Harpo Speaks (1961)

 

Though Groucho Marx had a reputation as an extremely well-read individual who spent much of his free time reading, the best book written by a Marx Brother was by his silent brother Harpo. This is one of the very few autobiographies that can truly be called indispensable. Many entertainer autobiographies are either overly self-congratulatory or simply prove that the author is a better entertainer than a writer. Neither is true here. This is a well written book that is addictive to read from start to finish. 

What it is not however is a history of the Marx Brothers movies. The only film Harpo really speaks about is A Night at the Opera (1935) and he only provides basic information that most Marx Brothers fans already know. Instead, he spends much of the book talking about his life outside of his work. The early chapters speaking of his childhood are wonderful. Harpo (with the help of his co-writer Rowland Barber) paints an incredibly vivid picture of this time and place. These chapters are so well done, that any reader can picture the time and place in their heads as if they are watching a movie. Though the rest of the book was also excellent, I was almost sad when Harpo grew up because I didn't want to stop reading about his childhood. 

The later chapters are compelling reading as well and through them we get to truly know and understand who Harpo was as a person. For a man that most of us have never seen outside of the character he played in movies, TV and on stage, this gives us a whole new look at Harpo. He comes off as a lovely person without an ounce of pretention. At the same time, he is not afraid to speak about his own flaws. Yet these flaws and his honesty just endear him even further.

He also spends quite a while telling various anecdotes from his life. As well as painting a great portrait of himself, Harpo also paints a great picture of his various friends and family. Harpo was a rare person to be accepted into both the intelligentsia of his time (despite not considering himself as anywhere near an intellectual) as well as among non-intellectual entertainers and he has wonderful stories to tell about both these groups of people. One of his closest friends was Alexander Woollcott, one of the leading intellectuals of the time, and he paints a very fair, honest and complex picture of the man and this book also provides one of the best looks at Woollcott that I have ever read. 

Harpo does speak in depth about his love of the harp though. Anyone who has watched a Marx Brothers movie can tell that is silly and comedic as Harpo is for most of the runtime of one of these films, he becomes serious when he sits down and plays the harp. Reading this book, it becomes even more obvious the true love Harpo had for this instrument. Though he was a great comedian, the harp was his first love, and he writes about it in this book the same way he would write about a close friend.  

Though this book may be light on information about the Marx Brothers films, it is still a truly wonderful read that I found hard to put down. 

-Michael J. Ruhland