of 1977 was a difficult time for the three surviving Marx Brothers. On March 6, Groucho underwent hip surgery and spent two weeks in Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Groucho’s son Arthur had seen enough of Erin Fleming and her complete takeover of Groucho’s life. On April 15 he asked Santa Monica Superior Court judge Edward Rafeedie to remove Erin Fleming as Groucho’s conservator, saying that she was a threat to his life.
Arthur’s attorney presented witnesses who had worked at Groucho’s house. They described incidents in which Erin verbally and physically abused Groucho and administered unprescribed drugs to sedate him. The five-day hearing also included testimony praising Erin. Her star witness was Zeppo, who told reporters, “Groucho is in love with her. It would be detrimental to Groucho if she were taken away from him.” Zeppo could not have been unaware of the abuse described by multiple witnesses during the hearing. His appreciation of attractive younger women may have clouded his opinion of Erin’s effect on Groucho’s welfare.
On April 21, Gummo died at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Springs after a month in the hospital. Groucho was never told of his brother’s death. Gummo had made no secret of his feelings about Erin, and had he been well enough to get to Los Angeles, his testimony would have been diametrically opposed to Zeppo’s. Zeppo made a short statement about Gummo’s death to reporters at the Santa Monica courthouse saying, “I guess his heart just gave out.”
The following day Judge Rafeedie removed Erin as Groucho’s conservator, temporarily handing the responsibility for Groucho’s welfare to his old friend, writer Nat Perrin. There would be a second hearing to select a permanent conservator for Groucho, and the court asked Arthur and Erin to each prepare a list of candidates. On June 5, Zeppo’s old friend A. Dale Herman died after a long battle with cancer at the age of sixty-six. They’d been close since the early 1940s. There were few people in Zeppo’s life that could say they were friendly with him for more than thirty-five years. Losing Gummo and A. Dale Herman in such a short span could not have made it any easier for Zeppo as he watched Groucho’s health rapidly deteriorate.
Erin’s list had only one name on it: Zeppo Marx. Arthur wrote in My Life with Groucho that “Zeppo wasn’t acceptable to me for three reasons: (1) he lived too far away, and was too old to commute, (2) He was an incorrigible gambler, (3) He was beholden to Erin because she had prevailed on Groucho to give Zeppo $1,000 a month to live on now that he had no income of his own and had no savings.” (Note to Arthur: Groucho had started paying Zeppo prior to Erin arriving on the scene, Zeppo still had monthly income from his Safeway stores, and certainly wasn’t buying new condominiums, boats, and fancy cars with his monthly check from Groucho.) Arthur described Zeppo’s day in court: “When Zeppo arrived in a Rolls-Royce and jazzy-looking sports jacket and slacks, he hammed it up for the benefit of the media on the courthouse steps. Questioned as to what he thought of Erin Fleming, he replied, ‘I think she’s a wonderful girl. She’s been great for Groucho, and I’m all for her.’” Zeppo was immediately eliminated from consideration by the judge.
Groucho was soon back in the hospital. He had pneumonia and had rein-jured his hip, requiring another operation on June 12. He was unaware of the ongoing hearing in Santa Monica in which Erin presented her case for being appointed Groucho’s permanent conservator. Groucho came home from the hospital on June 21 and was taken back the following day when his labored breathing turned out to be lung inflammation.
On July 27 Arthur’s twenty-seven-year-old son Andy was appointed by the court as Groucho’s permanent conservator in a twenty-minute court session in Groucho’s room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Andy Marx recalls the atmosphere surrounding the controversy: “Obviously my father had no problem with me. Erin wasn’t doing anything for me, so I wasn’t beholden to her. We got along and I was at the house a lot. She was nutty, but she liked me. So, there were no objections to me as conservator.”
Andy would not have to serve in the position for very long. He says, “He was in really bad shape at that point, so there really wasn’t much to do. Zeppo would call to see how he was doing, and I got the impression that he wasn’t fully grasping how seriously ill my grandfather was.” Groucho died on August 19. Zeppo told reporters he spoke to Groucho for around fifteen minutes on the telephone the night before he died and added, “I turned on the TV the next day, and there it was. He was gone.” Zeppo’s favorable testimony for Erin resulted in Arthur excluding him from a small memorial service he held for Groucho in his Bel Air home. Zeppo defended his position saying, “I told the court she was a wonderful person, and she is. She kept Groucho alive for seven years.” Asked why he thought so highly of the obviously irrational Erin Fleming, Zeppo said, “Because Groucho was so much in love with her.”
Zeppo was the last surviving Marx Brother, and he was shunned by many members of the Marx family for his allegiance to Erin Fleming. Zeppo was particularly upset that Arthur seemed to be unaware that Groucho had wanted his ashes scattered in Israel. There would be a lengthy and protracted battle over Groucho’s estate in the coming years, but Zeppo was left $50,000 in Groucho’s will and that was not part of the dispute. Groucho had written his own epitaph: “I hope they bury me near a straight man.” Zeppo knew his days were numbered and that it would not be too long before Groucho was reunited with his long-time stage and screen straight man.
