Hello, I Must Be Going: Groucho Marx and His Friends

by charlotte-chandler

When Charlotte Chandler called Groucho Marx for an interview, he answered the phone himself. Declining to be interviewed, he invited her over to his house so he could tell her no in person. After talking with her for hours, Groucho asked, "Why aren't you writing?"Hello, I Must Be Going is the story of Groucho and the Marx Brothers, told through Groucho's everyday conversations with Charlotte Chandler and his friends. And what a group of friends they were! Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson, Elliott Gould, Bill Cosby, Marvin Hamlisch, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Sidney Sheldon, and dozens of others walk through the pages of this fascinating book. Anyone interested in Groucho or the Marx Brothers, or who wants to spend a few hours in fabulous company, will find this book irresistible.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Humor, Comedy, Film, Media Tie In, Memoir

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Julio Pino · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's only one way to tell the Groucho Marx story, and that is through jokes, puns, and anecdotes, just like the man himself. Chaplain was the supreme outsider, and Keaton the put-on Everyman, but Groucho was a comedic anarchist, subverting everything, starting with the English language. Charlotte Chandler interviewed Grouch at the height of his popularity with his new-found fans, teen and twenty-somethings not born when Julius, son of Frenchie and Minnie Marx, tore through Hollywood. Harpo did physical comedy and Chico twisted his tongue for laughs. Groucho was supreme in violating sacred spaces---politics, sex, MGM and Paramount, then television. His friends, especially among the younger set, knew they were in the presence of the divine. John Cassavetes: "You are the greatest actor who ever lived". Groucho returned their compliments: "Woody Allen, a close friend, is the only genius in comedy today". Not all of Groucho's stories are of the laughter days. Chico was a compulsive gambler who died bankrupt, and Zeppo hated being the straight man for his brothers. (Gummo, who went from Vaudeville to the garment district to managing his brothers' act probably made more money off the other Marx Brothers than they did.) Do not come here expecting political correctness either. Groucho thinks all women are "dames" and loves to boast to Chandler about how many he and his brothers had on the road, some times all four at once. Get past all that, light up a good cigar, and enjoy the last days of a born raconteur, bon vivant, and curmudgeon.

[Karl H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Groucho] mispronounced a word once, and he got the laugh on it and he never would pronounce it right. It was an unpleasant word, like paraplegic or paralysis. It's a good example of what he would do when a thing was set. Then, with all his delight in improvising and changing, he'd cling to it, because that laugh meant more to him than he knew. -Robert Pirosh, regarding Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx is the focus of Hello, I Must Be Going and what an interesting person he was. A comic legend beloved and honored by so many, and a deeply flawed human being. Hello, I Must be Going reads remarkably like celebrity gossip, which is interesting in one way, since Groucho Marx was an interesting person, but tedious in another for she lacked the judgment to sum up Groucho or the style to make it interesting the whole way through. Mostly she was a tape recorder. Let me give you a feeling for Chandler's style. Names are dropped with alarming frequency. Zingers are reproduced over and over again. Compliments are given. Groucho goes to about 50 awards ceremonies. Everyone fawns over the "super-celebrity." At one point we get a page describing the gifts Groucho got from all his friends at his birthday party. If you ever get the chance to talk to someone in show business, you may realize after a time that most of their gossip and stories are told in the same way as Chandler handles it. Pirosh provides the best look at Groucho's comic method in this whole book, in my opinion, and its buried in the middle of an interview. Chandler conducts many interviews with Groucho, spends a lot of time around Groucho and certainly never says a bad word about Groucho. She faithfully reproduces the comments of friends who do however- and this is where Hello I Must Be Going's value comes from. You can tell she regarded him as a friend, which clouded her judgment. Her conclusion? Groucho the character was one thing and Groucho the man was the other. In her eyes, he was a chivalrous man who highly valued education, work and intellect beneath his stage persona. I came out with a different conclusion.

