Anyone who has read this blog regularly knows that I have complained several times in its pages about Facebook. To sum up those complaints, Facebook has made a habit of making changes that its users do not want and then refusing to do away with those changes no matter how loudly its users protest. That having been said, the past few days I have been reminded of some of the positive things about Facebook, things which in the end do outweigh the often distasteful changes the site makes.
Indeed, perhaps the chief advantage of Facebook is that it does allow individuals to stay in touch. This became readily apparent to my co-workers and myself as our office was made redundant. While many of us (my Number Two Best Friend and those who live in the same time as myself) would have no problem staying in touch, there are others who lived elsewhere in which keeping contact would be a problem. Facebook was then offered as a solution. Those of us with Facebook accounts added each other as friends if we had not already done so and many of those who did not have Facebooks then got them. Ultimately Facebook will allow a very closely knit group of former co-workers to stay in touch.
Of course, another advantage, and one which Facebook for some bizarre reason seems to discourage, is meeting new people. Some of my closest friends of recent years I have met through Facebook. Given that they live in such distant places as England, Australia, and New Zealand, it is safe to say that I would not have met them if not for Facebook. These friendships have enriched my life greatly and I value them as much as those I have with people I have met in person. Beyond personal relationships Facebook has also proven to be a very good networking people. Through Facebook I have met people who could potentially be of help in my writing career. Many of my friends are also writers, while others are publishers, and editors.
Beyond creating personal relationships and being a good networking tool, Facebook has given me an opportunity to interact with famous people I would never have dreamed of being able to do so. I have discussed classic films with comic book legend Fred Hembeck and joked around with actress and writer Jewel Shepard. I have become close enough to some comic book professionals that I consider them friends.
Over all, these advantages outweigh the irritation of Facebook making changes that its users do not want. In fact, it is because of these advantages that I often grow so angry with Facebook making changes that reduce the site's usefulness and the user's enjoyment. Facebook is a great tool for staying in touch with old friends and making new ones. Unfortunately, the changes the site often makes detract from the site's usefulness. And I fear that if Facebook continues making changes, its usefulness will ultimately come to and end. Regardless, as Facebook is right now it does have is advantages. At least I know I can stay in touch with my former co-workers. r
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The End of the Job
Tonight saw the last episode of The Office to star Steve Carell. He is leaving the show to pursue other projects. His departure was written into the show, as Michael Scott and his long time love Holly had decided to move to Colorado. Oddly enough, my life reflects that of Michael Scott to a degree. No, I am not engaged, nor am I voluntarily leaving my job. That having been said, my job ends tomorrow at 6:00 PM. The office at which I have worked the past six and a half years is closing, a victim of advances in technology and the still none too healthy economy.
I must say that I do have mixed feelings about the loss of my job. On the one hand, I have always wanted to make a living writing, and I will certainly have the opportunity to try doing so without having to go to another job eight hours a day. We are being given a severance, so I will not be hurting too much economically. On the other hand, I am entering a period of my life in which much is going to be uncertain. A regular pay cheque does offer a certain amount of security, and my benefits included such things as health, dental, and vision insurance. There is a lot I have taken for granted the past many years which I soon will not have.
Sadly, it seems to me that the loss of jobs has rarely been addressed in movies, despite the fact that it has been common in various periods of American and British history. It was not unusual during the Great Depression for films to depict the realities of being out of work. This was even true of fantasy films. In King Kong (1933) Anne Darrow (Fay Wray) was an actress desperately in need of work when she hired on to the expedition of filmmaker Carl Denham (Bruce Cabot). In My Man Godfrey, the homeless Godfrey (William Powell) had worked until the stock market crashed. Unfortunately, once we get past the Great Depression, most films ignore the economic realities of the time.
Indeed, I can only think of a few films after the Great Depression which deal with the subject of losing a job during hard economic times. The films Raising Arizona (1987), Wisdom (1986), and They Live (1988) all touched upon the harsh economic realities of the Eighties, but none of them specifically dealt with the end of jobs. In fact, the only film which comes to my mind that addresses the loss of jobs is the 1996 British film Brassed Off. The film depicts the struggles of a brass band in the village of Grimley (a thinly veiled, fiction version of the actual village of Grimethorpe) following the closure of the mine that employed most of the men there. The various villagers react to their unemployment in various ways, some of them downright tragic.
