Groucho, Harpo, Chico And Sometimes Zeppo
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Hailed by Variety as the best, by all odds, of the many books written about the Marx Brothers, Joe Adamson's definitive chronicle of Hollywood's most anarchic comedy troupe is an essential read for any lover of classic cinema. Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo presents a richly detailed portrait of four brothers who rewrote the rules of comedy, tracing their journey from the vaudeville stages of early 20th-century America to the silver screen immortality of films like Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. With sharp wit and meticulous research, Adamson reconstructs the chaotic genius behind the greasepaint and the harp, the insults and the pratfalls, revealing a family whose collective madness was, in fact, a form of brilliance. Adamson writes with the authority of a true scholar and the enthusiasm of a devoted fan, dissecting the brothers' distinct comic personas — Groucho's razor-sharp sarcasm, Harpo's balletic physical comedy, Chico's roguish charm, and Zeppo's oft-overlooked straight-man craft — while arguing that their subversive humour amounted to nothing less than a sustained assault on the pomposity of polite society. The book stands as both a rigorous work of film history and a love letter to an era when comedy could be genuinely dangerous. For anyone who has ever wondered what lurked beneath the madness, Adamson's masterwork delivers the answer — and raises a dozen more questions.
Author: Joe Adamson
Format: Paperback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Hailed by Variety as the best, by all odds, of the many books written about the Marx Brothers, Joe Adamson's definitive chronicle of Hollywood's most anarchic comedy troupe is an essential read for any lover of classic cinema. Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo presents a richly detailed portrait of four brothers who rewrote the rules of comedy, tracing their journey from the vaudeville stages of early 20th-century America to the silver screen immortality of films like Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. With sharp wit and meticulous research, Adamson reconstructs the chaotic genius behind the greasepaint and the harp, the insults and the pratfalls, revealing a family whose collective madness was, in fact, a form of brilliance. Adamson writes with the authority of a true scholar and the enthusiasm of a devoted fan, dissecting the brothers' distinct comic personas — Groucho's razor-sharp sarcasm, Harpo's balletic physical comedy, Chico's roguish charm, and Zeppo's oft-overlooked straight-man craft — while arguing that their subversive humour amounted to nothing less than a sustained assault on the pomposity of polite society. The book stands as both a rigorous work of film history and a love letter to an era when comedy could be genuinely dangerous. For anyone who has ever wondered what lurked beneath the madness, Adamson's masterwork delivers the answer — and raises a dozen more questions.