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The Marx Brothers are widely regarded as the 20th century's greatest comedy team, a tight knit performing unit who reached their fans through a dozen films, three Broadway shows, a radio program, and a top-flight vaudeville act, as well the brothers' own separate accomplishments as book authors, recording artists, television personalities, and entrepreneurs. Yet while it's tempting to think so, the world's most popular comedy act didn't emerge in a vacuum. Groucho's brand of verbal nonsense humor, Harpo's silent clowning, and Chico's "Italian" shtick were all highly popular and familiar vaudeville specialties in their day. What made the Marx Brothers original was that they packed it all into the same explosive, anarchistic act. And they were so funny, of course.
Writer/ performer Trav S.D. (No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous) now turns his attention to the greatest of all stage and screen comedy teams in The Marx Brothers Miscellany. Adapted from a series of public lectures and over 150 articles originally published on the popular website Travalanche, The Marx Brothers Miscellany mimics its unruly subject with an irreverent style and crazy-quilt structure combining cultural history, biography, criticism, and more than a few surprises. A one of a kind ex-TRAV-aganza, The Marx Brothers Miscellany also features art by Noah Diamond and a foreword by Austin Pendleton (Skidoo, What's Up Doc? Finding Nemo).
Bette Midler called No Applause "the best book about the people who worked in vaudeville" in People magazine. Trav S.D.'s other books have included Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube (2013) and Rose's Royal Midgets and Other Little People of Vaudeville (2020).
