NEW AND NOTABLE BOOKS NOVEMBER 2024
ZEPPO: THE RELUCTANT MARX BROTHER by Robert S. Bader (Applause) This is a revelatory book, achieved through painstaking research (see: Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by the same author) and the participation of Zeppo Marx’s two sons and other family members and friends who were close to him. Getting close to Zeppo was no easy task, as we quickly learn. The youngest of the celebrated Marx Brothers, he was shoehorned into their vaudeville act against his will, put on salary instead of earning a share of their ever-rising salary and given thankless roles in their first five movies. After deciding to leave the act in 1934 he determined not only to make good but to outdo his siblings in every way—especially when…