- Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (May 8 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375702075
- ISBN-13: 978-0375702075
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.4 x 20.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #537,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
According to this engrossing, exhaustively researched biography, Groucho Marx (1890-1977) was a grouch who merged his raffish public persona with his dour, peevish private self. Former Time cinema critic Kanfer presents Julius Henry Marx as a browbeating spouse who drove his three wives to alcoholism or heavy drinking, and to divorce. Though he could be an endearing parent, his aloofness and fault-finding alienated his son and two daughters, in Kanfer's verdict. Groucho remained a perpetually insecure "infantile grownup," Kanfer avers, because of his troubled relationship with his aggressive stage mother, Minnie, who took eldest son Chico (Leonard) as her pet, and thought Groucho unattractive and let him know it. This is not a debunking biography; on the contrary, Kanfer calls Groucho the father of modern comedy, whose influence extends from M*A*S*H to Jerry Seinfeld to Woody Allen to daily conversation. Although Kanfer tries to warm up to his subject on a personal level, Groucho comes off as a thoroughly dislikable misogynist who nursed lifelong grudges against his children, wives, managers and compatriots. Long stretches of this bio make for painful, even depressing reading, despite a truckload of gemlike anecdotes, incisive mini-biographies of all the Marx Brothers and invaluable film and stage criticism. Still, the book's first half, which follows the brothers' comic quartet from struggling vaudeville act to stardom, is exhilarating. Photos. Agent, Kathy Robbins. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Groucho Marx mastered the worlds of vaudeville, theater, movies, radio, and television, yet he remained a moody, morose, unfulfilled man. Plagued by nagging financial insecurities, partly realized literary ambitions, and difficult, unsatisfying relations with his wives, lovers, and daughters, Groucho was a "depressive clown," notes Kanfer (The Eighth Sin). This is the show business saga of "Minnie's boys," Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and, sometimes, Gummo and Zeppo. Groucho never really had a childhood, as mother Minnie drove the boys relentlessly as they perfected their trademark antic, ad-lib style. Many books on the Marx Brothers pay homage to their innovative wisecracks, word play, and nonstop non sequiturs, but Kanfer shows the show biz realities behind the madness. The book also details Groucho's ambivalent relations with his son, Arthur; his brothers; New Deal liberals; intellectuals and collaborators like S.J. Perelman; and his custodian, Erin Fleming. Although Chico and Harpo remain shadowy figures in this portrayal, this is the first comprehensive portrait of Groucho in years. Recommended for large public and academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/00.] Pubbing in the same month as Kanfer's book, this work may signal the beginning of a Marx Brothers revival. The brothers' nonstop barrage of verbal and visual gags delighted average moviegoers and intellectuals alike. Kanfer focuses on Groucho, where Louvish, the author of The Man on the Flying Trapeze, a biography of W.C. Fields, expands the canvas to appraise the contributions of the other brothers, plus Margaret Dumont, a regular target of the brothers' mayhem. Chico was a compulsive gambler and risktaker. Harpo, whose comedy career was limited by his silent act, found fulfillment in family life. Dumont, Louvish shows, was more than a dimwitted comic stooge. (In fact, the Marx Brothers often failed to attract a female audience, an interesting topic covered more fully by Kanfer.) The Marx Brothers' story is now encrusted with numerous myths and dubious anecdotes, and Louvish does a solid job of separating fact from fiction and includes a family tree and a discussion of the FBI's file on the group. Like Kanfer's book, Monkey Business includes generous excerpts of classic Marx Brothers film dialog. Recommended for public library film collections.
-Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
-Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings,
By
This review is from: Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx (Paperback)
Having previously read "Harpo Speaks," "Growing up with Chico," "Groucho and Me," and Lillian Roth's "I'll cry tomorrow" and having seen all the Marx brothers films, I honestly felt like this book was merely a hodgepodge of all those previously mentioned sources. There are parts where he quotes word for word what Lillian Roth wrote about working on Animal Crackers, or what Maxine Marx said in her book, and tries to pass it off as his own. There are also long sections where he just reprints dialouge from the films and TV show. That said, the parts involving Grouchos personality and his relationships with women and his family were totally new to me, and very interesting (although I do agree with the earlier reviewer who said it seemed that the author did not like Groucho and tried to paint him negatively.) I don't regret reading this book, true fans will probably know enough to form their own opinions. But I reccomend a number of other Marx-related books before this one. ("Harpo Speaks" being my #1)
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book on one of the greatest showmen,
By Anurag Chatrath (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx (Paperback)
This biography traces the life of one of the most prolific actors/comedians of the 20th Century - Groucho Marx. We are introduced to the man behind the great (perhaps the greatest?)comic genius. 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.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Magic Word is "Enigmatic",
By
This review is from: Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx (Hardcover)
This is a fascinating...and frequently sad account of "the life and times" of a truly great comic artist. First with his brothers and then on his own, he created a public persona wearing a "hard clown mask", a persona which he then became in his private life. Eventually and literally, on-screen and off, what people saw is what they got. Kanfer examines Marx's relentlessly unpleasant relationships with his mother and with his brothers, his inadequacies as a husband and father, his immaturity in "matters of women, money, and power", the impact of Irving Thalberg at MGM on the Marx Brothers movies made at that studio, and the agonies Marx experienced during his later years. Many (most?) of his most painful wounds were self-inflicted but, as Kanfer suggests, Marx also did great damage to family members. How ironic that someone capable of making so many people howl with delight would be "incapable of expressing strong emotion, no matter how deep." That is a realm within Marx which even Kanfer was unable to penetrate.
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