Certainly Groucho the character was one thing and Groucho the man was the other, but Groucho the character was covering up the deficiencies of Groucho the man. He could be remarkably mean to people. A lot of his friends attested that people would take things from Groucho that would've earned anyone else a punch in the nose- part of that was because he was so adept at making fools of anyone who dared be offended. Anyone who disagreed with him was a target. There's an interview buried in the back about a friend of Groucho's called Max Gordon. They had been friends for about twenty years when Groucho spoke at TS Eliot's funeral and made jokes. He called Groucho up and said he thought the joke was in poor taste. Groucho said it was expected of him. Max said "You don't have to be on ALL the time" which Groucho got deeply offended about. He never heard from Groucho since. His jokes were good, yes, but like many comedians, they were also a way to repel people from uncovering his real emotions. His chivalry was only skin-deep, because he was quite a womanizer. He valued marriage but thought it only natural that the man should stray. The woman, of course, was not permitted to do such a thing. His wives never felt included in his social circle. He would frequently make them the butt of his jokes. I think that he left any feelings he had about them unexpressed. One of them said that if he had only come home and said "I love you" once in awhile they would still be married. It's true that certainly he valued education and the stable marriage of his brother but only because with his 5th grade education and three wives he never had either. He was deeply envious of what they represented- the ultimate expression of the intellect which he was so insecure about, someone who you could trust with your feelings which he never shared, someone who would unreservedly love you- a person he maybe had but could never keep. That need for love is why the iconoclast Groucho needed both approval from audiences and why he so desperately loved all the awards he got. He thought he was better than his audience, but he needed that laugh- even if he had to get it from an unpleasant word. It meant more to him than he knew.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sycophantic. Somehow the author has managed to capture endless anecdotes about the least interesting parts of the man's life.

[Amy Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5. The book is very well researched and I'm inclined to read more of the biographies by Charlotte Chandler. Just be prepared to not like what you read at times. I skipped the sections involving Bill Cosby and Woody Allen as I didn't particularly want to read the words of abusers in the comedy world. While there is a lot on the wit and charm of Groucho and his brothers, there's unsettling details, particularly around their treatment of women. While Groucho seemed quite progressive in a lot of areas such as supporting women's rights to work and having disdain for "foreign accent to make thing funny" I find it very difficult to get past bits such as him and two of his brothers basically tricking a woman into sleeping with all three of them (there is a glaringly obvious term for this nowadays). However, if you're happy to lose an idealised version of the man and want a full on account of his life, then this is for you.

[Terry Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, this was one of those biographies that took months to read ... but the fragmented style (there is no sense of time or linear storytelling on display) and the final third of the book consisting of nothing but individual straight up interviews lent itself to dipping in and out. This is a fascinating book to visit after having read Steve Stolair's Raised Eyebrows (still the definitive book about Groucho's final days) in that it shows sides of Groucho and his "friends" that Stoliar didn't get to document. For example, as a college student and aspiring comedy writer, Steve didn't get to travel around the country as Charlotte Chandler did. I'm not sure of her financial background, but she seemed to jet set with Groucho and Erin Fleming on an ongoing basis for years (was this on Groucho's nickel?). In summation - as biography, well, this is a perfect mess. Then again, perhaps such a "perfect mess" of a tribute to an agent of chaos like Groucho Marx makes perfect sense. The pages and pages of interviews where Chandler spoke with everyone from Zeppo and Gummo to George Burns and George Jessel in relation to their memories of what it was like to live and perform with the most famous of Minnie's boys actually turned out to be my favorite part of the book. Classic anecdotes abound!

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom gave me this book for my birthday. I actually wasn't real clear on who Groucho Marx was before I read this book.

It was a pretty good read. I think the target audience was more my mom's generation than mine though. Apparently, Groucho Marx was a really huge celebrity in the 70s, when the book was orignally pubished. The book kind of assumes that the reader is pretty familiar with the the Marx Brothers' films and generally a lot of what was on television and stuff at the time. It also assumes that the reader is a huge fan of Groucho Marx and wants to read everything that anyone has ever said about him ever. That's not really a weakness in the book though. I would recommend this book to my mom for sure. She would like it. The last chapter is just tons and tons of interviews with all of Grouchos friends. That's where they sort of lost me.

I think I need a book that's more like Groucho Marx for beginners. I think I'll Netflix one of his movies.

[Gobasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably best read by true fans of Groucho and his brothers. The stories can be repetitive, although the author points out this was done intentionally so not to edit any of her conversations with Groucho and his friends. For anyone who wants to know what vaudeville was like and those who are interested in Groucho after his career with his brothers this book will keep you laughing.

[Rozonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lights and shadows of Groucho by an intelligent woman who knew him well.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humungous book. The interviews are endless and littered with lengthy (or curiously brief) show business anecdotes. There are also less interesting anecdotes about golf and restaurant meals. Groucho contributes all the book's personality, and it's abrasive, sexist, oftentimes offensive, and extremely grouchy. Yet extremely funny--even if some of the puns and wordplays are so old-fashioned, they sound like they pre-date Yiddish theater. For those who love old theater stories, this book has a million. Most welcome is the man reminiscing about his brothers, and learning about how hilarious Zeppo was, how generous and wacky Harpo's behavior grew to be as he aged, and there are amusing, though redundant, recollections about Chico "laying entire chorus-lines of girls" and gambling away entire fortunes. Most of the time, Chandler grabs whatever time she can with the gallery of stars and mostly male admirers (Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, Elliot Gould, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby) who show up to interview Groucho. You almost expect her to turn on the tape recorder when the gardener and maids show up. A few domestic outbursts occur as well, with Groucho's soon-to-be controversial partner Erin showing significant temper toward the old man. Overall, you will learn more about the Marx Brothers' movie-making process from his book than others. It doesn't seem likely anything will be unearthed soon that captures the day-to-day making of the classics, or the heavily disputed bombs. Thank God son Billy Marx backs up his dad, Harpo, in agreeing that the Paramount movies were the funniest. Because they ARE, no matter how heralded "Night at the Opera" is. Producer Irving Thalberg may have created the formula to making more popular, commercial Marx Brothers movies, but nothing tops "Duck Soup."

