Straight Lady: The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont, "The Fifth Marx Brother"
  • Straight Lady: The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont, "The Fifth Marx Brother"
  • Straight Lady: The Life and Times of Margaret Dumont, "The Fifth Marx Brother"

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lyons Press (October 1, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1493060406
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1493060405
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.29 x 0.7 x 10.12 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #340,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    • #259 in Acting & Auditioning
    • #400 in Comedy (Books)
    • #3,248 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 28 ratings

From the Publisher

comedy, comedy films, comedy stars, playing it straight, comedic foils, movie history

Who was Margaret Dumont?

When death took comedy star Margaret Dumont in March 1965, no doubt many had to be reminded just who she had been. Millions of Marx Brothers’ fans around the world would recognize her immediately as Groucho’s long-suffering foil in many of their films. For more than four decades, the statuesque funny lady played the role of an austere dowager and grande dame of the social set on stage and screen. Margaret starred opposite such comedic geniuses as W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Jack Benny, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but she was known best for the inspired pairing with Groucho Marx.

famous actresses, little known actresses, movie legends, cinema history

Whether she was playing the widow of the president of Freedonia, a wealthy hypochondriac residing at the Standish Sanitarium, or a respectable Manhattan hostess, Margaret suffered each insult or physical attack with a classic pledge that made her the greatest grande dame in the history of filmed comedy. Little has been written about Margaret Dumont’s career and how the New York native, the daughter of a music teacher and a ship’s captain, became a motion picture legend.

early Hollywood stars, Hollywood film stars, Hollywood history

In 1925, Margaret appeared with the Marx Brothers in their first stage show together, entitled The Cocoanuts. She later traveled to Hollywood to appear in seven other Marx Brothers’ films, including At the Circus and The Big Store. Her performances in the Marx Brothers’ films brought fame, the opportunity to star in dramas and westerns, and recognition from her peers as being exceptional in her field of endeavor. Margaret Dumont’s journey from illegitimate little girl with a big voice to famous straight lady in countless comedies is filled with pratfalls, heartache, missed cues, and tenacity.

early television stars, pioneering actresses, movie buff gifts, movie lover gifts

On the big screen, she worked with Academy Award–winning actors Claire Trevor, Broderick Crawford, and Shirley MacLaine. On television, she appeared with such stars as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis. No Broadway musical written by theatrical royalty nor movie made by Oscar-winning talent in which Margaret had a part ever made the lasting impression with the public as her work with Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. She never got the laughs the brothers did, but without her the laughs would have been fewer in number. The boys were the clowns, the punch line tellers, and she was the straight lady who had the indispensable job of setting up the joke.

movie heroines, comedy side characters, movie making history, marx brothers movies

Almost alone among the wooden heroines and third-rate Bit players who peopled the Marx Brothers’ films with victims, she radiated a memorable vulnerability and eternally renewable faith in the chance of sanity in a lunatic world. In doing so she shared their immortality.


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