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Groucho & Me: The Autobiography

by Groucho Marx , James Thurber (Foreword)

4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 · rating details · 1,519 ratings · 100 reviews

The temptation to write about yourself is irresistible, especially when you are prodded into it by a crafty publisher who has slyly baited you into doing it with a miserly advance of fifty dollars and a box of cheap cigars' - Groucho Marx

Told with humour and wit and in Groucho's own unique style, Groucho & Me: The Autobiography is a rags to riches story with a differen ...more

Paperback , Reprint , 256 pages

Published 2002 by Virgin Publ. (first published 1959)

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Nov 21, 2014 Luis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Una genialidad del humor. Consiste en anécdotas de su vida, en orden mas o menos cronológico, salpicadas de observaciones agudas e irreverentes, totalmente un must read para cualquier aficionado al teatro o al cine clásico o simplemente para quien busque reírse. A través del libro se dibuja la época dorada del teatro de bodevil y la vida de sus artistas, los inicios de Hollywood, la radio y la televisión.

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Jun 22, 2007 Mads rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best autobiography ever. I agree completely with what Mrs. Calabash says on the blurbs. I wish more people would write their autobiographies this way and enough of the oh-so-serious tones. Let's have no more of the endless boasts about illustrious ancestors and goody-goody anecdotes.

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May 28, 2015 Harold rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just what you would expect from Groucho. No revelations, very little about his life. Really just a series of anecdotes of show biz life, vaudeville, movies, tv, etc etc. All written in a highly humorous fashion. Those of us old enough to remember Groucho will hear his voice narrating it.

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Mar 07, 2011 Wade Grassman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

I was a bit disappointed by the book only in that I had hoped to more of the history of the brothers and the act. On the other hand the humour that poured out on every page more than made up it. I laughed at nearly every turn of the page. This was a wonderful read and I whole heartedly recommend it for any fan of the brothers.

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Aug 02, 2008 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Folks wanting some Marx Bros history

I was really excited to read this autobiography of Groucho Marx and the majority of the book didn't disappoint. Groucho tells some terrific stories about growing up Marx with his brothers. I also loved his tales about Kansas City (it's neat to read what an important tour stop it was back in its hey-day) and what he had to say about living in Chicago for a little while as a teen.

But then...! Then it just turns into a GROUCHy old man (the book was published in 1959) griping about the way things ar ...more

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Aug 31, 2008 Patti rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fun quick read. I read this book right after I read A tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I had a whole theme thing going with turn of the century.

The stories that Groucho tells about his family and himself are the types of stories that you would tell about the dinner table to tease each other. Groucho tells his stories without making himlook like a saint, too. In fact, it seems like he goes out of his way to show his faults.

There's no bragging in this book, or sugar coating. It's just a fun way to re ...more

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Sep 20, 2014 Brad Dugg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The wittiest, funniest and the cleverest autobiography I ever read.

You can read on Wikipedia page as to who Groucho Marx is but you must read this book to understand what a sense of humour he has. This is one of those books that seems more like a comedy movie than an autobiography. So little of his personal life is mentioned and so much of his personal experiences are fed which are mostly hilarious.

This book is path breaking in terms of autobiographical-writing. This does not follow chronology ...more

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Jul 05, 2015 Tanzila Aslam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not to trivialize the importance of history books, but I believe comedians are the best representation of a particular era or culture. Their jokes, references and social commentary often reflect the little nuances faced by the common man. The 70s/80s had George Carlin. Our generation probably has the likes of Louis CK, Jon Stewart. And the 50s clearly belonged to Groucho Marx. (Chaplin once said that if he could talk like Groucho, he would never shut up.) It’s safe to say that his wit has stood ...more

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Aug 14, 2015 Farnham rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this wonderful book many years ago, while a student in Austin. Aside from the marvelous humor of this man and his whacky family, the book is a very brilliant historical account of the development of comic theater. From the boys growing up in immigrant NY, to their natural musical skills, and early failures in vaudeville, Mr. Marx takes us on a trip around the country, playing one horse towns and small venues throughout the south and west. By the time they got to Broadway, and Hollywood, t ...more

