The Marx Brothers
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植草 甚一
いい映画を見に行こう
晶文社 2004
Title roughly translates as :"Let's go see a good movie". As far as I can make out, this book contains essays about cinema. One chapter mentions the Marx Brothers in the chapter title.

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Bego, Mark
The Marx Brothers
Pocket Essentials 2009

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Benayoun, Robert
Les Freres Marx
Éditions du Seuil France 1991
Half of the book is a Marx Brothers biography. The other half contains translations of scenes from several movies.

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Blount Jr., Roy
Hail, Hail, Euphoria!
Harper Collins, Inc. 2010
"Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made"
This book provides a lot of background information about the movie, the people involved and the time when it was made. My main criticism would be that this background information sometimes goes too far — I don't want any speculations why there are more movies with mice than with ducks. As the book goes along Blount stays more on topic and overall it is a good read. He has done his homework, although the book contains a few factual errors. It would have been nice to have bibliography and index.

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Brecher, Irving (with Hank Rosenfeld)
The Wicked Wit of the West
Sagoma 2013
The Last Great Golden Age Screenwriter Shares the Hilarity and Heartaches of Working With Groucho, Garland, Gleason, Burns, Berle, Benny, and many more

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Castell, Dan
The Marx Brothers Meet W.C. Fields
Amazon Digital Services/Pulp Lit Press 2011
part of a series of booklets published for Kindle

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Castell, Dan
The Marx Brothers Meet the Doctors of Death
Amazon Digital Services/Pulp Lit Press 2011
part of a series of booklets published for Kindle

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Castell, Dan
The Marx Brothers Meet Robin Hood
Amazon Digital Services/Pulp Lit Press 2011
part of a series of booklets published for Kindle

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Castell, Dan
The Marx Brothers Meet God
self-published 2023
Cover text: "Join Groucho, Chico, and Harpo on a hilarious romp through the heavenly realms…and enjoy the glory and wonder of an afterlife turned upside down"

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Chandler, Charlotte
Hello, I Must be Going: Groucho and his Friends
Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc 2011
"... the book would have been a better (and more truthful) story if Chandler had waited a few years to tell it (once she fell out of Erin's graces)" (teej)

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Coniam, Matthew
The Annotated Marx Brothers - A Filmgoer's Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure References and Sly Details
McFarland & Co Jefferson, NC 2015
There are lots of scenes in the movies which we nowadays cannot fully understand because they refer to people or events who were well known at the time of filming. Matthew has put together a great collection of material which helps us to understand what is really going on.

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Coniam, Matthew
That's Me, Groucho!
McFarland & Co Jefferson, NC 2016
The Solo Career of Groucho Marx

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Curtis, James
Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life
Knopf 2022
Mostly, the brothers are mentioned in passing. One section talks about working on At the Circus. There is mention of Chico attending Keaton's opening at the Medrano, and it mentions is Keaton attending Chico's funeral.

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Czarnik, Thomas J.
Shirley, You Joust!
self-published 2023
A Marx Brothers Comic Play

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DesRochers, Rick
The Comic Offense
Bloomsbury Academic 2014
from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy. "... examines how contemporary writer/performers are influenced by the comedic vaudevillians of the early 20th century ... " (publisher's website)

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Diamond, Noah
Gimme a Thrill
BearManor Media Albany, GA 2016
The Story of "I'll Say She Is", the lost Marx Brothers musical, and how it was found

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Enss, Chris; Kazanjian, Howard
Straight Lady
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. / The Lyons Press 2022
The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont, "The Fifth Marx Brother"
Reviews note that the book doesn't really have a lot about Margret Dumont. It also seems to be riddled with errors.

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Fix , Charlene
Harpo Marx as Trickster
McFarland & Co Jefferson, NC 2013
From the publisher's website: "The author invites readers to spend time in the pleasure of Harpo's cinematic company while comparing him to tricksters from folklore, myth and legend. The book demonstrates how Harpo, the sweetest, wildest, most magical Marx brother, accomplishes the archetypal trickster's work. Thirteen chapters examine Harpo's trickster persona closely in each of the Marx Brothers' films"

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Frank, Josh; Heidecker, Tim; Pertega, Manuela (Illustrator)
Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Greatest Movie Never Made
Quirk Books 2019-03
From Amazon: "It sounds like fan fiction, but it's true: modern art icon Salvador Dali struck up a friendship with chaotic pantomimer Harpo Marx, which led to a proposed film, Giraffes on Horseback Salad. Rejected by MGM studios, the script was thought lost forever[sic]. But author Josh Frank found it, and with comedian and writer Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric; Tim & Eric's Zone Theory) and Spanish artist and comics creator Manuela Pertega, he's recreated the film that Dali and the Marx Brothers would have made...as a graphic novel that presents the story in all its full-color, fully cinematic, fully surreal glory."