Given that losing one's job due to the closure of an office or plant is not unusual and certainly has not been unknown the past several years, one would think that more films would touch upon it. I can only guess that perhaps it is a subject that is much too depressing for most film makers to address. Regardless, it is something that many of us will go through, including myself beginning the day after tomorrow.
I must say that I do have mixed feelings about the loss of my job. On the one hand, I have always wanted to make a living writing, and I will certainly have the opportunity to try doing so without having to go to another job eight hours a day. We are being given a severance, so I will not be hurting too much economically. On the other hand, I am entering a period of my life in which much is going to be uncertain. A regular pay cheque does offer a certain amount of security, and my benefits included such things as health, dental, and vision insurance. There is a lot I have taken for granted the past many years which I soon will not have.
Sadly, it seems to me that the loss of jobs has rarely been addressed in movies, despite the fact that it has been common in various periods of American and British history. It was not unusual during the Great Depression for films to depict the realities of being out of work. This was even true of fantasy films. In King Kong (1933) Anne Darrow (Fay Wray) was an actress desperately in need of work when she hired on to the expedition of filmmaker Carl Denham (Bruce Cabot). In My Man Godfrey, the homeless Godfrey (William Powell) had worked until the stock market crashed. Unfortunately, once we get past the Great Depression, most films ignore the economic realities of the time.
Indeed, I can only think of a few films after the Great Depression which deal with the subject of losing a job during hard economic times. The films Raising Arizona (1987), Wisdom (1986), and They Live (1988) all touched upon the harsh economic realities of the Eighties, but none of them specifically dealt with the end of jobs. In fact, the only film which comes to my mind that addresses the loss of jobs is the 1996 British film Brassed Off. The film depicts the struggles of a brass band in the village of Grimley (a thinly veiled, fiction version of the actual village of Grimethorpe) following the closure of the mine that employed most of the men there. The various villagers react to their unemployment in various ways, some of them downright tragic.
Given that losing one's job due to the closure of an office or plant is not unusual and certainly has not been unknown the past several years, one would think that more films would touch upon it. I can only guess that perhaps it is a subject that is much too depressing for most film makers to address. Regardless, it is something that many of us will go through, including myself beginning the day after tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Poly Styrene Passes On
Poly Styrene, founder and leader of legendary punk band X-Ray Spex, passed yesterday, 25 April 2011, at the age of 53. The cause was breast cancer.
Poly Styrene was born Marianne Elliott-Said 3 July 1957 in Bromley, Kent. She recorded her first single, a reggae song titled "Silly Billy," as Mari Elliot, which was released in 1976. It was after she watched The Sex Pistols perform in 1975 that she decided to form X-Ray Spex. She placed an advertisement in the newspaper and thus recruited Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitar, Paul Dean on bass, Paul "B. P." Harding on drums, and Lora Logic (Susan Whitby) on saxophone. While X-Ray Spex would become one of the most respected punk band of the era, the road would not always be smooth for Poly Styrene. While playing in Doncaster she experienced hallucinations. She would return to X-Ray Spex, and the group recorded five singles and one album, Germ Free Adolescents.The band broke up in 1979.
Poly Styrene released a solo album, Translucence, in 1980. In 1986 she released the EP Gods and Goddesses. In 1991 X-Ray Specs reformed to perform at Brixton Academy. The band would reform once more in 1996 and release a second album, Conscious Consumer. X-Ray Spex disbanded, never to reform again. Poly Styerene would release two more albums, Flower Aeroplane (2004) and Generation Indigo (2010).