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Feb 28, 2015 Víctor Galán rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Una particularísima obra de su genial autor. Groucho desarrolla una autobiografía tan extraña como delirante, en la que narra muchos sucesos y en los que a la vez no cuenta nada. Su sentido del humor, alcanza cotas extremas, dotando a todo el libro de una sutil ironía y una marcada sátira de la sociedad estadounidense de la época.
Una obra ideal para desarrollar el ingenio y la mala leche humorística. Pero que adolece de una visión demasiado superficial de su autor y situada siempre en el enclav ...more

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Jul 30, 2008 Andy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: comedy fans

Shelves: hollywoodbabylon

Groucho's pretty amusing. He makes me grin abut he doesn't really make me laugh.

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Sep 11, 2015 M. J. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-non-fiction

Early in the book Groucho Marx makes the point that he does not believe it possible for anyone to write an honest autobiography, and he is not attempting to do so--not that he is not being honest, but that this is not a biography of himself. It is more a collection of events and anecdotes, many of them stripped of names and sometimes places (he makes a joke of the number of people in the book whom he calls "Delaney", and on one occasion names a man but calls him "Delaney" anyway). He gives us so Early in the book Groucho Marx makes the point that he does not believe it possible for anyone to write an honest autobiography, and he is not attempting to do so--not that he is not being honest, but that this is not a biography of himself. It is more a collection of events and anecdotes, many of them stripped of names and sometimes places (he makes a joke of the number of people in the book whom he calls "Delaney", and on one occasion names a man but calls him "Delaney" anyway). He gives us some insight into the origins and path of his career, but omits most of the personal details. He several times hints that he was married several times, but never names a wife; his children are named very briefly but for the youngest, who is subject of a couple of stories.

Nothing in the book hit me as laugh-out-loud funny, but I have never been a huge Marx Brothers fan. I have seen clips from You Bet Your Life and bits of some of the movies, but never had Marx Brothers movies on my list of favorites. That might be more a reflection on the specifics of my sense of humor--people say that the Three Stooges are hysterical, but I only see nasty idiots hurting each other when I watch them; I do enjoy a good Abbot and Costello bit, but I think they're a bit more intellectual. In this book, most of the jokes fall flat--but in a way reminiscent of Johnny Carson, he also pokes fun at how bad his own jokes are,so he apparently is not expecting them to bring laughs.

The book is already half a century old, and some of the references have become a bit obscure, but he does a fair job of giving impressions of Vaudeville and Broadway, and how movies brought the end of Vaudeville. He frequently notes how fickle the entertainment world is, saying near the end that to succeed you need talent and luck, but luck is more important than talent. He tells us how, after having made what might have been millions, he one day panicked when he met a former star working a chorus line and bought an annuity that was guaranteed to pay him eighty dollars a week for life, and although he never used a dime of it it became his confidence, that it was fine to fail because he was not going to be destitute in his old age. (He also gives the price of pumpernickel bread at that time, so we would have some benchmark for understanding how much money that was in practical terms.)

It was a comfortable read, the sort of book that keeps you company while you're waiting for someone but does not demand your attention when you need to walk away. The writer was not exactly self-deprecating, but not at all egotistical, someone whose success seemed to him to be good luck, not well-deserved. There were aspects of his history which were offensive, but overall he seemed like a nice guy. It was not a waste of my time to read it. ...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Casey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I treasure this book. The witticisms actually pour out of this book faster than the reader can savor them. Groucho Marx pens this memoir as only Groucho can, with the same insults and wisecracks that marked his uniquely superior brand of comedy for decades. For example, near the beginning of the book is this nugget of wisdom: "Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough."

You can actually hear his voice ringing through the text. It's d ...more

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Nov 14, 2008 Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

{This was to be intended to be a collective review of The Groucho Letters, Groucho and Me and Memoirs of a Mangy Lover collectively, but apparently I can't pull up more than one book in a thread. Why what appears to be the cover of an Agatha Christie biography appears in the window where Groucho's dust jacket should, I have no idea, I don't even think they have much in common}

Down below (ratatatatata)
Down Below(ratatatatata)
Sat the devil talking to his son
Who wanted to go
Up above(ratatatatata)
Up ...more

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Jul 22, 2015 Perry Whitford rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think Groucho wrote a great deal of the Marx Brothers material, certainly not the film stuff anyway (they had a team of Hollywood's finest scripting the gags for those) but by the time you get three pages into this autobiography it's pretty clear that he might as well have done.

