Groucho Marx The Comedy of Existence
Lee Siegel
Yale University Press, 2016
Though he made his name inspiring laughs, Groucho Marx's comedy
was often more brutal than it was humorous. Witty yes, but with such a dark
view of humanity that his wisecracks always feel like arrows whizzing past your
skull. In his new career analysis of the most famous Marx brother, Lee Siegel
explores the roots of the nihilism in his humor, from his Jewish faith and lack
of a formal education to his profoundly different, and influential parents.
Siegel goes inside Groucho's early personal life in an attempt to weave those details into his public life. He does this not so much to uncover all the mysteries
of the man, but to more deeply examine the nature of his comedy.
Though Groucho had ambitions to become a doctor, he left school in his elementary years, and
he'd always feel the need to prove himself among intellectuals, as is
illustrated in the book via his uneasy relationship with T.S. Eliot. His Jewish
faith and the Yiddish theater would affect his self-image and performance
style as well.
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| The whole Marx clan in 1915, Groucho, Gummo, Minni, Zeppo, Frenchie, Chico and Harpo |
Groucho's strong-willed mother Minnie also had much to do
with his entry into show business, but his less potent father Frenchie was
perhaps his greatest comic influence. According to Siegel, he was like many
immigrant men who did not adjust to life in a new world with as much confidence
as their wives. The elder Marx gave up on success, losing himself in endless
pinochle games, and he was similarly lackluster as a family man.
The scorn that the brothers felt for their less than
ambitious father is prominent in their comedy, where the weak are targeted as
much as the strong. They lack respect for any kind of authority, whether it be
over a great fortune or a peanut cart. The implication seeming to be that no one is up to
the job they claim simply because they claim it.
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| The Marx Brothers, Chico, Groucho and Harpo, in 1948 |
That sort of misanthropic comedy wasn't always a surefire hit. Marx Brothers movies that are considered classics today, were
not as beloved in the 1930s. In a 1960s appearance on the Dick Cavett show,
Groucho could not recall receiving fan mail while he made movies, but with the revival
of the Brothers' films thirty years later, he began receiving over one hundred letters
a week.
While we do laugh at Groucho, it is an uneasy laugh, more of uncomfortable recognition than joy. His rebellion against social structures is what makes him eternally modern and more
relevant as time passes, because that rejection of the norm is the signature of progress.
The Marx Brothers' style was a protest of
sorts, wrapped up in chaos, but Groucho always stepped in to put a point on the
action, jabbing it home with his cigar. It was as if he was justifying the
madness, and insisting that it all made more sense than the status quo.
It is this man that Siegel reveals, a scornful, restless,
self-educated intellectual whose world view ripens over the years more than it
ages.
Many thanks to Yale University Press for providing a copy of the book for review.
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