A Century of the Marx Brothers

A Century of the Marx Brothers PDF Author: Joseph Mills
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443808350
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
In 1905 Julius Marx began his vaudeville career with the singing group The Leroy Trio and was abandoned in the middle of the tour. It was an inauspicious start for the person who would become "Groucho." A hundred years later, the Marx Brothers have permeated our culture from the plastic noses and glasses worn at parties to a Smithsonian exhibition which explains DNA recombination using A Night at the Opera. Although they completed relatively few films together, the brothers have become icons, recognizable even to people who have never seen their movies. Most scholarly work on the Marx Brothers has focused on biographical aspects of their careers and lives; A Century of the Marx Brothers suggests a myriad of other useful approaches to their film and stage productions. The collection's eleven essays examine the Marx Brothers' work from a number of critical perspectives ranging from reader-response theory to film semiotics. The contributors include international scholars in a variety of fields, such as literature, cultural studies, performance studies, and film history.

A Century of the Marx Brothers

A Century of the Marx Brothers PDF Author: Joseph Mills
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443808350
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
In 1905 Julius Marx began his vaudeville career with the singing group The Leroy Trio and was abandoned in the middle of the tour. It was an inauspicious start for the person who would become "Groucho." A hundred years later, the Marx Brothers have permeated our culture from the plastic noses and glasses worn at parties to a Smithsonian exhibition which explains DNA recombination using A Night at the Opera. Although they completed relatively few films together, the brothers have become icons, recognizable even to people who have never seen their movies. Most scholarly work on the Marx Brothers has focused on biographical aspects of their careers and lives; A Century of the Marx Brothers suggests a myriad of other useful approaches to their film and stage productions. The collection's eleven essays examine the Marx Brothers' work from a number of critical perspectives ranging from reader-response theory to film semiotics. The contributors include international scholars in a variety of fields, such as literature, cultural studies, performance studies, and film history.

The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia

The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia PDF Author: Glenn Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This edition originally published: 2003.

Monkey Business

Monkey Business PDF Author: Simon Louvish
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312252922
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Strange but true: this is the first authentic account of the Marx Brothers, their origins and of the roots of their comedy. First and foremost, this is the saga of a family whose theatrical roots stretch back to mid-19th century Germany. From Groucho Marx's first warblings with the singing Leroy Trio, this book brings to life the vanished world of America's wild and boisterous variety circuits, leading to the Marx Brothers' Broadway successes, and their alliance with New York's theatrical lions, George S. Kaufman and the 'Algonquin Round Table'. Never-before-published scripts, well-minted Marxian dialogue, and much madness and mayham feature in this tale of the Brothers' battles with Hollywood, their films, their loves and marriages, and the story of the forgotten brother Gummo.

American Legends

American Legends PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781986392365
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
*Includes pictures. *Includes the brothers' funniest quotes. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. "The world would not be in such a snarl, had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl." - Irving Berlin "I sent the club a wire stating, 'PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER.'" - Groucho Marx A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. When the American Film Institute ranked its top 50 screen legends of the 20th century, only one team of performers earned a collective spot: the Marx Brothers. Famous throughout the country for nearly half a century, several of the Marx Brothers performed together for over 40 years, and their nicknames - Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo and Zeppo - are all well known today, especially Groucho. From the vaudeville stage to movie theaters, millions saw their performances, and the brothers became not only one of the most popular acts but the kind that paved the way for subsequent groups like The Three Stooges. As beloved and culturally significant as the Marx Brothers are, it is also important to acknowledge that the character they portrayed in their films were clearly personas, so one of the challenges of any close analysis of their lives involves digging past their performances and attempting to figure out what they were truly like as people. How much did the Groucho Marx audiences saw onscreen correspond with his offscreen personality, and where are the nuances and discrepancies that exist between the brothers' private and public selves? If anything, it's important to determine how their personas were actually shaped, a process that did not actually crystallize until Groucho was well into his adulthood. At the same time, the dynamic between the siblings, as well as the impact that their parents had on them, all necessarily influenced their careers. Analyzing these influences on their lives helps explain how the formation of the Marx Brothers was the result of a lengthy process, and just why no one could have justifiably predicted that they would achieve such fame and cultural status. American Legends: The Marx Brothers examines the lives and careers of one of America's most iconic performance teams. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Marx Brothers like never before, in no time at all.

