Growing up without computers and with a black and white television our lives were rather different to today. We spent a lot of time watching television together or playing board/card games (I learnt how to gamble playing solitaire), going out with friends and reading books. Some of our favourite people to watch on television were The Marx Brothers. They were just fabulous and when I grew up and found they had written some books I was quite keen to read them.
If you believe this website then the books are entertaining but not terribly factual and they recommend books that are more accurate with facts. I’m not certain I care too much as I’m totally entertained by the people themselves and the books they wrote are just as entertaining.
I’ve pulled Memoirs of a Mangy Lover by Groucho Marx and Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx off my bookshelf this morning to have a bit of a ramble about them. Memoirs of a Mangy Lover is very entertaining being very much like his onscreen personality but is short on actual facts, or in fact, any facts. Harpo Speaks is an autobiography and is a riotous series of anecdotes about himself and his family in some sort of order. I love both books for different reasons.
I absolutely adored Groucho and his onscreen persona. He was a womaniser with a quick wit and a remarkable ability to dance and caper around. Actually, all the Marx Brothers had that same ability with dancing and capering as they spent many years in vaudeville entertaining all and sundry. They were at their best when they ditched the script and ad libbed.
Harpo was my favourite. He never spoke on film and was the most amazing harpist. Apparently he was told never to speak again after a problem on stage and so in all his films he was silent. He always had lots of things in the inner pocket of his jacket, including a swordfish which he used as a password one day. Anyway, his book is just wonderful and gives a good idea of what it must have been like growing up in his family.
Both books are going back on my shelf but I do recommend them.