Groucho: the Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx

Vintage, New York, 2001. Very Good/Unknown. Octavo, softcover, near fine in black and white pictorial wraps. Giftable. An intense biography full of laughs and tears of one of the world's greatest comedians; author unflinchingly yet affectionately uncovers the man behind the cigar. the amazing career of the man the world recognized as Groucho: the improbable disasters of the vaudeville years; the Marx Brothers, an act so funny W.C. Fields refused to follow it; the unprecedented Broadway success of The Coconuts and Animal Crackers; the cinematic triumphs of Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera; and the marvelous come-back career as king of the game show hosts with You Bet Your Life. Here, too, is the man himself: a lonely middle child who aspired to be a doctor; a man who sabotaged three marriages; a father alternately indulgent and cruel. Intelligent and thorough, hilarious and sad, Groucho is a spectacular biography of the century's most influential comedian. 496 pages.