Harpo’s son Bill was one of the few members of the Marx family who remained in touch with Zeppo after the conservatorship hearings. He recalled an evening with his uncle and a girlfriend—possibly the same woman Gummo’s son Bob saw Zeppo with at the movies when he described a similar incident. In Son of Harpo Speaks! Bill wrote,
Zeppo’s later years brought on serious ear problems. He had lost all hearing in one ear and was preparing for an operation to save his hearing in the other ear. He was dating a nice blonde girl named June who was blind as a bat without her “coke bottle” glasses, which she could never find to begin with, and for obvious reasons. I was at Zeppo’s house one night having cocktails, and this was the conversation I heard between the two of them:
“Oh, June darling, would you come here for a minute?”
“Where are you?”
“What?”
End of conversation.
More than a year after Groucho’s death, Zeppo’s day in court with Jean Bodul finally came. In her civil assault and battery lawsuit, Bodul claimed that being roughed up by Zeppo caused her to suffer from persistent back and shoulder pain. Zeppo’s attorney, Robert Coppo, was given a difficult job. There was no denying what Zeppo had done to Jean Bodul. Coppo said the dispute was over the return of the house key and credit card and that Zeppo did what was “reasonably necessary” to get them back.
Bodul’s attorney claimed in his opening statement that he would prove Zeppo threatened to break Bodul’s neck, but no evidence of that was presented at the trial. It all came down to how much money this was going to cost Zeppo. One witness testified that he was worth more than $456,000. Bodul was suing him for $350,000—based more on Zeppo’s perceived assets rather than the value of the case against him. If nothing else, the trial demonstrated that Zeppo was still very good at hiding his money. His three Safeway stores were each worth more than $400,000.
Bodul’s attorney claimed her medical expenses were $690 and that she should receive $5,000 for pain and $15,000 for punitive damages. And that is exactly what the court awarded her. Zeppo paid Jean Bodul $20,690 and she quietly returned to her life in the Federal Witness Protection Program with her husband, Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno, with whom she remained until his death in 1993. Zeppo told reporters, “It’s not the money so much. It’s my reputation. The Marx Brothers never had a reputation for beating women. This is the first time I’ve been in court in my life.” He added, “[I]f there’s an opportunity to appeal, I will.”
Zeppo’s level of shameless audacity is as mystifying as his claim that the Bodul case was his first time in court. Zeppo was in more lawsuits than movies. He appeared before grand juries almost as frequently as he did movie cameras. During his agency days there were lawsuits involving Arthur Lyons, Al Boasberg, Norman Krasna, Olympe Bradna, and Jack Bachman. At Marman Products Zeppo sued another manufacturer for patent infringement and James T. King sued Marman for breach of contract.
There were also the two very high-profile cases that made headlines—Zeppo’s suit against Harry Karl over the cigarette investment, and the lawsuit against him and Marion over Tim’s rock-throwing incident. Add Zeppo’s appearances as a grand jury witness in the Terre Haute gambling trial, the Friars Club cheating scandal, and the Lewis Bracker case, and it becomes clear that Zeppo was a courtroom veteran by the time he claimed the Bodul case was the first time he’d ever been to court.
The Bodul trial ended in November 1978. Several months later Zeppo learned that he had lung cancer. Roxann Ploss recalls, “He’d never been sick a day in his life so he delayed going to the doctor when he couldn’t shake a persistent cough. When he finally got checked out, they found an inoperable cancer.” Roxann was unaware that Zeppo had been through a previous bout with cancer in 1975. Zeppo had kept it secret from almost everyone.
Barbara’s parents, Irene and Charles Blakeley, had recently relocated to Palm Springs and helped Zeppo through his treatment in 1975. They took him to his medical appointments and offered general assistance and friendship. Zeppo had always been generous to them, and they maintained a cordial relationship with him after their daughter divorced him. This is the point at which Bobby Marx believes his mother’s sister, Patricia Jo Welch, became close to Zeppo and began helping him. In her book Barbara wrote, “He called me . . . one day and asked me to drive him to his doctor in Los Angeles, who informed me for the first time that my ex-husband was in remission from cancer.”
Zeppo kept a low profile and by 1978 he didn’t travel or go out much. But the Hollywood Reporter still bothered to keep track of him and mentioned in their “Rambling Reporter” column on February 3, 1978, that he and Roxann were a couple. That was hardly a new development by that point. He still enjoyed fishing, but the lengthy trips on his boat became infrequent. He rarely consented to interviews, but in late 1978 he filmed the BBC interview with Barry Norman that would be seen in the episode of the series Hollywood Greats devoted to Groucho. Broadcast the following summer, the interview shows Zeppo looking robust and healthy near the water at Desert Island. He’d only agreed to the interviews requested by Groucho in recent years, but he had obviously softened his position on being questioned after Groucho’s death—at least for this one instance with the BBC.
In March 1979 he spoke on the telephone to a pair of Minnesota college students researching the Orpheum Theatre in St. Paul. David Fantle and Tom Johnson immediately recognized that the narrow nature of their topic wouldn’t draw much out of Zeppo. To most vaudevillians, every small town and theater seemed the same. Zeppo did recall it being cold in St. Paul, and when asked what he and his brothers did with their free time in the city, the not unexpected response was, “Usually we’d go to the poolroom, shoot some pool, or we might stand out in front of the theatre and try to pick up girls.” The less than ten-minute conversation would be Zeppo’s last interview.
