GROUCHO: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JULIUS HENRY MARX [Hardcover]

Groucho (né Julius Henry) Marx was the third son of German Jew Immigrants in New York. His mother Minnie (the driving force behind the Marx Brothers) was influenced by her brother Al Shean who had a reasonably successful career seeing which Minnie decided to enter her five sons into showbiz. After various permutations and combinations and numerous failures and struggles, the Marx Brothers made an indelible name for themselves first in Vaudeville (stage shows featuring a variety of dance, song, humor, and magic) and then in Broadway and the movies as The Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo Groucho and Zeppo). The brothers had a glorious career from the 1920s to the 1940s despite the depression in between.

Groucho later went on to have a highly successful solo career as a radio (and later TV) host of the quiz show "You bet your life" for which he won critical acclaim.

The sad part about Groucho's life was that it seemed to be based on the dictum of why-have-it-simple-when-you-can-have-it-complicated. Though extremely successful professionally, Groucho had an unhappy personal life especially with regard to the women in his life (mother, wives and daughters). His three marriages were nowhere nearly as successful as his life in the theatre / movies. Groucho's relationship with and (ill?)treatment at the hands of Erin (his female companion towards the end of his life) is also touched upon. The author carefully offers no comments on Erin's behaviour towards Groucho.

The book is on-the-whole well researched though at some points it does seem that Kanfer wants to hurry through for lack of details. Kanfer bases his information on writings of and interviews with Groucho's peers, friends, relatives (especially his daughter Miriam). The reader is given minute details of the comedians life including how he got his nickname - he used to carry a 'grouch' bag during his vaudeville days (the 'o' at the end of each of the brothers nicknames was taken from a popular comic strip of those days, Sherlocko the Monk ).

The book is interspersed with the quotable quotes Groucho made personally and in his broadway hits and movies such as Duck Soup and Animal Crackers. Though most of the quotes are very incisive and humorous, there are portions in the book where the reader is given an overdose of dialogues from the movies.

After reading the book, Groucho's visage (moustache/thick eyebrows/cigar-in-the-mouth) and his inimitable quotes ('Outside of a dog a book is a mans best friend, inside of a dog it is too dark to read') remain firmly entrenched in the readers mind.