Customer Reviews

Harpo Speaks!

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

_Harpo Speaks_ is deffinitely one of the best books I have ever read by anyone, anywhere, not just among books about the Marx Brothers, but among books on any subject. Even though it was several hundreds of pages long, I wanted several hundred more pages when I got to the end. It was so totally engrosing. Harpo seems to have an almost inexhaustable supply of hilarious true stories. I wonder why more of these hysterically funny tales and practical jokes were not used in Marx Brothers movies. There are, it must be said, also several serious passages -- some heartbreaking, some suspenseful, some inspirational. There are parts of this book which read like a wonderful manual on how to have a great marriage and adopt and raise four great kids, which is exactly what Harpo and Susan did. Harpo was an extremely interesting person who surrounded himself with many extremely interesting friends. Harp has many lessons to teach on how to get the most out of every moment, and out of life. This book makes you wish you had met Harpo; it makes you wish you had been one of his friends. He shares so much in this book that is personal that reading it makes you feel almost as if you are one of his friends. Rowland Barber helped Harp get his great story across in a fairly orderly manner, but the content of the book is all from Harpo's fascinating mind, big heart, and his numerous, diverse, extaordinary experiences. This book is about Harp's and his brothers' career(s) in show business, but it is about so much more than that; there are amazing true stories about poverty & affluence, tough urban street life, Vaudville, Broadway, Hollywood, international espionage, love, family, friendship, life & death, crime & punishment, failure & success, anti-Semitism, and more. There are also some wonderful photographs.

Autobiographies are usually enjoyable for one of two reasons. The author can possess an engaging style that piques the reader's interest regardless of the material. On the other hand, the author may have lead such an interesting life that the subject matter is fascinating despite their ability to spin a good yarn. Fortunately, in the case of HARPO SPEAKS! both conditions are satisfied, creating a well-written, intriguing look at one of the more interesting characters of the first half of the Twentieth Century.

Harpo Marx was famous for being the silent clown who never uttered a word during any of the dozen or so Marx Brothers movies. However, his story is quite a fascinating one. I'll admit to being slightly surprised at exactly how engaging the prose style of this book was. Having no idea what he sounded like, even in scripted movie conversation, I was curious as to how he'd come across in print. Fortunately, either he or his co-author, journalist Rowland Barber, was quite good at the art of storytelling. The reader really feels close to the action, as though one were really there. It's a simple and straightforward style, but it's one that is quite effective.

As I mentioned, the events of Harpo's life were extraordinary in themselves. Quite literally a rags-to-riches story about a group of vaudeville brothers who made it very big, this book is excellent at reconstructing those early days when they rarely had enough to eat, but always had a laugh and a game of cards to pass the time. The autobiography goes into great detail about his early childhood, from being literally thrown out of school (from a first floor window) and never returning, to every lousy part-time job that he had. The book spends quite a lot of time detailing the various schemes that Harpo and Chico (at that age, they were often mistaken for twins) had to try to make the largest amount of money possible while doing the smallest amount of work. Each method is equally hilarious, as are the attempts by Harpo to spend, or hide the resulting cash before Chico had a chance to "re-invest" it.

Much of the chronicle of his adolescence and early adult life centers on traveling on the road with his brothers and getting booked into a variety of theatres and clubs. Being on the road meant very little time to oneself, so we get a real sense of the relationship that existed between the members of the Marx family. Although this portion of the book is the most heavily involved in his stage performance, a great deal of time is still spent talking about different ways the Marx Brothers found themselves relaxing between shows. That means that there are a lot of anecdotes about card games, but don't worry -- the stories are wonderful.

The sections dealing with his adult life revolve more around his friends than on the work he was doing with his brothers on the silver screen. Fortunately, Harpo was mixing with some fascinating people, and you hardly miss the lack of discussion about his movie career. His descriptions of the time he spent during the '20s make for fascinating reading. Who would have guessed that Harpo Marx, the clown who ran around in a slashed raincoat, was mixing with intellectual heavyweights such as George Bernard Shaw and Alexander Woolcott? Even after the market crash and the end of that decedent decade, there are numerous amusing anecdotes, my favourite being the occasion that Harpo ended up being a spy for the U.S. Government, smuggling secret documents out of the Soviet Union.

