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Straight Lady:
The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont, “The Fifth Marx Brother”
“In the world of comedy, being a ‘Straight man’ isn’t easy. You have to set up the comedian for his next joke and give the proper reactions but being a ‘Straight Woman’ is the toughest job there is. A woman must tower over the comedian in attitude, deflecting the insults, and be his perfect foil. In movie after movie, Margaret Dumont was Goliath to Groucho Marx’s David; imperious, with just the right touch of snobbery for Groucho to deflate, but always standing her ground against his barbs while being wonderfully funny. Groucho actually claimed that Miss Dumont never understood his jokes, thinking it was all nonsense. And those straight-faced, dismissive reactions made her all the funnier. They were the perfect team, and now this book gives this superb comic actress a long over-due tribute to her talents.”
C. Courtney Joyner, Award-winning film historian and screenwriter
