Stefan Kanfer.
STEFAN KANFER
GROUCHO: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JULIUS HENRY MARX (2000)
Julius Henry ‘Groucho’ Marx was born to a working class Jewish family living in Manhattan, New York. His mother, who had emigrated from northern Germany at the age of 16, was determined that her sons should enter show business, following in the footsteps of her brother. Groucho’s initial ambition was to become a doctor, but the family’s financial circumsntances meant he ahd to leave school at the age of twelve. After holding down some casual office jobs, he was recruited by his mother, along with three of her other sons, into a vaudeville singing group called ‘The Four Nightingales’. This had only modest success. After a poorly received performance in Nacogdoches, Texas, they started exchanging jokes rather than singing. This proved extremely popular, leading on to a wildly successful stage and film career. Among their film highlights were Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera - both still widely enjoyed today. Groucho became a legend for his quick-fire repartees. For example, when told ‘The garbage men are here’, Groucho is reputed to have replied ‘Tell them we don’t want any’.
The Wall Street Journal wrote of Kanfer’s biography of Groucho Marx: "Thoroughly absorbing.... Groucho has finally gotten a biographer worthy of him."
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Stefan Kanfer (born 1933, died 2018) was a journalist and author who worked for more than 20 years as a writer, critic and editor at Time magazine. He was writer in residence at Wesleyan University and at the City University of New York. Kanfer’s family were Jewish, from Romania. He was educated at New York University, and served in US Army Intelligence during the Korean War.