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine sehr gelungene Mischung aus Bio und Interviews. Sie hatte erst das Playboy Interview gemacht, dann in seinem Haushalt gelebt. Nach einer Weile aber doch ein wenig öde, so brillant sind die Konversationen doch nicht, zumal in Übersetzung?
Aber einiges doch komisch. Ein Junge starrt Groucho im Aufzug an. Der starrt zurück. Darauf der Junge: “Keine Angst, ich habe Sie erkannt.”
Ein Kritiker schreibt zu Sidney Sheldons Jeanie, schleckte Idee, schlechte Drehbücher, miese Schauspieler. Darauf schreibt Sheldon dem Kritiker: Wenn ich eines hasse, dann wenn jemand um den heissen Brei herum redet. Gefällt Ihnen nun die Show oder nicht?

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hello, I Must Be Going is chock full of humorous ancedotes about Groucho Marx and his many famous friends. But, it is a bit too chock full. The author deserved a better editor for this book. She clearly had great affection for Groucho. However, she appears to have used every interview conducted with his family and friends, without edits. While the interviews are interesting, they often repeated similar information or the same stories. If you're looking for a biography of Groucho Marx, it's best to look elsewhere. However, the book does offer good insight on Groucho's final years and the relationships that sustained him.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a Marx Brothers’ person, so I don’t go into this as a letdown fan. I was just interested because someone had really raved about it in a magazine I read. So I got a copy. It was okay. It is written from the vantage point of someone hanging out with this uber famous entertainment icon, and that is interesting. But like most men of power from yesteryear, he’s kind of this power wielding funny guy who was a little bit fight tradition and a lot bit skeevy towards women. I guess it was hard not to be a pig back in the day, but I mark this one as another disappointment of a powerful man.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sad, oral biography that begins well and ends well, thanks to the old-timers (George Burns, Jack Benny, and Georgie Jessel) but has a gruesomely long and tedious middle. The dust jacket blurbs are from everybody. Everybody: Zeppo Marx, Bette Davis, Tennessee Williams, Mike Nichols, Bill Cosby, Billy Wilder, Elliot Gould, Sidney Sheldon, Luciano Pavarotti, George Cukor, Woody Allen, and Jack Nicholson. And there are more. And most of them are included in the book’s transcripts. The most telling one, however, is not Woody Allen’s comparison of Chandler to Boswell, but Nicholson’s contribution, “Under those curls, Charlotte Chandler has a tape recorder in her head.” The way you get a bunch of celebrities to praise your work is not to cut anything they say. Since the interviews were all conducted over a relatively compact time in the final years of Groucho’s life and since they don’t seem to get cut at all, they are chock-full of conversational filler and repetitive stories, even repetitive conversations about story repetition. Chandler reassures a distraught Groucho at one point that he’s not repeating the same story over and over again. It just seems that way because he’s telling the same story to different people only she’s with him every time. Even the extended conversations between Groucho and Allen and Cosby are dreary, without content. At the end of his life, Groucho was both too weary of his declining powers and too enamored of his re-discovered fame—honors from Cannes, Oscar, the re-debut of “Animal Crackers,” and his last hurrah, the limited concert tour that began in Iowa and included New York’s Carnegie Hall. When he’s not trotting out the same joke or line (“I gotta go take a leak” occurs three or four times), he’s talking about honors he never cared about previously. The interests his old friends describe him having throughout his life are now down to reruns of his “You Bet Your Life” series, recounting meetings with people who are thrilled to meet him, and the like. No point is served by this crassly relentless, ostensibly respectful over-exposure. The Eskimos of myth treated their elders better. If you’re the Marx Brother fan that I am, go to a Barnes and Noble or Borders with a café, take this off the shelf and read the first 75 or so pages. Then skip to the three interviews involving Burns, Benny and Jessel. You will have mined the book of its treasure and will have missed all the tedium.

[Peter Pactor · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is biographical in nature, it is more than just telling Groucho's life. By the time I finished this book, I felt like I really knew and understood this very funny man. I wish I had known him personally.

