Overview

Zeppo was the Marx Brother who didn’t want to go into the family business. A juvenile delinquent in his teen years, before joining his brothers on stage, Zeppo balanced two careers: auto mechanic and petty criminal. Even after getting dragged into the world of entertainment—for sixteen years, he did his familial duty as as a vaudeville, Broadway, and movie star—he finally made his escape from the Four Marx Brothers, making failed attempts to find steady work in real estate, screenwriting, and the restaurant business. It was only after Zeppo hit it big as a Hollywood talent agent, representing stars like Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Lana Turner, that his fortunes took a turn. He bred racehorses, owned a manufacturing plant, became a citrus rancher, a commercial fisherman, and an inventor with several patents. He was, in short, a complex character, and his own family never quite figured him out. Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother gives a lively account of this checkered life and career. As Robert Bader recounts, Zeppo’s lifelong addiction to gambling led him into relationships with several notorious organized crime figures. He would ultimately appear before grand juries more frequently than the camera. Socially, he mixed as easily with mobsters like Mickey Cohen as he did with movie stars like Clark Gable. He was certainly the only Marx Brother who saw the corpse of a friend in a newspaper crime scene photo. Comprehensively researched with the full cooperation of Zeppo’s estate—including the first-ever interviews with his two sons—this is a remarkable look at the many lives of Zeppo Marx—even the ones he did his best to keep secret.

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9781493087969

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Reviews

It's not enough that Robert Bader wrote my favorite book about the Marx Brothers (Four of the Three Musketeers.) He's now topped it by writing a revelatory book about Zeppo, the least interesting of the brothers on screen. The short version: Zeppo was by far the most interesting of the brothers off-screen. Who knew? --Scott Eyman, author of Charlie Chaplin vs. America My Uncle Zeppo was a fascinating and complex guy. He lived a very unusual and successful life, but he was difficult to know. I only really got to know him when l read Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother. --Bill Marx, son of Harpo Marx

Author Information

Robert S. Bader is the author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage (2016) and the editor of Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales (1993), an anthology of the comedian’s lost writings. He is also the coauthor of Speaking of Harpo (2022), the autobiography of Harpo Marx's wife Susan Fleming Marx.

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