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| Preface | |
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| Prologue: Noxis on the Conoxis | |
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| 'Love Me and the World is Mine' | |
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| Our Father's Kugel | |
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| The Heart and the Harp | |
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| Kidding the Captain: 'Was has Gesachta?'--Uncle Al, the Original Marx Brother | |
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| Horatio Alger and the Tin Can Swinger | |
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| 'Impersonations of the Yiddisher'--from the Whangdoodle Four to Mrs Schang | |
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| The Incubator and the Chicks--from Wayburn's Nightingales to Minnie's Mascots | |
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| The Road from Nagacdoches | |
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| 'Ah Poosh, Ah Poosh, Ah Poosh!' | |
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| Sex, Life and Vaudeville | |
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| Down by Pantages | |
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| 'An Elaborate Disorder of Amateur Antics' | |
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| The Kaiser, Art Fisher and the Rhode Island Reds | |
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| Farewell to the Old Five-and-Dimes... | |
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| The Four Horsemen of the Apoplexy | |
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| There Is No Chapter 13 in This Book | |
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| 'Washington with a Mustache' | |
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| Humor Risks | |
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| Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Men--the Four Horsemen Meet the Round Table | |
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| Vive la France! or Opening Sardines with a Sword | |
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| From Coolidge to Cocoanuts--'Do You Want to be Wage Slaves?' | |
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| The Mystery and Mystique of Daisy Dumont--Staying at a Bum Hotel | |
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| Triumph of the Left-Handed Moths | |
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| The Magician's Grandsons and the Magical Lens | |
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| Prologue Get the Marbles Out of Your Mouth! | |
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| Before Hollywood or 'Why Are You So Concerned with Having Real Backgrounds When One of the Leading Characters Wears an Obviously False Moustache?' | |
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| Stowaways in the Forward Hatch | |
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| The Pleasure Principle and the Poetic Seal | |
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| 'Hey, Where's Your Brother?' | |
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| This Program is Coming to You from the House of David!--the Short and Snappy Life of Waldorf T. Flywheel | |
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| Cracked Ice--Freedonia to Moscow Express | |
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| Make That Three Hard-Boiled Eggs! | |
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| Get Your Tutsi-Frutsi Ice Cream! | |
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| 'Step This Way' or How Long Can These Swans Keep Singing? | |
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| The Vanishing Species | |
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| Custody of the Moustache | |
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| Of Thee I Sing--from 'Dear Mir' to The Almost Last Hurrah... | |
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| Solo Dreams | |
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| 'Is It Sad Or High-Kicking? | |
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| Twilight of the Gags or 'Wife Failed to See Anything Funny in Groucho Jokes' | |
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| What Price Pumpernickel?--The Marxist Manifestos or Beyond the Ghosts | |
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| Coughing in the Night or Lingering Past the Late Show | |
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| Epilogue: The Legacy | |
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| Acknowledgements | |
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| The FBI and the Marx Brothers | |
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| Marx/Schoenberg Family Tree | |
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| Chronology | |
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| Filmography | |
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| Notes on Sources | |
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| Select Bibliography | |
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| Index | |