The Anatomy of Harpo Marx

The Anatomy of Harpo Marx PDF Author: Wayne Koestenbaum
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520951980
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
The Anatomy of Harpo Marx is a luxuriant, detailed play-by-play account of Harpo Marx’s physical movements as captured on screen. Wayne Koestenbaum guides us through the thirteen Marx Brothers films, from The Cocoanuts in 1929 to Love Happy in 1950, to focus on Harpo’s chief and yet heretofore unexplored attribute—his profound and contradictory corporeality. Koestenbaum celebrates the astonishing range of Harpo’s body—its kinks, sexual multiplicities, somnolence, Jewishness, "cute" pathos, and more. In a virtuosic performance, Koestenbaum’s text moves gracefully from insightful analysis to cultural critique to autobiographical musing, and provides Harpo with a host of odd bedfellows, including Walter Benjamin and Barbra Streisand.

Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx PDF Author: Lee Siegel
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300216637
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Born Julius Marx in 1890, the brilliant comic actor who would later be known as Groucho was the most verbal of the famed comedy team, the Marx Brothers, his broad slapstick portrayals elevated by ingenious wordplay and double entendre. In his spirited biography of this beloved American iconoclast, Lee Siegel views the life of Groucho through the lens of his work on stage, screen, and television. The author uncovers the roots of the performer’s outrageous intellectual acuity and hilarious insolence toward convention and authority in Groucho’s early upbringing and Marx family dynamics. The first critical biography of Groucho Marx to approach his work analytically, this fascinating study draws unique connections between Groucho’s comedy and his life, concentrating primarily on the brothers’ classic films as a means of understanding and appreciating Julius the man. Unlike previous uncritical and mostly reverential biographies, Siegel’s “bio-commentary” makes a distinctive contribution to the field of Groucho studies by attempting to tell the story of his life in terms of his work, and vice versa.

Groucho

Groucho PDF Author: Arthur Marx
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 9780573670503
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
This inspired bio musical about The One and Only begins with Groucho as an old man doing his famous Carnegie Hall show. It then goes back to the beginnings of the Marx Brothers and their struggles to make it in vaudeville, their rise to stardom and their eventual break up. All classic Groucho songs are included. One actor plays Groucho, another plays Chico and Harpo, and one actress plays all the wives, girlfriends and Margaret Dumont. A hit in New York, across the U.S. and in London, this show will delight Marx Brothers fans and the as yet uninitiated.

Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales

Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales PDF Author: Robert S. Bader
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1557839220
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
GROUCHO MARX AND OTHER SHORT STORIES AND TALL TALES: THE SELECTED WRITINGS OF GROUCHO M

The Annotated Marx Brothers

The Annotated Marx Brothers PDF Author: Matthew Coniam
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078649705X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Have you ever watched a Marx Brothers film and wondered what "habeas Irish rose" is? What is the trial of Mary Dugan with sound? What is a college widow? When exactly did Don Ameche invent the telephone? Their films are full of such in-jokes and obscure theatrical, literary and topical references that can baffle modern audiences. In this viewer's guide to the Marx Brothers you will find the answer to such mysteries, along with an exhaustive compilation of background information, obscure trivia and even the occasional busted myth. Each of the Marx Brothers' 13 films is covered by a running commentary, with points in the film discussed as they appear. Each reference is listed by its running time, with time code given for both PAL and NTSC DVD. An introduction for neophytes and a resource for fanatics, this book is a travel guide to the rambling landscape of these remarkable comedies.

Groucho

Groucho PDF Author: Stefan Kanfer
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0375702075
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
This definitive biography of one of the world’s greatest comedians unflinchingly yet affectionately uncovers the man behind the cigar. Here is 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 Cocoanuts 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.