!±8± The Wicked Wit of the West: The Last Great Golden Age Screenwriter Shares the Hilarity and Heartaches of Working With Groucho, Garland, Gleason, Burns, Berle, Benny, and many more
Who is this Irving Brecher? What was it like to be the only man ever to write two Marx Brothers movies by himself? To be the last of the great MGM roundtable of screenwriters? To be the famous unknown who wrote vaudeville and radio shows for Milton Berle, punched upThe Wizard of Oz, and created "The Life of Riley"-on radio, in the movies, and as the very first television sitcom! Once Hank met Irv, questions like these dogged him. And Hank dogged Irv. He couldn't get enough of Irv's rapid-fire patter and acid wit. This book is the product of 6 years of Hank's tagging along with Irv, splitting pastrami sandwiches, and hanging on Irv's every word. Irv convinced Judy Garland to star in Meet Me in St. Louis, wrote Bye Bye Birdie, and gave Jackie Gleason his first TV series and a new set of teeth. The "Wicked Wit of the West" (as Groucho dubbed him) tells juicy tales about Hollywood legends John Wayne, L.B. Mayer, Jack Benny, George Burns, Ann-Margret, Ernie Kovacs, Cleo the bassett hound, and of course, Groucho, Harpo and Chico. At 94, Irving Brecher finally gets the last word!
