`Summer of Groucho` yields mixed bag of reading

For no particular reason, this seems to have been the Summer of Groucho. A couple of months ago, we reviewed Stefan Kantor`s "Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx" instead of "Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers," by Simon Louvish, because we had received a copy of the Kantor book and I was unaware of the existence of the Louvish.

So, in order to square things up, and because I read everything having to do with the Marx Brothers, I can now report that "Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers" (St. Martin`s Press, 434 pages, $25.95) should not be missed - by anyone who reads everything having to do with the Marx Brothers.

Although Louvish fashions a fascinating portrait of the brothers - there were five, including Gummo, who left the stage early - in their vaudeville years, he squanders too much ink on detail; although academics might care about possible discrepancies in the family tree, most fans certainly do not. And his Marxian comments tacked onto anecdotes - atsa some joke, eh, boss? - are strained. Surely, a Marx biographer should know that such cracks are best left to the boys themselves.

Louvish does make at least one telling observation. He points out that by the time the Marx Brothers` first real movie, "The Cocoanuts," was filmed in 1929, Chico, the oldest brother, was already 42 years old: The Marxes had been performing, first in vaudeville and then on Broadway, for more than 20 years. In this light, their rapid decline in creativity in the mid-1930s, after only a handful of films, becomes more understandable. The act was getting old. The guys were getting old.

A mystery: Kantor repeats the well-known story about a country club that wouldn`t allow Groucho`s daughter to join - she wanted a place to swim - because the club didn`t accept Jews. "She`s only half Jewish," Groucho is credited with replying, "so is it all right if she only goes in up to her waist?" Louvish tells the same story - about Groucho`s son. Won`t someone settle this thing once and for all?

No loyal Marxist should be without "The Essential Groucho: Writings By, For and About Groucho Marx" (Vintage, 252 pages, $12), edited by Stefan Kantor. Groucho`s writing has been dismissed as derivative of George S. Kaufman and S.J. Perelman, both of whom scripted Marx Brothers movies, and there is certainly some truth to that. It should also be pointed out, however, that 1) the tumbling series of puns and non sequiturs that characterized Groucho`s style was at least in part created by him way back in his vaudeville days; 2) being heavily influenced by Kaufman and Perelman has its advantages; and 3) many of Groucho`s magazine pieces, which he wrote during the slack period in his career, after the early movies and before hosting TV`s "You Bet Your Life," are in fact pretty funny.

Groucho`s wit comes across in his letters, as well; had he never darkened a stage, the man probably could have made it as a writer. But what is most remarkable about the book is the dialogue from the movies. In "Duck Soup," for example, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) welcomes Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), the new head of the country:

Mrs. Teasdale: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I extend the good wishes of every man, woman and child of Freedonia.

Groucho: Never mind that stuff. Take a card.

Mrs. Teasdale: A card? What`ll I do with a card?

Groucho: You can keep it. I`ve got fifty-one left. Now, what were you saying?

Mrs. Teasdale: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome you with open arms.

Groucho: Is that so? How late do you stay open?

Mrs. Teasdale: I`ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most noble statesman in all Freedonia.

Groucho: Well, that covers a lot of ground. Say, you cover a lot of ground yourself. You`d better beat it. I hear they`re going to tear you down and put up an office building where you`re standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can`t leave in a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that`s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know you haven`t stopped talking since I came here?

What is remarkable is that while Groucho contributed few of the actual words - the occasional ad lib, impossible to pin down - the routines work only with Groucho`s wiseacre voice crackling through your head. And when it comes to voices in your head, you could do a lot woise. Worse. Woise.

- Arthur Salm

(c) Copley News Service For no particular reason, this seems to have been the Summer of Groucho. A couple of months ago, we reviewed Stefan Kantor`s "Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx" instead of "Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers," by Simon Louvish, because we had received a copy of the Kantor book and I was unaware of the existence of the Louvish.

So, in order to square things up, and because I read everything having to do with the Marx Brothers, I can now report that "Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers" (St. Martin`s Press, 434 pages, $25.95) should not be missed - by anyone who reads everything having to do with the Marx Brothers.

Although Louvish fashions a fascinating portrait of the brothers - there were five, including Gummo, who left the stage early - in their vaudeville years, he squanders too much ink on detail; although academics might care about possible discrepancies in the family tree, most fans certainly do not. And his Marxian comments tacked onto anecdotes - atsa some joke, eh, boss? - are strained. Surely, a Marx biographer should know that such cracks are best left to the boys themselves.

Louvish does make at least one telling observation. He points out that by the time the Marx Brothers` first real movie, "The Cocoanuts," was filmed in 1929, Chico, the oldest brother, was already 42 years old: The Marxes had been performing, first in vaudeville and then on Broadway, for more than 20 years. In this light, their rapid decline in creativity in the mid-1930s, after only a handful of films, becomes more understandable. The act was getting old. The guys were getting old.

A mystery: Kantor repeats the well-known story about a country club that wouldn`t allow Groucho`s daughter to join - she wanted a place to swim - because the club didn`t accept Jews. "She`s only half Jewish," Groucho is credited with replying, "so is it all right if she only goes in up to her waist?" Louvish tells the same story - about Groucho`s son. Won`t someone settle this thing once and for all?

No loyal Marxist should be without "The Essential Groucho: Writings By, For and About Groucho Marx" (Vintage, 252 pages, $12), edited by Stefan Kantor. Groucho`s writing has been dismissed as derivative of George S. Kaufman and S.J. Perelman, both of whom scripted Marx Brothers movies, and there is certainly some truth to that. It should also be pointed out, however, that 1) the tumbling series of puns and non sequiturs that characterized Groucho`s style was at least in part created by him way back in his vaudeville days; 2) being heavily influenced by Kaufman and Perelman has its advantages; and 3) many of Groucho`s magazine pieces, which he wrote during the slack period in his career, after the early movies and before hosting TV`s "You Bet Your Life," are in fact pretty funny.

Groucho`s wit comes across in his letters, as well; had he never darkened a stage, the man probably could have made it as a writer. But what is most remarkable about the book is the dialogue from the movies. In "Duck Soup," for example, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) welcomes Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), the new head of the country:

Mrs. Teasdale: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I extend the good wishes of every man, woman and child of Freedonia.

Groucho: Never mind that stuff. Take a card.

Mrs. Teasdale: A card? What`ll I do with a card?

Groucho: You can keep it. I`ve got fifty-one left. Now, what were you saying?

Mrs. Teasdale: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome you with open arms.

Groucho: Is that so? How late do you stay open?

Mrs. Teasdale: I`ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most noble statesman in all Freedonia.

Groucho: Well, that covers a lot of ground. Say, you cover a lot of ground yourself. You`d better beat it. I hear they`re going to tear you down and put up an office building where you`re standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can`t leave in a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that`s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know you haven`t stopped talking since I came here?

What is remarkable is that while Groucho contributed few of the actual words - the occasional ad lib, impossible to pin down - the routines work only with Groucho`s wiseacre voice crackling through your head. And when it comes to voices in your head, you could do a lot woise. Worse. Woise.

- Arthur Salm

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Arthur Salm