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Product Description
Product Description
With impeccable timing, outrageous humor, irreverent wit, and a superb sense of the ridiculous, Groucho tells the saga of the Marx Brothers: the poverty of their childhood in New York's Upper East Side; the crooked world of small-time vaudeville (where they learned to carry blackjacks); how a pretzel magnate and the graceless dancer of his dreams led to the Marx Brothers' first Broadway hit, I'll Say She Is!; how the stock market crash in 1929 proved a godsend for Groucho (even though he lost nearly a quarter of a million dollars); the adventures of the Marx Brothers in Hollywood, the making of their hilarious films, and Groucho's triumphant television series,You Bet Your Life! Here is the life and lunatic times of the great eccentric genius, Groucho, a. k. a. Julius Henry Marx.
From the Back Cover
'The temptation to write about yourself is irresistible, especially when you are prodded into it by a crafty publisher into it by a crafty publisher who has slyly baited you into doing it with a miserly advance of fifty dollars and a box of cheap cigars ...' - Groucho Marx
told with humour and wit and in Groucho's own unique style, Groucho & Me : The Autobiography is a rags to riches story with a difference. Son of a Yorkville tailor and his wife, the most outrageous and voluble of the legendary Marx Brothers had a career that stretched from Vaudeville to gameshow, conquering Hollywood on the way. From the triumphs and disasters of a life spent in show business, to his unconsummated loves and self-proclaimed yearning for the young. As TS Eliot said of him: 'the mind boggles.'
'The only thing the man can't do is sing, and that gave me an opening. But he can do everything else. I envy him this book, most of his wives and all of his talent' - Frank Sinatra
'In this book, Groucho gives all - and he deserves every dime of his royalties. I'm looking for my percentage for this puff' - Jack Benny
'Groucho brought the spirit of of carnival to Hollywood. This book allows us to linger over the gags that went too fast on the screen' - Alistair Cooke
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
The trouble with writing a book about yourself is that you can't fool around. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The trouble with writing a book about yourself is that you can't fool around. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Well, it's perfect isn't it. Simply very funny indeed. Perhaps a lot less acerbic than you might expect if you remember some of the dialogue he was given in the Marx Brothers movies; a lot less aggrssive. He wrote beautifully and self-deprecatingly. He narrates particular episodes (hugely embellished for comic effect I'm sure) so gently and then nails you with a wonderful non-sequitur or a pun out of nowhere. It's a joy. He was an incredibly funny man.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Groucho and Me is just what it says: it's his own off-beat view of himself. Thankfully far from the 'celebrity' puff piece, this book digs deep into vaudeville history, immigrant city life, fast talking street smarts... and comes up with Groucho Marx' unique take on life. And what's more he wrote it himself. no 'ghosts' at work here.
When the Marx Brothers' films are seen today, they offer a different reality to what is available at the multiplexes. Although they were set in an equally make believe world -- where the studios decided what public taste probably wanted at the time -- the big difference between then and now is in the role of the throwaway gag; the one-liner; the quick riposte.
And here lies Groucho's special contribution. His wit, sharpened in traveling the vaudeville theater circuits with his brothers (an unlikely bunch of non-theatrical misfits who somehow pulled it together) is what remains, on celluloid, and in this book.
Groucho Marx is not widely known as a writer: but write he did for American periodicals of note in the middle years of the twentieth century. That skill is shown in this excellent, witty, history lesson. More a series of anecdotes than an autobiography in the boring old sense: it tells us much about the man, how he picked up the skills he needed, and then passed them back to us on stage, in films, and here.
When the Marx Brothers' films are seen today, they offer a different reality to what is available at the multiplexes. Although they were set in an equally make believe world -- where the studios decided what public taste probably wanted at the time -- the big difference between then and now is in the role of the throwaway gag; the one-liner; the quick riposte.
And here lies Groucho's special contribution. His wit, sharpened in traveling the vaudeville theater circuits with his brothers (an unlikely bunch of non-theatrical misfits who somehow pulled it together) is what remains, on celluloid, and in this book.
Groucho Marx is not widely known as a writer: but write he did for American periodicals of note in the middle years of the twentieth century. That skill is shown in this excellent, witty, history lesson. More a series of anecdotes than an autobiography in the boring old sense: it tells us much about the man, how he picked up the skills he needed, and then passed them back to us on stage, in films, and here.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a huge Marx Brothers fan, but 'Groucho and Me' left me a bit cold. The humour in it is tired and the tone almost arrogant, and I got the impression that the whole book was simply a good idea for a last minute money spinner. It does reveal some interesting and funny anedotes about the Brothers, but these are retold better by some of the good biographiers out there. I would read Kanfer's 'Groucho' bio over this everytime.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"Ouch! OH & ME
Lets start with the positives. Well written, unique style, well presented. But these are what you would expect of any author whose book you have purchased. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2004 by Gerard Behan
Groucho- the insane genius!
Groucho Marx is easily the most talented and funny comedian to ever live. This book emphasises this, and you will be in laughter throughout. Read more
Published on 10 May 2000
Unparalleled wit - well worth the read!
The opening passage of this book is a massive egg in the face of ghost writers. Groucho quite rightly states that whilst you may convince the world you are a great man, to... Read more
Published on 25 Jan 1999
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