Coffee With Groucho: Coffee With … Series
by: Simon Louvish; forward by Frank Ferrante
Published by: Duncan Baird Publishers
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
Since 2007, Duncan Baird Publishers has been publishing its Coffee With…Series. The publisher asks experts on a high profile, not-easily-forgotten celebrities (like Hemingway, Plato, Mozart, and more) to imagine they were conducting an interview over coffee with that certain famous someone. The little books become “fictional dialogues based on biographical facts.”
In this instance, Marx Brothers biographer Simon Louvish chatted with Groucho Marx at the comedian’s favorite Beverly Hills’s deli, Nate ”˜N’ Al’s. “The conversation covers twelve themes,” in which the oldest Marx brother talk about his life and his brothers.
The themes start with “Getting Started” in show business, from vaudeville to silent movies, to the talkies, to radio and, finally, for Groucho, television. Louvish asks questions that the general reader may be interested to learn the answers. Louvish does a great job in mimicking Grouch’s voice and syntax.
Other themes in this small book, a mere 150 pages include “Adapting to War and Movies”; “Family, Marriage, and Consequences”; “The Marx Brothers in Hollywood”; “Television and the ”˜Secret Word’”; and “The Summing Up, or Life Lessons of an Old Ham.” Each topic is brief and can easily be read one sitting.
The forward to this little gem is by none other than Frank Ferrante, “actor and director described by the New York Times as ”˜the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx’s material.’”
I enjoyed my pithy visit with Groucho, who died in 1977. I remember him from appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He was funny then and remains funny today.
Armchair Interviews agrees. Groucho was a sly, word crafty and very funny comedian.
Author’s Web site: http://www.SimonLouvish.com
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