Neither X-Ray Spex nor Poly Styrene were very prolific in their careers, yet Poly Styrene would leave a mark nonetheless. Poly was a rebel even by punk standards. She was hardly a rock 'n' roll sex symbol, wearing heavy braces and dressing in Day-Glo colours. Indeed, she once swore that if she ever became considered a sex symbol, she would shave her head (and, in fact, she once did). Both with and without X-Ray Specs, her songs were for the most part positive, evincing none of the nihilism typical of the punk movement. What is more, her lyrics were often thought provoking and often political. A postmodern feminist who made her own way, Poly Styrene was unique.
Poly Styrene was born Marianne Elliott-Said 3 July 1957 in Bromley, Kent. She recorded her first single, a reggae song titled "Silly Billy," as Mari Elliot, which was released in 1976. It was after she watched The Sex Pistols perform in 1975 that she decided to form X-Ray Spex. She placed an advertisement in the newspaper and thus recruited Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitar, Paul Dean on bass, Paul "B. P." Harding on drums, and Lora Logic (Susan Whitby) on saxophone. While X-Ray Spex would become one of the most respected punk band of the era, the road would not always be smooth for Poly Styrene. While playing in Doncaster she experienced hallucinations. She would return to X-Ray Spex, and the group recorded five singles and one album, Germ Free Adolescents.The band broke up in 1979.
Poly Styrene released a solo album, Translucence, in 1980. In 1986 she released the EP Gods and Goddesses. In 1991 X-Ray Specs reformed to perform at Brixton Academy. The band would reform once more in 1996 and release a second album, Conscious Consumer. X-Ray Spex disbanded, never to reform again. Poly Styerene would release two more albums, Flower Aeroplane (2004) and Generation Indigo (2010).
Neither X-Ray Spex nor Poly Styrene were very prolific in their careers, yet Poly Styrene would leave a mark nonetheless. Poly was a rebel even by punk standards. She was hardly a rock 'n' roll sex symbol, wearing heavy braces and dressing in Day-Glo colours. Indeed, she once swore that if she ever became considered a sex symbol, she would shave her head (and, in fact, she once did). Both with and without X-Ray Specs, her songs were for the most part positive, evincing none of the nihilism typical of the punk movement. What is more, her lyrics were often thought provoking and often political. A postmodern feminist who made her own way, Poly Styrene was unique.
Friday, April 22, 2011
TV Writer Madelyn Pugh Passes On
Madelyn Pugh, who wrote on some of the best episodes of I Love Lucy and other sitcoms, passed on 20 April 2011 at the age of 90.
Madelyn Pugh was born on 15 March 1921 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended high school with Kurt Vonnegut and wrote for the school newspaper. In 1942 she graduated from the University of Indiana with a degree in Journalism. She began her professional writing career with the radio station WIRE in Indianapolis in 1943. She moved onto the CBS network, where she met her writing partner Bob Carroll Jr. Together they wrote for the radio sitcom My Favourite Husband starring Lucille Ball. When Lucille Ball moved to television with I Love Lucy with husband Desi Arnaz, she took Miss Pugh and Mr. Carroll with her. Together they conceived some of the best remembered moments in the history of episodic television. It was Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. who conceived the episode in which Lucy does a commercial for Vitametavegmin, proceeding to get more and more drunk on the alcohol laden elixir with each take. In another memorable episode by Miss Pugh and Mr. Carroll and others ont the I Love Lucy writing staff, Lucy tries to get Superman (played by George Reeves himself) to appear at Little Ricky's birthday party, masquerading as the Man of Steel himself when she fears he won't show. In all Miss Pugh worked on 174 episodes of I Love Lucy.
Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. would go onto work on the series of specials known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and later on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, The Tom Ewell Show, Vacation Playhouse, and The Carol Channing Show. It was natural that the writing team should work on The Lucy Show when it began in 1962 and later on Here's Lucy. They also worked extensively on the Desilu Sixties sitcom The -Mothers-in-Law, an attempt to revive the madcap comedy of I Love Lucy. They wrote the story for the 1968 movie Yours, Mine, and Ours. They would go onto write for Love American Style, The Paul Lynde Show, Sanford and Son. Alice, and Life with Lucy.