Charlotte Chandler did a spectacular job collecting and organizing the material into the book, which is filled with her narration of the story, but also many anecdotes and excerpts from Groucho's and his brothers' performances. There are many stories and anecdotes and conversations with his friends about both well-known personalities and Groucho from vaudeville until Groucho's death in 1977.

There are many stories and comments that appear repetitiously throughout the book, and I was pleased that the author did not not remove them during the editing. The stories were not always told in the same way; especially, when the story was told by different people and even by the same person. I thought also it was a strength to hear that so many of Groucho's friends had the same reflections about Groucho.

I enjoyed the book tremendously. I was a boy when You Bet Your Life was first on tv. I laughed then, and I laugh at the reruns today. I was sad when Groucho died, and I was said when the book talked about his death. It seems that the laughter in the world has diminished.

This book is worth reading.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun reading all about one of my heroes, Groucho Marx. This book focuses mainly on his final years and the company he kept then, but also spends considerable amounts of time with him telling anecdotes about his days as a vaudevillian with his brothers. The second half of the book, while still fun, slows down a bit, as the author lists out EVERYONE she spoke to who was a friend to Groucho, interview by interview. The list of people he considered his friends was impressive, and quite long.

Even so, there are so many excellent one-liners brought by the irreverent master zinger, Groucho Marx, alias Hugo Z. Hackenbush, alias Geoffrey T. Spaulding, etc. But I'm also glad that I knew a fair amount of Marx Brothers history already. The author seems to presume that the reader know lots about them all, and glosses over some details of their lives without explaining the context.

Recommended for all who wish to (or should) know the man behind the iconic nose and glasses.

[Jack Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had avoided this bit of Marxist literature because I felt that it came across in reviews as a poorly put together series of interviews from someone granted access to the day to day life of Groucho but with a focus on the author and was repetitive in the extreme. Both complaints are true, but worth a read for the diehard Groucho fan. There are many interesting stories from contemporaries of Groucho and newer acquaintances that are definitely worth reading and if only it was actually compiled like an actual biography (Some kind of logical sequencing, an index, etc.) it would have made a worthy entry into anyone’s Marx library. But as it is, it becomes more of the book you read after you have run out of the good ones.

[Michael Kocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a mixed ordeal. The book is terribly disorganized with no central narrative or coherence. You get details of Groucho's life but it's in a disjointed non-chronological order. We get a lot of quotes from Groucho firsthand but we can tell this is the old Groucho. Marx Brothers fans will be disappointed to find that this book all but ignores the Erin Fleming ordeal and that Chandler essentially canonizes her. The book also gets to a point where it becomes more about the seventies era celebrities that Erin Fleming surrounded Groucho with to make him look hip.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an informal biography, this one's pretty good. A fascinating insight to the mind of a comedic genius and the world which he both inhabited and created. The only problem is, as one of his friends observed, when you spend a lot of time with Groucho, you begin to talk like him. That can be a bit awkward. Ah well, as he said, "Unborn yesterday, dead tomorrow. Why complain if life be sweet?" I gotta' go watch some movies.

[LeAnn Swieczkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Chandler spent a lot of time with Groucho and Erin (his live-in assistant and friend). She collected stories about the Marx brothers, their films and famous friends. I learned of relationships I didn't know Groucho had. Like his friendship with Elliot Gould and the visit Elliot and Barbra Streisand once made to Groucho's house. I felt like I had a visit with Groucho by reading this book.

[Dkeslin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn about the more personal side of Groucho and his acting career. It is interesting reading about the transition from vaudville to the film world. The second half of the book is intervies with over 20 of Groucho's closest friends. Really gives you a feel for early Hollywood and its personalities.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic bio of a fantastic man! It feels like he's sitting in the chair next to me telling me all of these stories. I can hear his voice and smell the cigar and see his gestures. Love it. So sad it's over.

Edit: I will definitely be reading this again. Cried like a baby at the end when Groucho died. Must read for ANYONE who has even the slightest interest in anything Marx Brothers!

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this better even than his autobiography, which was also a lot of fun. She's an appreciative audience but has just enough distance to avoid being only a cipher for Groucho's considerable (and understandable, though occasionally exhausting) self-regard.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite bio about Groucho. You gotta love Groucho. He's ridiculous and witty and ridiculous.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marx family rose up from poverty to fame and fortune. He speaks about his humble upbringing as a learning experience, never playing the popular victim-card many poor people play.

[Patrick Goodnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read of an old fave

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book desperately needs an editor, but there's so much priceless candid Groucho in here.

[Valerie]

Why did I think this was written by Groucho himself? Perhaps it's because he was quoted so much in the book.

[Lowell Gould · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great tour of old time vaudeville and Groucho Marx's life. If you want a who's who of early 20th century show biz, this is it.

Chandler repeats herself a lot, but it's not to annoying.