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Gardner, Martin Allen
The Marx Brothers: An Investigation of Their Films as Satirical Social Criticism
McFarland & Co Jefferson, NC 2009

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Gehring, Wes D.
The Marx Brothers (A bio-bibliography)
Greenwood Press 1987

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Gehring, Wes D.
Gehring Lost & Found: Selected Essays
BearManor Media Albany, GA 2019
Collections of essays including:
  • The Marx Of Time
  • Television's Other Groucho
  • Groucho Lost & Found: His Other Letters


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Goulart, Ron
Elementary, my dear Groucho
St. Martin's Press 2011

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Goulart, Ron
Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders
St. Martin's Press 2011

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Goulart, Ron
Groucho Marx, Secret Agent
St. Martin's Press 2011

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Goulart, Ron
Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle
St. Martin's Press 2011
A Mystery Featuring Groucho Marx

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Gullo, Jim
Grouch Bag: A Novel
Yam Hill Publishing 2017
A boy goes back in time to save comedy. In 1908 he meets the Marx Brothers before they became famous. 2017 edition changes the title to "The Comedy Keeper"

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Hahn, Matthew
The Animated Marx Brothers
BearManor Media Albany, GA 2017
From the publisher's website: "To many people, The Marx Brothers always seemed cartoonish. Small wonder that film animators [...] caricatured them in countless animated appearances in theatrical cartoons. Their animated likenesses have since been wisecracking in television cartoons, direct-to-video movies, fan films, commercials, flip books, avatars, emoji, a slot machine, and two TV pilots so rare they were once thought not to exist.
[...] Matthew Hahn's search for every animated appearance of a Marx brother has trailed longer than Groucho's coattails. His discoveries include the backstories of the studios, moviemakers, and stars, rare test drawings from the Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery, abandoned projects, connections, coincidences, and apocrypha."

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Horton, Andrew
Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay
University of California Press 2000
The Marx Brothers and their movies are mentioned a few times throughout this book. There is also a three page bit headed "Vaudeville and the Marx Brothers"

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Johnson, Paul
Humorists
Harper Collins 2010
This book about people as diverse as Benjamin Franklin and Toulouse-Lautrec has a chapter about the Marx Brothers

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Kaminsky, Stuart M.
You bet your life
Mondadori Italy 2013
Crime story (Fiction). "It's Chicago. It's February, 1941. And Toby Peters, Private Eye, has a cold. Louis B. Mayer has hired him to help the Marx Brothers out of $120,000 worth of trouble. With the mob." (Cover text)

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Kanfer, Stefan (Ed.)
The Essential Groucho : Writings by and for Groucho Marx
Penguin Publishing 2008

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Levigne, Michelle L.
Liar, Liar, Hearts On Fire
Amber Quill Press
Romance novel. Strictly speaking it doesn't feature the Marx Brothers, but only uses names and places. From the publisher's website: "Ray and Lauren [...] build an alliance of minds and hearts as they work through the maze of Fredonia, Uncle Zeppo's remote mountain mansion. The old house is full of secret doors and staircases, with every clue in the scavenger hunt coming from a Marx Brothers movie."

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Levigne, Michelle L.
Never Moon A Werewolf
Amber Quill Press 2012
Sequel to "Liar, Liar, Hearts On Fire ..."

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Martello, Luca
Groucho e i suoi fratelli
Alberto Castelvecchi Editore Srl 2017
La vita e l'arte dei Marx Bros.

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Marx, Bill
Son of Harpo Speaks
Applause Theatre & Cinema Books 2011-11
From Bearmanor Media: "For many years, friends and family have asked me, 'Bill, why don't you write a book about your life? You must have had quite a childhood growing up with your dad, Harpo, and those zany uncles of yours, the Marx Brothers. And what about those weird, maybe fatalistic happenings you've experienced that can only be described as 'too-Hollywood-to-believe?'" - Bill Marx

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Marx, Groucho
Beds
Lindau Torino, Italy 2017
Uncredited assistance by Arthur Sheekman. A partly modified version appeared in "College Humor" in September, November and December 1930 and January 1931.

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Marx, Groucho
Groucho and Me
Amazon Digital Services/Da Capo Press 2011
"Goes over the basics. You get a lot of the staple Groucho material in here." (Teej) / "Groucho's own autobiography, full of anecdotes and thoughts from the most articulate of the brothers. ... not necessarily a terrific source of hard facts, as Groucho is very prone to sacrifice accuracy for entertainment; but a marvelous read all around." (Robert Rose)

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Marx, Groucho
Memoirs Of A Mangy Lover
Amazon Digital Services/Da Capo Press 2011
assistance by Arthur Sheekman.
"Humorous history of love." (Eyles, 1969) / "...just a collection of anecdotes and tall tales. It needs to be read as a collection of comedy routines. They make more sense if you can picture Groucho delivering them as a monologue." (John Benz Fentner)

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Marx, Harpo with Rowland Barber
Harpo Speaks!
Limelight Editions 1985
"Extremely amusing autobiography of the silent brother, with particular focus on his youth and the vaudeville/Broadway years, and Harpo's relationship with his close friend, Alexander Woollcott. Not the best source for facts about the films (or necessarily a reliable source of hard facts at all), it's still a completely wonderful book." (Robert Rose) / "... it tends to leave out the more bizarre side of Harpo's character, but what's there is marvelous stuff. If you thought Harpo was just a great clown, this book will disabuse you of that notion in no time at all." (John Benz Fentner)

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Maslon, Laurence; Kantor, Michael
Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America
Twelve 2008
Has chapters about Harpo and Groucho. The author says: "... we were looking at different styles and genres of comedy performances - Harpo as a physical comedian, Groucho as a wise guy. I thought it might be fun to break up the usual parsing of the Marx Brothers and maybe it would shed some light, especially as we have a Harpo/Lucy pairing, and later on Groucho as a member of a group and also his solo career."