The majority of the final few chapters deal with his wife and children. It's quite obvious that he cared deeply for his family, and one gets the impression that talking about them in this way is his equivalent of showing us his cherished family photographs. While this has the tendency to be slightly tedious in places, Harpo's enthusiasm is contagious. It's fascinating to see him learning lessons from his own childhood and from his children.

HARPO SPEAKS! is quite a recommended read for anyone, whether they're a Marx Brothers fan or not. Harpo's adventures make for wildly entertaining reading. Even during his later years of declining health and diminishing energy, Harpo never stops seeming like a kid who never grew up, yet one who was never childish or petty.

This book is a true must-read for anyone, Marxist or not. Full of good humor, incredible experiences, an amazing childhood, and life in vaudeville, its message is one of warmth and hilarity. I first read it at 18 years of age, and still revisit its pages twelve years later. I hope that's always the case, for each time, I find something new.

As you read through this book, you'll find yourself thinking, "There just aren't people like this guy anymore" - Harpo Marx was the cheerful, resourceful product of turn-of-the-century New York, and vaudeville, at that. His childhood of scrapping out a survival of relative destitution (the jobs he took are hilarious, and fascinating, to read about), in a loving, albeit quirky, family couldn't be found in fiction - it's too wacky to have been invented. And his introduction to life on the stage - well, you'll have to read for yourself.

Harpo Marx's life seems never to have had a dull moment - from a hugely successful life on stage and screen, to his intimate friendships with members of the legendary Algonquin Round Table (the croquet fixation among those folks is a book in itself) - it's practically a life worthy of fairytale status. His stories about Alexander Woollcott are absolutely hysterical, and a great treat by themselves. And don't even get me started on the section about Oscar Levant - just thinking about it makes me laugh out loud. Finally, we read about Harpo's marriage to Susan Fleming, and their adoption of five children. The warmth and humanity that were such a huge part of Harpo can be summed up by the reason he chose to adopt five children - so that when he came home every day, there would be a face in each window to greet him. What a great, great man.

My review only skims the surface of this great book's content - it's a fascinating read, and will definitely open your eyes to a new way of seeing the world. It's worth every penny, and chances are you'll want to hold onto your copy for a good, long time. I sure have.

I'm not sure what the ingredients are to this man's alchemy--parts humility, gentleness, astute observation unclogged with snooty education, and complete anarchy, the kind that brings down goverments--but I've never had such an intense, wistful desire to have known somebody in my life. This book gets less than five stars merely because the style of "little Arthur Marx's" collaborator (I'm assuming) can get so old-tyme movie magazine/Hedda Hopper/name-dropper that it's painful.

But, barring the ocassional style snaffu, Harpo's sweet nature comes out almost at every turn. And thrillingly, every name he drops is huge. Kaufmann, Parker, Ruth Gordon, Rachmanninoff, Rimsky-Korsikov, Hearst et Davies, the bizarre and brilliant Oscar Levant...on and on and on. The section on Levant alone would have made a delicious book.

"I got the impression when I was little", writes his son, Bill, "That vaudeville was this marvelous, mythical kingdom where fathers and uncles came from". Harpo and his brothers grew up poor, hungry and Jewish in fin de siècle New York's upper East Side. He writes of his mother's dream for her five boys--the stage, a ticket out of the slums and poverty--and what happened when they finally hit it big after years of dives and buggy flophouse beds. Vaudeville itself is one the main characters of the book.

As is the giant personality of Alexander Woollcott, his closest and oldest friend. If I understand this correctly, Woollcott and Marx and the rest of the Algonquins pranked each other for almost twenty years.
Their gags crossed continents and oceans. Their summer together on the Riviera is one of the most loony periods of his life--flashing George Bernard Shaw, crashing millionairess' cotillions, being seduced by stars into...reading them comics. I swear this is much funnier than I'm telling it, and more impressive. France would never be the same.