Julius Henry Marx and Groucho Marx were undoubtedly one and the same!

Here's a sample from the very first page: "Although it is generally known, I think it's about time to announce that I was born at a very early ...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Yoake rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

No soy de carcajada fácil cuando veo la televisión (ni cuando voy al cine). Sonrío, sí, pero no muchos consiguen que me doble de la risa. Shin-chan siempre me ha hecho reír (el manga más que el anime). Su humor chabacano y fácil hace que me desternille. Algún capítulo de la primera temporada de Friends también. La escena de Two Much en la que Antonio Banderas tiene que entretener a Melanie Griffith y a Daryl Hannah a la vez es otra más. Y en esa de Oceans Twelve en la que Julia Roberts se hace p No soy de carcajada fácil cuando veo la televisión (ni cuando voy al cine). Sonrío, sí, pero no muchos consiguen que me doble de la risa. Shin-chan siempre me ha hecho reír (el manga más que el anime). Su humor chabacano y fácil hace que me desternille. Algún capítulo de la primera temporada de Friends también. La escena de Two Much en la que Antonio Banderas tiene que entretener a Melanie Griffith y a Daryl Hannah a la vez es otra más. Y en esa de Ocean´s Twelve en la que Julia Roberts se hace pasar por ella misma ante Bruce Willis también solté unas cuantas carcajadas en la sala.

Vi Una noche en la ópera hace algunos años y aguanté la cara de crítico… hasta la famosa escena del camarote. Perdón por la ordinariez, pero me descojonaba. No literalmente porque eso no es posible, pero fue ese tipo de risa que no olvidas nunca. Espontánea, sana, liberadora, enriquecedora y agradecida. Desde entonces a los Hermanos Marx también los miro con los ojillos achinados llenos de ternura. Y la curiosidad hizo que comprara Groucho y yo.

Yo esperaba una autobiografía al uso pero debería haber sabido que un cómico tiene la capacidad de salirse por la tangente aunque le haya nacido un editor en el cogote. Por tanto, sí, Groucho habla de su infancia, de sus inicios en las variedades, del cine, de la radio y de la televisión, pero no cuenta nada que no quiera contar. Los vacíos los llena con cientos de anécdotas protagonizadas por él junto a personajes bajo seudónimo (todos se llaman Delaney), a sus hermanos y a actores de Hollywood.

Groucho y yo no ha hecho que suelte la carcajada, pero me ha reconfortado. Cuando lo que está fuera de los libros es hipócrita y falso, siempre reconforta leer a un cómico con sentido, del humor y común, y con conciencia: de sí mismo, me encanta como se fustiga, y de los demás.

[…] Cuando una pareja de mediana edad se acercó y empezó a dar vueltas a mi alrededor. Pasaron ante mí dos o tres veces, examinándome como si yo fuese un extraterrestre. Finalmente, la señora, vacilante, se acercó y me preguntó:
-Es usted, ¿verdad? ¿Es usted Groucho?
Asentí con la cabeza.
Entonces ella me tocó tímidamente en el brazo y dijo:
-Por favor, no se muera. Siga viviendo siempre.
¿Quién podría pedir más?

...more

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Sep 04, 2013 Aaron rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Marx Brothers fans

Groucho states at the beginning of the book that he's only writing it at the coercion of the editor. This statement and pretty much every other statement on the 300-some-odd pages in this book should be taken with a salt lick. Julius Henry Marx is reticent to invade his own personal life and I would venture to say that of the 80000+ words in this book only a handful could be considered the bold truth. Which isn't to say that it's not interesting, it's just that the anecdotes may or may not have ...more

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Nov 04, 2014 Himanshu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By far this is the funniest autobiography I have read till now but then with Groucho at the helm ,it had to be funny. Groucho's self deprecating humour shines through this gem. The small size (some 350 odd pages), awesome wit and the interesting anecdotes of an era gone by make this virtually irresistible. Now that I have finished it,I am having withdrawal syndrome.