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Pérez Agustí, Adolfo
Cómicos del cine
Ediciones Masters 2014
This book has chapters about the Marx Brothers,Cantinflas, Woody Allen and Charlie Chaplin. Other comedians get a few pages. The Marx Brothers chapter is almost identical to the book "El humor de ... Los Hermanos Marx" by the same author

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Pérez Agustí, Adolfo
El humor de ... Los Hermanos Marx
Ediciones Masters Madrid, Spain 2013
can also be found as a chapter in the book "Cómicos del cine" by the same author

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Pérez-Arévalo, Juan Carlos
Groucho's
ViveLibro 2021
Play. "Adolfo returns home one day to find his father dressed up and behaving like Groucho Marx."

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Pérez-Arévalo, Juan Carlos
Groucho's
2021
Play. "Adolfo returns home one day to find his father dressed up and behaving like Groucho Marx."

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Pachter, Josh (ed.)
Monkey Business (Crime fiction inspired by the films of the Marx Brothers)
Untreed Reads 2021
"A Who’s Who of award-winning crime writers pays homage to the Marxes in fourteen short stories, each inspired by one of the brothers’ thirteen studio films."

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Pearce, Jeff
Reich TV
Gallivant Books 2011
In this "Alternate History Thriller" the Marx Brothers are based in London and do a propaganda show for the BBC. George Orwell and Dylan Thomas also make an appearance

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Ross, Alison
The Language of Humour
Routledge 2005
from the publisher: "examines the importance of the social context for humour / explores the issue of gender and humour in areas such as the New Lad culture in comedy and stand-up comedy / includes comic transcripts from TV sketches such as Clive Anderson and Peter Cook

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Siegel, Lee
Groucho Marx - The Comedy of Existence
Yale University Press New Haven, CT 2016
From the publisher's website: "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."

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Stern, Sydney Ladensohn
The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics
University Press of Mississippi 2019
Herman J. Mankiewicz was the producer of Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup,

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Stoliar, Steve
Raised Eyebrows - My Years Inside Groucho's House
BearManor Media Albany, GA 2011
Stoliar was a secretary an archivist to Groucho in later years. / "There was enough vintage Groucho in the book to bring a smile on my face, balancing the occasional tear from my eye." (J.Jacobs) / "... a good inside look at the Erin Fleming years." (Robert Rose)

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Strom, Robert
Virginia O'Brien: MGM's Deadpan Diva
Bearmanor Media Albany, GA 2017
Cover text: "Virginia O'Brien was one of the more unique talents under contract to Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The California native was discovered by MGM's mogul, Louis B. Mayer when he attended a performance of the musical revue Meet the People. It was here that Virginia stopped the show with the deadpan delivery of her solo number. Her appearances in more than a dozen of MGM's musicals were always a highlight. While one can't 'stop' a film, Virginia's singular performances are etched in the memory of the fans of MGM's lavish musicals. This is the story of the comedic actress-singer who was fondly known as 'Miss Frozen Face.'"

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Trahair, Lisa
The Comedy of Philosophy: Sense and Nonsense in Early Cinematic Slapstick
State University of New York Press 2012

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Viscogliosi, Fabio
Harpo
Actes Sud 2020
Novel about Harpo's return journey from Russia. Interview with the author

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Walker, Nancy A.
What's So Funny?
Rowman & Littlefield 1998
"Humor in American Culture"
A collection of 15 essays from Nancy Walker and Zita Dresner, Joseph Boskin and Joseph Dorinson, William Keough, Roy Blount, Jr., and others

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Young, Jordan R.
Biography and Solo Performance
2012
Recreating Famous Lives On Stage
about Frank Ferrante as Groucho and Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir

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Young, Jordan R.
Writing for Groucho Marx and Fred Allen
2013
Interviews with Irving Brecher and Bob Weiskopf

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This site uses material originally created by Frank Bland for his website Why A Duck?. Frank did kindly give me permission to use this material.

The Marx Brothers - Los Hermanos Marx - האחים מרקס - マルクス兄弟 - Les Freres Marx - 마르크스형제 - Братья Маркс - Bröderna Marx - برادران مارکس - I Fratelli Marx - Братята Маркс - Bracia Marx - Germans Marx - الأخوة ماركس - 馬克思兄弟 - Αδελφοί Μαρξ - Irmãos Marx     RSS feed

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