Hello, I Must Be Going: Groucho and His Friends

By Charlotte Chandler

When Groucho Marx was well into his eighties, Charlotte Chandler approached him about writing a profile of him for a magazine. Groucho invited Charlotte to meet and that meeting grew into a friendship that lasted until Groucho's death in August 1977. Groucho was surrounded by a group of friends - some old timers like George Burns and Jack Benny - some younger comedians, like Woody Allen, who revered Groucho. Charlotte was present for most of these meetings and these conversations form the basis of HELLO, I MUST BE GOING. Some are hilarious, some are poignant, all of them are fascinating.

If you ever wondered what it was like to spend some time with Groucho Marx, one of the wittiest men ever, this is your book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Dec 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781471105852

Charlotte Chandler

Charlotte Chandler is the author of several biographies of actors and directors, including Groucho Marx, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, and Mae West, all of whom she interviewed extensively. She is a member of the board of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and lives in New York City.

Reviews for Hello, I Must Be Going

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Usually, on completing a book, I can be definite as to my feelings,'A good read', 'a poor effort'..... This tome is a little more tricky. It sells itself as an autobiography and, in the traditional sense of that word, I would say that it is a failure: Groucho's life is not laid out chronologically; indeed, I am sure that some important aspects are left out all together.What we do get, is a feel for his life through the final years of his life and a real sense of the man.I would criticize the last two hundred, or so, pages which are taken up with a series of verbatim reports of conversations between Groucho and other greats of American comedy. A conversation is just that: it is not the same as the written word. We end up with several re-tellings of the same stories and, more than once, a battle for verbal supremacy between the star and Groucho. This, I feel, needed more strict editing but, despite that niggle, this was a book which I ultimately enjoyed.