There can be no doubt that Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. masters of writing physical comedy. In the course of writing I Love Lucy they wrote some of the most extreme bits of physical comedy in the history of television, from being overwhelmed by the fast pace of a conveyor belt at a chocolate factory to titanic loaves of bread emerging from the oven. Mr. Carroll and Miss Pugh often tested the stunts for the show, with Miss Pugh most often being the guinea pig. They were comedy writers who were rarely matched since and never has anyone done better than they have. They were undisputed masters when it came to physical comedy.
Madelyn Pugh was born on 15 March 1921 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended high school with Kurt Vonnegut and wrote for the school newspaper. In 1942 she graduated from the University of Indiana with a degree in Journalism. She began her professional writing career with the radio station WIRE in Indianapolis in 1943. She moved onto the CBS network, where she met her writing partner Bob Carroll Jr. Together they wrote for the radio sitcom My Favourite Husband starring Lucille Ball. When Lucille Ball moved to television with I Love Lucy with husband Desi Arnaz, she took Miss Pugh and Mr. Carroll with her. Together they conceived some of the best remembered moments in the history of episodic television. It was Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. who conceived the episode in which Lucy does a commercial for Vitametavegmin, proceeding to get more and more drunk on the alcohol laden elixir with each take. In another memorable episode by Miss Pugh and Mr. Carroll and others ont the I Love Lucy writing staff, Lucy tries to get Superman (played by George Reeves himself) to appear at Little Ricky's birthday party, masquerading as the Man of Steel himself when she fears he won't show. In all Miss Pugh worked on 174 episodes of I Love Lucy.
Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. would go onto work on the series of specials known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and later on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, The Tom Ewell Show, Vacation Playhouse, and The Carol Channing Show. It was natural that the writing team should work on The Lucy Show when it began in 1962 and later on Here's Lucy. They also worked extensively on the Desilu Sixties sitcom The -Mothers-in-Law, an attempt to revive the madcap comedy of I Love Lucy. They wrote the story for the 1968 movie Yours, Mine, and Ours. They would go onto write for Love American Style, The Paul Lynde Show, Sanford and Son. Alice, and Life with Lucy.
There can be no doubt that Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. masters of writing physical comedy. In the course of writing I Love Lucy they wrote some of the most extreme bits of physical comedy in the history of television, from being overwhelmed by the fast pace of a conveyor belt at a chocolate factory to titanic loaves of bread emerging from the oven. Mr. Carroll and Miss Pugh often tested the stunts for the show, with Miss Pugh most often being the guinea pig. They were comedy writers who were rarely matched since and never has anyone done better than they have. They were undisputed masters when it came to physical comedy.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Every Movie is NOT Like Funny Girl
Those of you who subscribe to Netflix are no doubt familiar with the feature whereby when you search for a specific title, Netflix also provides you with similar titles also available on the service. It was last summer I decided to watch To Sir With Love (1967). When I conducted my search I noticed that Netflix recommended Funny Girl (1968) as one of the titles similar to To Sir With Love. How Funny Girl is similar to To Sir With Love I do not know. To Sir With Love is a drama about a teacher in an urban school in London. Funny Girl is a musical comedy starring Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice (about as great a bit of miscasting as there has ever been, in my humble opinion). At the time I dismissed it as an error and proceeded to watch To Sir With Love.
It was only a few days later that I was searching for Sixties movies featuring British bands of the era. Quite naturally, I typed in A Hard Day's Night (1964), counting on NetFlix to recommend similar movies to me and so lead me to such films as Ferry Cross the Mersey (1964) and The Ghost Goes Gear (1966). It recommended neither. It did not even recommend Catch Us If You Can (1965), the Dave Clark 5 movie and the only one to match The Beatles' films in quality. Instead Netflix claims that A Hard Day's Night is similar to (yes, that's right) Funny Girl. How A Hard Day's Night is similar to Funny Girl I do not know. A Hard Day's Night is a nearly plotless rock musical starring The Beatles while Funny Girl is a much more traditional musical starring a miscast Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice. A search for Help! (1965) also yielded Funny Girl as a result. Needless to say Help! is about as similar to Funny Girl as A Hard Day's Night is.
