This is a fine selection. There's a brief introduction by Groucho's biographer, Stefan Kanfer, a couple of Time magazine articles about Groucho, then the rest of the material is by the man himself. A kind of "greatest hits" volume. So you know it's guaranteed to be funny. It includes favorite scenes from "Animal Crackers", "Monkey Business", "Horse Feathers", "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera", and "A Day at the Races", among other films. There are some freelance articles, as well as selected material culled from his appearances on radio and TV.
All of this is reliably funny stuff, but for my money the best part of this book was "The Groucho Letters", roughly 30 pages of correspondence. There's the surreal correspondence between Groucho and Warner Brothers, who were trying to claim exclusive rights to the name 'Casablanca'. Letters to Fred Allen, Russell Baker, Alistair Cooke, and others. But the oddly moving center to the whole collection is an exchange of letters between Groucho and T.S. Eliot, initiated when Eliot, who was an avid fan, wrote in 1961, requesting an autographed photo.
Anyone troubled by the anti-Jewish sentiments in some of Eliot's writing should read these letters, which go a long way to softening the image of Eliot as a rabid anti-Semite. The two men obviously grew friendly, and held each other in high regard, as this excerpt from a letter from Groucho to Russell Baker shows:
(January 21, 1965)
I was saddened by the death of T.S. Eliot. My wife and I had dinner at his home a few months ago and I realized then that he was not long for this world. He was a nice man, the best epitaph any man can have ....
I recommend the book, though you may prefer to watch the films again.
