MY LIFE WITH GROUCHO by Arthur...

MY LIFE WITH GROUCHO by Arthur Marx (Barricade Books: $12.95, illustrated). This controversial biography by the great comedian’s son led Groucho to remark he had “sired a spy.” Drawing on family stories and firsthand observations, Marx offers an affectionate, bittersweet memoir filled with hilarious Groucho stories and insults. A man approached him in Nate ‘n Al’s and said his wife was dying to be insulted by him; Groucho replied, “I’m surprised at you, sir. With a wife who looks like that you ought to be able to think of your own insults!” But beneath the acerbic wit was a worrisome, insecure and rather misanthropic man who was devoted to his family but didn’t get along with any of his three wives. Marx’s engaging book darkens when he recounts the bitter controversy that raged over the actions of Erin Fleming, Groucho’s secretary/companion, whom he accuses of unduly influencing and even abusing the aged comic. In a new epilogue, Marx notes that his family finally won the legal battles with Fleming in 1987--10 years after Groucho’s death. It’s a grim coda to a career that produced so much laughter.