Neither, oddly, would Russia, which he visited in the early thirties, just when the starvation, murder and purges were gearing up full blast. In his capacity as "professional listener" (and watcher)--and as a guy that never seems to think much of himself--Harpo talks to and quotes everyone: Jewish stagehands ("At least here there are no pogroms") , theatre promoters, Soviet party big-wigs, spies ("Da. I understand. Is joke...") .

After all the lunacy, his settled married life seems to have been very satisfying. He certainly seems to have been the ideal father to his wife Susan's sensible Mom. Okay, who am I trying to kid? He sounds like the PERFECT father, a goofy Atticus Finch, if you will. No wonder Susan, his wife, tracked him down and finagled an invite to the Goldwyn's to meet him, and hung around for months while he waffled. It's so romantic it will make your toes curl with pleasure.

As Arthur Marx ages, this book becomes increasingly poignant. Where does all that youthful silliness and energy go, as one slows down? If the last few pages, set in a Vegas casino with an old friend, don't make you weep with the recognition of the place in our lives where we accept our limits--then you have a heart of stone. Beautiful.

A simply heartrending Afterword by Harpo's son Bill completes the book. "I miss him," he writes. "Harpo I can see on the late show, along with my crazy uncles. It's Dad that I miss." We do too, Bill.

This is quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. Harpo tells his story with such enthusiasm, it's hard to put down. Whether telling the story of how he (quite literally) got booted out of school in the second grade, how he fell in love with and was pursued by his wife Susan, how a reveiwer put an end to his talking onstage, or his addiction to black jelly beans (!), he never loses his sense of humor.

The book focuses as much (if not more) on his personal life outside of the Marx Brothers circle. Some of the people he became friends with, the places he went, and the things he did are increadible to read about.

This book is beautifully written and makes Harpo even more endearing than he already was in all of the Marx Brothers films. Even if you are not a Harpo fan, you will find something to appreciate in this funny and touching autobiography.

....you'll laugh , you'll cry , you'll throw a Gookie ! Harpo turns out to be everything we'd hoped him to be and more . Though he enjoyed being a beloved mascot to the celebrity intellectuals of 30's NYC , his fame has outlasted them all. The great surprise is finding out he had a hilarious 'verbal' sense of humor , too! My rating: 4 honks and 2 legs up.

This autobiography by one of the all time great comedians from probably the greatest comedy family ever...the Marx Brothers...is one of the sweetest "little" reads you'll ever do..Though hundreds of pages long your eyes will fly over the pages...Harpo via the help of Roland Barber etches out a life that was truly wonderful, humanitarian, and noteworthy of praise whether you're a fan of the Marx Brothers and comedy or not...The chapters go by with the ease and chuckles of one of the Marx Brother's routines...
It is unfortunate that the NY Times revue so blatantly insulted and disrespected the family's true legendary comic writer, Groucho, by calling Harpo's autobiography the best of the Marx Brothers literary offerings...Shame on them...Though this work is definitely one of the most carefree and enjoyable reads you're likely to find in a good long time if you want to really bone up on the written comedic antics, tales, and musings of the Marx Brothers it should be an automatic must for the so inclined reader to head to all of Julius Marx, a.k.a. Groucho's staggering work...His "Letters", and his work done over the years for many national publications like The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's, The New Yorker, and many other submissions and books ( Humoresque comes to mind ) eclipses many an established comedy writer...Groucho's work in my opinion stands shoulder to shoulder with Thurber, Wodehouse, Woody Allen, or you pick 'em.
To get back here to Harpo...Part of the facination in this tome
is that the man behind the clown..."Arthur" Marx...his real name...was never known to have spoken publicly during any of his performances in the movies or on stage...He did speak early in his career with his brothers in the prehistoric vaudeville days but his part of the act soon became the silent clown and joy filled imp that the world all came to know him as...
All the more interesting that we get to see his family life with his brothers and the family he later made with his wife, Susan, up close and in richly described detail...
If you are serious about your comedy this outstanding autobiography will prompt the uninitiated to review the wonderful examples of early twentieth century comedy in any and all of the Marx Brother's existing films...I envy the person who stumbles upon "A Night At The Opera" for the first time...
The Marx Brothers films deserve to be played repeatedly, every week, and everywhere they show old film treasures...The Marx Brothers were instrumental in helping to shape the attacking,ascerbic,wise cracking( and too often over the top and foul mouthed) modern comics that we have today...
A soul could do a lot worse than while away the hours with this stupendous account of a man who was truly a mensch...

