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 - Softcover

Brecher, Irving; Rosenfeld, Hank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1934730238 ISBN 13: 9781934730232

Publisher: Ben Yehuda Pr, 2009

Synopsis

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!

About this title

Book Description:

"Irving Brecher never did a damn thing for me. He already committed his crime, by putting Milton in the business." -- Red Buttons

From the Publisher:

Funnyman Irving Brecher wrote gags for Milton Berle, and movies for the Marx Brothers. Now 94 (he'll be 95 in January!), Irv has been coaxed by his co-author into sharing the wit that won him Groucho's friendship.

Irv Brecher is the man Groucho Marx called "The Wicked Wit of the West," and S.J. Perelman considered "one of the three quickest with a quip" he'd ever seen. Irv is the last living Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio figure from the 1940's, where he wrote Meet Me in St. Louis and was nominated for the Academy Award. He wrote seven musicals in all, including "Bye Bye Birdie," and other scripts for Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, and Fred Astaire. He wrote a Thin Man movie starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and two Marx Brothers features, and even "punched up" comedy material for The Wizard of Oz.

What began as Hank's newspaper assignment from the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times on "Golden Age" subjects being archived by Turner for prosperity, became the start of a beautiful relationship . Hank was so struck by Irv's stories that their lunches and talks developed into a six-year friendship.

Irv Brecher is a national treasure.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ben Yehuda Pr
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1934730238
• ISBN 13: 9781934730232
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 332