h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Groucho Marx - A888573
Author: Oberon2001 (ACE) - U204088

This lovely entry compliments A875081. What do you think?

I think the entry probably needs a bit at the end about when he died (19th August 1977 from pneumonia, aged 86 - not a bad run) - only Zeppo out lived him (Chico and Harpo both died in the early '60s).

And a mention at the start of how iconic his image is - eyebrows, moustache, glasses and cigar...

for that!
I've added the info.
Oberon2001

Groucho was 'rediscovered' in the early seventies when college students and hippies were embracing the raucous and anti-establishment antics of the Bros.
One of the films was re-premiered for the first time since it's initial release. I think it was "Horsefeathers", but I'll have to check. Don't quote me, yet.

A concert series with Marvin Hamlisch on piano was booked with the help of Groucho's companion and nurse, Erin Gray, I think she was called. The concerts were edited into a recording. Several books were written with and without his authorization, a couple of them just transcribed taped interviews.

Oh, and a note for the Bros. entry. All of Harpo's kids were adopted. The joke was that he wanted enough so that there would be one in each window of the house waving good-bye when he had to travel. His son, Bill, became an accomplished musician, and was responsible for Harpo recording at least two albums of semi-classical music, much of it composed by Bill.
Harpo's book, "Harpo Speaks", was a bestseller and is still in print, I believe.

Zeppo, in addition to being involved in several businesses, developed one of the first wrist-mounted heart-rate monitors. I'll see if I can find a brand name.

http://www.geocities.com/spazprez/ZFAQ.html

Erin 'Fleming', not 'Gray'.

This link also goes to a transcript of the BBC interview with Zeppo for the "Groucho" documentary.

Thanx for the info, except, well, this paragraph doesn't make sense!:
"A concert series with Marvin Hamlisch on piano was booked with the help of Groucho's companion and nurse, Erin Fleming. The concerts were edited into a recording and several books were written with and without his authorization, a couple of them just transcribed taped interviews."
You couldn't flesh this out could you?
Oberon2001

Also, the bits about Harpo and Zeppo could go in a seperate entry for each of them. *hint, hint*
Oberon2001

Just a few crumbs for you to follow home.

I haven't found my books, yet, they are in a box somewhere.
I'm giving you what I can off the top of my head at the moment.

Groucho's books include

'Memoirs of a Mangy Lover'
'Groucho and Me'
He also contributed to 'The Marx Brothers Scrapbook'.
Letter collections include 'The Groucho Letters' and 'Love, Groucho'. The former is a selection of correspondance to all manner of people, the latter just to his daughter Miriam (if my memory is correct).


If anyone's interested (!), I've managed to get my Duck Soup entry into Peer Review. Please check it out and let me know if you have any comments :

A888447 - Duck Soup.

wow! thanx for that!
I've added it to the entry
Oberon2001

Hey everyone!
I've updated the entry, adding in new areas of Groucho's life and putting in sub-headers, so tell me what you think.
Oberon2001

With reference to the last footnote:
Groucho did a bit with Bob Hope during a live broadcast and deliberately dropped his script. This led to "Pabst Blue Ribbon Town", which he did on the radio until he made the mistake (?) of mentioning an opposing brand of suds on the air.

With reference to the last footnote:
Groucho did a bit with Bob Hope during a live broadcast in and deliberately dropped his script. This led to "Pabst Blue Ribbon Town", which he did on the radio until he made the mistake (?) of mentioning an opposing brand of suds on the air.

While he was doing "You Bet Your Life" on the air, he also became involved during 1953 in "The Big Show", an NBC attempt to generate more interest in radio variety, hosted by Tallulah Bankhead. The frission between La'Bankhead and La' Groucho was monumental and the bits they did are legendary.

In the early sixties, after "You Bet Your Life" bit it, he attempted another TV game show, called "Tell It To Groucho". It only lasted a few weeks, to my memory.

Oops! typing too fast, again.

for all that, it's been added.
Oberon2001

Gone PR -> F48874?thread=231828
Oberon2001