Monkey Business : The Lives and Legends of The Marx Brothers
Author: Simon Louvish
List Price: $16.95
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ISBN: 0312283822
Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback (25 September, 2001)
Sales Rank: 379,879
Average Customer Rating: 3.52 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Very Enjoyable
I found "Monkey Business" very enjoyable and interesting. I had trouble putting the book down. It reads very quickly and is not dull or academic in the least.The one drawback I found was that the book is not as focused as Louvish's bio of W. C. Fields, but then here he is following five people as opposed to one.
Still, this was a very good book. I liked the way Louvish challenged some old stories about the Marx Brothers, and I liked the way he made a case for Chico being the chief "behind the scenes" brother in business matters. His assessment of the films seemed quite fair to me, and I found it interesting that the Marxes (or their writers) originally intended "Duck Soup" to be more political, and that they made it after plans to film "Of Thee I Sing" fell through.
Still, this is perhaps not the best "first book to read" on the Marx Brothers. I would nominate Joe Adamson's "Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo" for that.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The Best Book Yet on the Marx Brothers
Simon Louvish follows up his excellent biography of W. C. Fields with this ground-breaking study of the Marx Brothers. As with the Fields biography, Louvish demythologizes the story of the Marxes and gives us Marx fans a lot more information to digest and enjoy. Fans have tended to accept the early stories of Marx family life as carved in stone; Louvish shows how the real story differs and does it with loving respect rather than the harshness of a debunker. In addition to the Marxes, Louvish also takes a few sidebar trips into the lives of the not so well known supporting players, such as Margaret Dumont, whose life was draped in legend. Well researched and well written. As to the criticism of those who think his writing reflects too much of the Marx style of comedy, I can only reply that no one seemed to mind when Joe Adamson did the same thing in his landmark study on the Marx Brothers films, Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo. I think this style of writing goes with the turf, so to speak, and in any case its annoyance factor is negligible compared to the rewards of his research. Highly recommded for any serious as well as casual Marx fan.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Top Quality Biography
Louvish's detailed biography of the MB's is very good indeed. Starting in mid action, sympathetic, never genuflecting , the book goes on to describe what became of the Marx Brothers. Humorwise the author isn't trying to be the sixth Marx Brother any more than he's trying to be fourth Beastie Boy, the second Maureen Lipman, or the fifth Beatle. He's just trying to set the scene, which I feel will add to the book's value as time goes on, because that's what good history is.
Of all the secondary Marx(i.e. surname-not-Marx) material I have read, this is the one I have the most affection for, mainly because it is not trying to be definitive or exhaustive or curatorial, and yet strangely is better at all three than anything else Marx-related I've read in the past. Even if you've never seen a MB movie, you will probably find plenty here to amuse.
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