The ANATOMY of
HARPO MARX
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ahmanson Foundation Humanities Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation.
The ANATOMY of
HARPO MARX
WAYNE KOESTENBAUM
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2012 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koestenbaum, Wayne.
The anatomy of Harpo Marx / Wayne Koestenbaum.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-520-26900-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-520-26901-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Marx, Harpo, 1888–1964. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. 3. Comedians—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.M54K84 2012
792.702´8092–dc23
[B]
2011024490
Manufactured in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Any classification you read provokes a desire in you to put yourself into it somewhere: where is your place? At first you think you have found it; but gradually, like a disintegrating statue or an eroding relief, its shape blurs and fades, or better still, like Harpo Marx losing his artificial beard in the glass of water he is drinking out of, you are no longer classifiable. — ROLAND BARTHES, Roland Barthes
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My gratitude and affection go to Mary Francis and Ira Silverberg, and to my treasured collaborators in California, especially Rachel Berchten, Nicole Hayward, and Joe Abbott.
Remarkable friends encouraged this adventure: Robert Boyers, Clifford Chase, Harry Dodge, Andy Fitch, Peter Halley, Christian Hawkey, Paul Holdengräber, Myung Mi Kim, Rachel Kushner, Rebecca Mead, Nancy K. Miller, Maggie Nelson, Jacqueline Osherow, Alexandra Penney, George Prochnik, Jonathan Rabinowitz, Lisa Rubinstein, David Shields, Lynne Tillman, and Benjamin Weissman. Sina Najafi kindly published an excerpt, “Harpo’s Bubbles,” in Cabinet.
Glenn Mitchell’s The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia was a trusted guide.
Bruce Hainley understands everything.
Steven Marchetti welcomed Harpo into our household as an intimate, permanent guest.
I