Julius, (later to be known as Groucho), the quiet middle child of 5 brothers and one adopted sister, wanted to be a doctor. Instead, he was forced to leave school in the 7th grade to work in a wig factory and help cover family expenses. His family lived in a crowded three-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, which also housed a steady stream of poor relatives. His mother, Minnie, had been a professional magician in Germany. Her uncle was a famous vaudevillian and the idol of the boys. Groucho was encouraged to use his singing talent to join the choir of an Episcopal church which eventually propelled him into a vaudeville singing group. Thus, at age 15 he began his lifelong journey in the entertainment business. Siegel uncovers the roots of the performer’s outrageous intellectual acuity and hilarious sense of irony and social dissent. Spoofs of success, education, and achievement were linchpins of his move characters as well as his role as an emcee on the popular quiz show You Bet Your Life.
Which is your favorite Marx Brothers’ movie – Horse Feathers, Monkey Business, Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, A Night at the Opera, or A Day at the Races? All of these movies were made between 1929 and 1937 and yet remain treasured crowd-pleasers today. Lee Siegel has written a must-read for all Groucho lovers and for all those who want to understand the evolution of Jewish humor itself.

Although his films are rather outdated these days, Groucho Marx was genius when it came to writing comedy.
This insightful biography tells of the life of a man who strove to be as good as he could in the world of comedy and films.
He made it look easy, but the background work involved was phenomenal.
He alsoknew when it was time to give up, which many comedians these days would do well to copy. ( )