Mank: The Wit, World, and Life of Herman Mankiewicz by Richard Meryman (out of print). Doesn’t make you like Groucho, but it’s good snappy reading. Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx by Stefan Kanfer (Vintage, $17). This memoir, which takes Harpo from street-urchin–hood to stardom and a happy family life, is hard to resist. Harpo was a madcap on and off the screen, but he was also the sweetest and sanest of the brothers. Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx and Rowland Barber (Limelight, $20). After gleaning from Elsa two anecdotes about Duck Soup’s underappreciated director, Leo McCarey, I was hungry to learn how the actress came up with the Bride of Frankenstein’s hiss and what it was like to be married to Charles Laughton. Doing research in books peripherally relevant to your subject is like snacking from a host’s refrigerator: When you’ve found the ham that was your primary objective, you might as well see what else there is to nibble on. Not to mention their frequent supporting player Margaret Dumont, whose mysterious background Louvish sorts out.Įlsa Lanchester Herself by Elsa Lanchester (out of print). A solid biography of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo. Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers by Simon Louvish (out of print).
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