Guy Marks - Early Life

Early Life

He was born Mario Scarpa in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of 11 children born to Ermelindo and Adelina Scarpa, who had imigrated from Italy to America at the beginning of the 20th Century. Ermelindo was a clarinetist with the RCA recording orchestra under the direction of Josef Pasternack, and went on to name all of his children after the characters in Operas. Mario was named after the hero in La Tosca, an opera his mother admired while she was carrying him. Other siblings included Victoria, Yolanda, Geoconda, Mafalda, Alba, Melba, Thenistocles (Domisticles), and Aristides. Two additional older brothers passed away at ages 2 and 5 due to scarlet fever. In school he spent most of his time imitating his teachers and frustrating the principle. Marks enlisted in the US Army on December 12, 1940, and after serving two years, signed up for a six year stint in the Merchant Marines. He sailed around the world including Rio and Hong Kong. When he came back to the US he did various odd jobs, including bus boy, drill press operator, and even sold flowers. He got into show business by pure accident, when some friends pushed him up onto the stage at Palumbo's in South Philadelphia, where he did impressions of W.C. Fields, Wendell Willkie, and The Ink Spots. He found a partner and worked as a team under the name, The Al Mar Brothers, but they soon fumbled and Marks was back doing more odd jobs. But he found pickling hams, driving a cab and construction work, his only other options, unfulfilling, so he decided to give New York a try. While in the Big Apple, he rented a room with five other guys including fellow South Philadelphians, Eddie Fisher, and Al Martino. He began working nightclubs in New York, Atlantic City, Chicago and by the end of the 1950s, Marks, Martino and Fisher were all winners on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.