Arthur Marx

Arthur Julius Marx (born July 21, 1921 in New York , † April 14, 2011 in Los Angeles ) was an American screenwriter and writer .

Life

Arthur Marx was born in Manhattan in 1921 as the son of comedian Groucho Marx and his first wife Ruth Johnson . After his father and uncles made their acting breakthrough in the early 1930s, the family moved to Los Angeles.

In his youth in the 1930s and early 1940s, Marx was a talented tennis player and was a member of the Junior Davis Cup team in 1939 , whose members included Jack Kramer , Ted Schroeder and Budge Patty . Marx studied at the University of Southern California for a year before joining the United States Coast Guard in 1942 and stationed in the Philippines during World War II . After returning to the United States, he began his Hollywood career .

First he worked for MGM as a proofreader. He later became a screenwriter and was involved in several of Pete Smith's short films and in films in the Blondie film series such as Blondie in the Dough (1947). While continuing to write for film and television, Marx published his first book, The Ordeal of Willie Brown, in 1951 , in which he processed his experience as a tennis player. In 1954 he published Life With Groucho, the first of a series of books in which he dealt with his father and their relationship with one another.

In the early 1960s, he began working with Robert Fisher , who had already worked for his father. Over the next 30 years, they wrote scripts for numerous films and sitcoms . Her work in the 1960s includes several films with Bob Hope such as Eight on the Lam, A Global Affair , I'll Take Sweden and Cancel My Reservation, episodes for sitcoms such as McHale's Navy , My Three Sons , Petticoat Junction and The Mothers -in-law . The sitcom Mickey , with Mickey Rooney in the lead role, goes back to her idea. In 1965 they wrote the Broadway play The Impossible Years , which was later made into a film by David Niven under the title Everything that is forbidden . Another Broadway play she penned is Minnie's Boys, about Arthur Marx's grandmother . In the 1970s, Marx and Fisher wrote episodes for All in the Family , The Jeffersons , Maude and Love, American Style . In 1977 the two worked on the production staff of the series Alice and participated in more than 40 episodes.

In addition to his work for film and television, Marx published a number of biographies of famous Hollywood actors, none of which were authorized by them. His 1974 book about Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis , Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself), was filmed in 2002 as Martin and Lewis .

In 1986, Marx and Fisher turned to the work of the Marx Brothers and wrote the Broadway play Groucho: A Life in Revue, which Marx also directed. The piece won two New York Outer Critics Circle Awards, including in the best play category . After performing in London's West End , it was nominated for three Laurence Olivier Awards .

Arthur Marx was married twice, his first marriage to Irene Kahn, the daughter of the songwriter Gus Kahn . He left two sons and a stepdaughter.

Works

Books

• The Ordeal of Willie Brown (1951)
• Life With Groucho (1954)
• Not as a Crocodile (1958)
• Goldwyn: The Man Behind the Myth
• Red Skelton
• The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney
• The Secret Life of Bob Hope
• Son of Groucho (1972)
• Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself) (1974)
• My Life With Groucho (1992)
• Arthur Marx's Groucho: A Photographic Journey (2003)

Musicals

• The Impossible Years (1965, with Robert Fisher)
• Minnie's Boys (1970, with Robert Fisher)
• Groucho: A Life in Revue (1986, with Robert Fisher)

literature

• Michelle Vogel: Children of Hollywood: accounts of growing up as the sons and daughters of stars (2005)

Web links

• Arthur Marx, son of Groucho, dies April 14, 2011, obituary on variety.com
• Arthur Marx, Who Wrote About Groucho, Dies at 89 , April 14, 2011, The New York Times
• Arthur Marx dies at 89; writer son of Groucho , April 15, 2011, Los Angeles Times
• Arthur Marx in the Internet Movie Database (English)