Particularly amusing is his introduction of Chaplin

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Nov 20, 2012 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've never seen a Marx Brothers' movie. And, aside from an incident in the first grade, I've never had any circumstances in my life where Groucho Marx had even a moderately influential role on my day-to-day existence. So, I come to this book as neither a fan nor an enemy. Truly neutral on this one.

I found it to not only be incredibly funny but also interesting in an historical aspect. He was born just before the turn of the century, and lived through many of the significant moments of the 20th ...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Dan Hiland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are few books that can make me laugh out loud and often- but this is one of them. He was the master of comedy, on and off the screen. And his descriptions just kill. There are places in the narrative where I would set the book down because I was laughing so hard I couldn't see the page. Now, that's what I call funny...

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Sep 23, 2014 Ta0paipai rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fun but meandering read, Groucho provides a window into his life growing up and he and his brothers' rise to fame while adding the Groucho humor fans love and would hope to expect (though its preacher than expected). As a bonus readers get an authentic view into the old school entertainment industry, when vaudeville was fading in the rise of motion pictures.

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Dec 27, 2014 Dimi Doukas rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's fun to read how things were in the 20's and 30's in showbiz. But Groucho's book doesn't have a story line. It's more like small columns put together rather than a biography. I enjoyed 'Harpo speaks' much more than this. Though there are some good moments in this book also.

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Dec 24, 2014 Gordon Gravley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fan of the Marx Brothers, I found this memoir and collection of anecdotes about their history and inception thoroughly entertaining. It's also a great historical look into the world of vaudeville. Written with such conversational ease I even read it multiple times.

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Jun 22, 2014 Jeff Buddle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book effortlessly captures Groucho's voice. Not so much an autobiography as a collection of stories/anecdotes, but well worth the short time it takes to read. Recommended.

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Jan 17, 2014 Gene rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I definitely would have liked more details on his life story and accomplishments (he never did tell how he got the name Groucho), but you can't help but enjoy the wit and wisdom of his words. So many of the things he said about the world 55 years ago (including the book publishing/selling world) still ring true. He was a true character in the best sense of the word.

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Apr 30, 2014 M.R. Dowsing rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this "autobiography" despite Groucho's apparent determination to reveal as little as possible about himself! I read Harpo's book many years ago and, from what I remember, it was a more satisfying read. 'Groucho and Me' is well-written, funny and engaging but perhaps a bit too lightweight not to disappoint slightly.

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Aug 04, 2011 Kahn added it · review of another edition

Groucho goes to great lengths to explain this isn't an autobiography, and he's not wrong. What you have are a series of anecdotes (some with a basis in truth, some without) and musings on such things as marriage and alcohol.
He also explains regularly that he keeps getting pushed by his editor, and that is also easy to believe, as this book runs out of steam two-thirds of the way through, and what starts out as a marvellous collection of Marx whimsy and tales of Delaney's doings finishes feeling ...more

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Apr 22, 2015 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Funny, but it pales next to his brother's memoir, "Harpo Speaks".

The use of "Delany" grew tiresome by the end.

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Apr 07, 2013 Marivl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiografías

"Esta obra empezó como una autobiografía, pero antes de enterarme comprendí ya que no sería nada de eso. Resulta casi imposible escribir una autobiografía sincera(...) En casi todos los casos, lo que el público acaba comprando es un discreto volumen con los hechos hábilmente encubiertos, lleno de bazofia y de ambigüedad"
Me encanta el sarcasmo cómico de Groucho Marx, he disfrutado mucho sus anecdotas y ocurrencias, aunque no devela demasiado de su vida personal, nos cuenta con su estilo único las ...more

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Jan 20, 2015 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Although it is generally known, I think it's about time to announce that I was born at a very early age."

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About Groucho Marx

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx, was an American comedian and film star. He is famed as a master of wit. He made 15 feature films with his siblings, the Marx Brothers, and also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show, You Bet Your Life. He had a distinctive image, which included a heavy greasepaint moustache and eyebrows, and glasses.

More about Groucho Marx...

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The Essential Groucho: Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx

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