It was then that I realised that this could be a recurring flaw in Netflix's similar movie feature. I then searched for such films as The Knack...and How to Get It (1965), The President's Analyst (1967), Pillow Talk (1959), My Fair Lady (1964), and various other films of the era. In nearly every case Funny Girl appeared among the "similar" films. I must confess I was very much relieved when I searched for Blowup (1967) and did not find Funny Girl listed as being similar to it!
I had not thought much of this anomaly, whereby Netflix apparently thinks a diverse array of movies are all similar to Funny Girl of late, until a few days ago when I searched for Jesus Christ Superstar (1974). What was the first movie Netflix listed as similar? That's right. Funny Girl. Now if anything Jesus Christ Superstar is even less similar to Funny Girl than A Hard Day's Night.After all, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera based on the life of Jesus, ending with his crucifixion. Funny Girl is, well, about Fanny Brice (or, more accurately, Barbara Streisand masquerading as Fanny Brice).
Now I am not sure why Netflix insists that Funny Girl is similar to such varied films as A Hard Day's Night, The President's Analyst, My Fair Lady, and Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, it is dissimilar to all of the films I have listed, except possibly My Fair Lady, which it at lest resembles insofar as both are traditional musicals. At any rate it makes no sense to me that someone looking for A Hard Day's Night and especially someone looking for dramas such as To Sir With Love would be interested in Funny Girl. Hell, I love To Sir With Love, The Beatles' movies, The Presiden'ts Analyst, Pillow Talk, The Knack...and How to Get It, and Jesus Christ Superstar, but I do not particularly care for Funny Girl. In fact, the kindest thing I think that can be said about it is that it is not Hello Dolly (1968).
At any rate, I do hope that Netflix fixes this flaw in their system so that Funny Girl only appears in the similar movies list when searches are conducted for movies to which it is truly similar. That means it should not show up when one is searching for Planet of the Apes (1967) , Our Man Flint (1965), Send Me No Flowers (1964), or Peeping Tom (1960). If a movie is not a traditional musical, a period piece, and a comedy, chances are it is not similar to Funny Girl.
It was only a few days later that I was searching for Sixties movies featuring British bands of the era. Quite naturally, I typed in A Hard Day's Night (1964), counting on NetFlix to recommend similar movies to me and so lead me to such films as Ferry Cross the Mersey (1964) and The Ghost Goes Gear (1966). It recommended neither. It did not even recommend Catch Us If You Can (1965), the Dave Clark 5 movie and the only one to match The Beatles' films in quality. Instead Netflix claims that A Hard Day's Night is similar to (yes, that's right) Funny Girl. How A Hard Day's Night is similar to Funny Girl I do not know. A Hard Day's Night is a nearly plotless rock musical starring The Beatles while Funny Girl is a much more traditional musical starring a miscast Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice. A search for Help! (1965) also yielded Funny Girl as a result. Needless to say Help! is about as similar to Funny Girl as A Hard Day's Night is.
It was then that I realised that this could be a recurring flaw in Netflix's similar movie feature. I then searched for such films as The Knack...and How to Get It (1965), The President's Analyst (1967), Pillow Talk (1959), My Fair Lady (1964), and various other films of the era. In nearly every case Funny Girl appeared among the "similar" films. I must confess I was very much relieved when I searched for Blowup (1967) and did not find Funny Girl listed as being similar to it!
I had not thought much of this anomaly, whereby Netflix apparently thinks a diverse array of movies are all similar to Funny Girl of late, until a few days ago when I searched for Jesus Christ Superstar (1974). What was the first movie Netflix listed as similar? That's right. Funny Girl. Now if anything Jesus Christ Superstar is even less similar to Funny Girl than A Hard Day's Night.After all, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera based on the life of Jesus, ending with his crucifixion. Funny Girl is, well, about Fanny Brice (or, more accurately, Barbara Streisand masquerading as Fanny Brice).
