Novelist, screenwriter and biographer whose subjects included his father, Groucho
Arthur Marx, who has died aged 89, grew up in the shadow of his father, Groucho, and was steeped in the controlled chaos of the Marx Brothers. Torn between trying to distance himself from a demanding father, yet also prove worthy of his genius, he enjoyed a long career as a writer of screen and stage comedies, novels and biographies. Not surprisingly, however, his most successful work capitalised on the public's interest in his father and his uncles, Chico, Harpo, Gummo and Zeppo.
Marx wrote several works about Groucho, the first of which, Life With Groucho (1954), published at the height of his father's television popularity, was a warts-and-all portrait punctuated by Groucho's own annotations. (Marx wrote that he would like to correct the impression that his father was a miser; Groucho's footnote read: "You'd better or I'll cut you off without a nickle.
Arthur Marx, who has died aged 89, grew up in the shadow of his father, Groucho, and was steeped in the controlled chaos of the Marx Brothers. Torn between trying to distance himself from a demanding father, yet also prove worthy of his genius, he enjoyed a long career as a writer of screen and stage comedies, novels and biographies. Not surprisingly, however, his most successful work capitalised on the public's interest in his father and his uncles, Chico, Harpo, Gummo and Zeppo.
Marx wrote several works about Groucho, the first of which, Life With Groucho (1954), published at the height of his father's television popularity, was a warts-and-all portrait punctuated by Groucho's own annotations. (Marx wrote that he would like to correct the impression that his father was a miser; Groucho's footnote read: "You'd better or I'll cut you off without a nickle.
- 4/18/2011
- by Michael Carlson
- The Guardian - Film News
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