I saw my first Marx Brothers film when I was six years old (Duck Soup) and from then on, I was hooked. Groucho was quick, witty, and acerbic, but he didn't draw me right away; Chico was adorable and funny, but he didn't, neither. It was the silent one with the huge eyes, bulb horn, and sweet manner that reeled me in. And it didn't hurt that he played my favorite instrument (discovered when I saw Animal Crackers).

It turns out I was more or less accurate in determining his character. But was he the same off-screen as on? Yep: this book gives that impression. :o)

When I first encountered Harpo Speaks! I knew I'd be in for something interesting when I read (paraphrased from memory), "Some people operate on a conscious and a subconscious. I work on a subconscious and a sub-subconscious.", and "I only have one weakness big enough to write a book about. My weakness is people. Since I never taken the direct route from anywhere to anywhere, I had the opportunity to meet and talk to a lot of people." This book reads like a Who's-Who of the early Twentieth Century, which is nice for whippersnappers like me who were not there.

Harpo as Adolph, son of Minnie. Harpo as brother to Leonard, Julius, Milton, and Herbert. Harpo as husband to Susan and father of Billy, Alex, Minnie, and Jimmy. And finally. Harpo as Harpo. Honk!

You know those movies you see that you go back to, time and time again, because the characters are people you enjoy spending time with so much, you almost wish they were part of your life?

After reading this book, you will find yourself thinking and wishing the same things about Harpo Marx and the amazing people in his life. But the glue, the thing that holds all of those relationships together, is certainly Mr. Marx himself.

He was a man who never lost the innocence and joy of being a child, of enjoying life, of relishing friendships and games and good conversation and the fun of pulling a good prank on someone. Reading "Harpo Speaks!" has made me take stock of my life & how I respond to it, and it has made me strive to be more of the kind of man that Harpo was.

I originally bought the book as a gift for my sister, who plays the harp, and has occasionally been known by the nickname "Harpo" -- but I had to read it first, being a big Marx Brothers fan, and now that I have, it will be hard to part with it.

I agree with almost all the comments made here -- including the fact that if you're looking for a book about the Marx Bros. in their heyday, this isn't it. There are anecdotes about the times before and after the career peak of the brothers, but I'm sure Harpo felt that much of the history from that period was common knowledge, and that his autobiography would be better spent detailing the more personal experiences in his life. I couldn't have asked for a more satisfying portrait of this man.

Harpo Marx was an ordinary man, yes, but also extraordinary in that he exemplified the best of what makes us all human. That "Harpo Speaks!" makes this statement evident, and yet one never senses that Harpo is anything but the absolute picture of humility, only proves the sublime merit of this book.

It is indeed a treasure, and after you have read its contents, you will know that the same is true of its subject. Buy it.

I read Harpo's biography long ago, and recently renewed acquaintance with it after seeing a cable biography of the brothers.

What makes this book so wonderful is 1. a sense that Rowland Barber accurately captured Harpo's "voice" and 2. Harpo's own story, told with gentle humor and no self-pity whatsoever.

And what a story! That someone who was literally expelled from school in second grade (through the window by bullies) could have met so many fascinating people and lived such a wonderful life is amazing. But the nice thing is that you can cheer for him all the way; I'm only sorry I never had a chance to meet Harpo. By all accounts, he was a lovely person with no malice in him at all. I can't remember who this should be attributed to, but it was said of him at his funeral that "he believed the best of everybody until he was proven wrong, and even then, he gave them the benefit of the doubt". That's the man this book reflects.