Now I am not sure why Netflix insists that Funny Girl is similar to such varied films as A Hard Day's Night, The President's Analyst, My Fair Lady, and Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, it is dissimilar to all of the films I have listed, except possibly My Fair Lady, which it at lest resembles insofar as both are traditional musicals. At any rate it makes no sense to me that someone looking for A Hard Day's Night and especially someone looking for dramas such as To Sir With Love would be interested in Funny Girl. Hell, I love To Sir With Love, The Beatles' movies, The Presiden'ts Analyst, Pillow Talk, The Knack...and How to Get It, and Jesus Christ Superstar, but I do not particularly care for Funny Girl. In fact, the kindest thing I think that can be said about it is that it is not Hello Dolly (1968).
At any rate, I do hope that Netflix fixes this flaw in their system so that Funny Girl only appears in the similar movies list when searches are conducted for movies to which it is truly similar. That means it should not show up when one is searching for Planet of the Apes (1967) , Our Man Flint (1965), Send Me No Flowers (1964), or Peeping Tom (1960). If a movie is not a traditional musical, a period piece, and a comedy, chances are it is not similar to Funny Girl.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Late Great Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen was born on 1 February 1948 in Liverpool. She attended Sunday School in Penny Lane. She attended dramas school, then joined the Liverpool Playhouse, working her way up from stagehand to playing roles on stage. She travelled a good deal for repertory, playing everywhere from Scarborough to London.
Miss Sladen made her film debut in an uncredited role in Ferry Across the Mersey (1965). She made her television debut in an episode of ITV Playhouse in 1968. The next few years she guest starred on such shows as Coronation Street, Doomwatch, and Z-Cars. It was in 1974 that she was cast as Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who opposite the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee. Prior to Sarah Jane, The Doctor's female companions would simply scream in abject horror at Daleks, Cybermen, or whatever other extraterrestrial threat they encountered. This was not the case with Sarah Jane Smith, a strong willed reporter who was nearly every bit The Doctor's equal. In the end Elisabeth Sladen would remain on Doctor Who for three and a half years, serving with the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, as well.
Following her time on Dr. Who, Miss Sladen would guest star on Send in the Girls, the Doctor Who episode "The Five Doctors (in 1980)," In Loving Memory, Play For Today, Dempsey and Makepiece, The Bill, and Men of the World. She appeared in the failed Dr. Who pilot K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend in 1981. She was a regular on the series Take My Wife and Peak Practice.
It was in 2006 that Elisabeth Sladen returned to Doctor Who as Sarah Jane Smith, guest starring opposite David Tenant as The Doctor. She would return as Sarah Jane to the series four more times, the last being in 2010. Her popularity was great enough that she became the first of any of The Doctor's companions to receive her own series, The Sarah Jane Adventures which ran from 2007 to 2010.
Short of Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, I rather suspect that more little British boys had crushes on Elisaeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith than any other female British television character. There was good reason for this. Unlike The Doctor's previous companions, Sarah Jane was an independent, strong willed woman who could think for herself. She was not content to follow The Doctor's orders and she was quite capable on her own. This was greatly helped by Elisabeth Sladen's talent, who brought to the role a depth never before seen in The Doctor's previous companions. In the end it would make Sarah Jane Smith the best loved of The Doctor's companions. She appeared with more incarnations of The Doctor than any other companion (six in total) and was the only companion to received her own series. In The Sarah Jane Adventures she was the central hero, and fans loved her even more for it. There can be no doubt that The Doctor will have more companions, but none will ever be as loved as Sarah Jane. And no actress will play a companion so capably as Elisabeth Sladen did.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Arthur Marx R.I.P.
Author and comedy writer Arthur Marx passed on 14 April 2011 at the age of 89.
Arthur Marx was born on 21 July 1921, the son of famed comic actor Groucho Marx and his wife Ruth Johnson. Her early years were often spent on the road with his father and his uncles, the famed Marx Brothers. Once the Marx Brothers began making movies, Groucho and his family would settle in Los Angeles. As the son of one of the most comedians of all time, Mr. Marx grew up among celebrities, from actors to directors.
Oddly enough given his origins, Arthur Marx would not first find fame in the entertainment field. Instead he would become famous initially for his skill at tennis. Indeed, he achieved national ranking while he was still in high school. At age 18, while at the University of Southern California, Mr. Marx won the National Freshman Intercollegiate Tennis title at Montclair, New Jersey. During World War II he served in the Coast Guard in the Philippines.
Following World War II Arthur Marx took up writing. He worked as an advertising copywriter, as well as a gag writer for Milton Berle. His first screenplay would be for the film Winter Wonderland in 1947. Over the next several years he would write screenplays for such films as Blondie in the Dough (1947), Gypsy Holiday (1948), Reducing (1952) , and Do Someone A Favour (1954). In 1951 his first book was published, The Ordeal of Willie Brown.
Arthur Marx would write a few more movies, including A Global Affair (1964), I'll Take Sweden (1965), Cancel My Reservation (1972), and Groucho (1982). He would write plays for Broadway, including The Impossible Years (1965), Minnie's Boys (1970),and Groucho: A Life in Revue (1986). He would write extensively for television, beginning with an episode of G.E. Theatre in 1960. Over the years he would write for such series as Dennis the Menace, McHale's Navy, Petticoat Junction, The Mothers-in-Law, Love American Style, All in the Family, and Alice.
It would be for his books that Arthur Marx would perhaps be best known. In all Mr. Marx wrote twelve books, many of them biographies such as Goldwyn: A Biography of the Man Behind the Myth (1976), Red Skelton (1979), The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney (1988), and The Secret Life of Bob Hope (1993). He wrote several books regarding his relationship with his famous father, including Life with Groucho (1954), Son of Groucho (1972), and Arthur Marx's Groucho: A Photographic Journey (2001). While Mr. Marx's books were not always free of bias (this was perhaps particularly true of The Secret Life of Bob Hope), they were always well written and meticulously researched. The reader was guaranteed that nearly everything in a book by Arthur Marx was documented.
Arthur Marx was born on 21 July 1921, the son of famed comic actor Groucho Marx and his wife Ruth Johnson. Her early years were often spent on the road with his father and his uncles, the famed Marx Brothers. Once the Marx Brothers began making movies, Groucho and his family would settle in Los Angeles. As the son of one of the most comedians of all time, Mr. Marx grew up among celebrities, from actors to directors.
Oddly enough given his origins, Arthur Marx would not first find fame in the entertainment field. Instead he would become famous initially for his skill at tennis. Indeed, he achieved national ranking while he was still in high school. At age 18, while at the University of Southern California, Mr. Marx won the National Freshman Intercollegiate Tennis title at Montclair, New Jersey. During World War II he served in the Coast Guard in the Philippines.
Following World War II Arthur Marx took up writing. He worked as an advertising copywriter, as well as a gag writer for Milton Berle. His first screenplay would be for the film Winter Wonderland in 1947. Over the next several years he would write screenplays for such films as Blondie in the Dough (1947), Gypsy Holiday (1948), Reducing (1952) , and Do Someone A Favour (1954). In 1951 his first book was published, The Ordeal of Willie Brown.
Arthur Marx would write a few more movies, including A Global Affair (1964), I'll Take Sweden (1965), Cancel My Reservation (1972), and Groucho (1982). He would write plays for Broadway, including The Impossible Years (1965), Minnie's Boys (1970),and Groucho: A Life in Revue (1986). He would write extensively for television, beginning with an episode of G.E. Theatre in 1960. Over the years he would write for such series as Dennis the Menace, McHale's Navy, Petticoat Junction, The Mothers-in-Law, Love American Style, All in the Family, and Alice.
It would be for his books that Arthur Marx would perhaps be best known. In all Mr. Marx wrote twelve books, many of them biographies such as Goldwyn: A Biography of the Man Behind the Myth (1976), Red Skelton (1979), The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney (1988), and The Secret Life of Bob Hope (1993). He wrote several books regarding his relationship with his famous father, including Life with Groucho (1954), Son of Groucho (1972), and Arthur Marx's Groucho: A Photographic Journey (2001). While Mr. Marx's books were not always free of bias (this was perhaps particularly true of The Secret Life of Bob Hope), they were always well written and meticulously researched. The reader was guaranteed that nearly everything in a book by Arthur Marx was documented.
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