Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue: The old country -- The Marxian prehistoric -- The house on 93rd Street -- Uncle Al, Gene Leroy, and Johnnie Morris -- On the road with Master Julius Marx -- The Nightingales, Alma Schang, and the UBO -- Ned Wayburn's Nightingales -- A Nightingale sang in Coney Island -- Four Nightingales and six mascots -- The bumpy road to the big time -- The metamorphosis : the three Marx Bros. & Company in "Fun in high school" -- Pantages, the white rats, and "Peasie Weasie" -- Changing partners : Gordon, Shean, and Lee -- And then there were four -- The four Marx Bros. and Company in Mr. Green's reception -- The sex lives of the Marx Brothers and other catastrophes of 1913 -- Chicago's only lady producer of vaudeville attractions -- Home again and broken hearts -- The bumpier road to Broadway -- Home again . . . and again and again -- The five Marx Brothers and how they became a quartet . . . again -- A show by any other name -- On the mezzanine floor with a smudge of grease paint -- On the balcony, the Mauretania, and Albee's blacklist -- From the ashes to the talkies -- I'll say she is -- The toast of Broadway -- The Cocoanuts -- Talkies, Animal crackers, and the death of vaudeville -- The end of the road -- The last of Minnie and the crash of '29 -- The four Marx Brothers and how they became a trio . . . again -- Epilogue: The end of a dream come true -- Appendix: the Marx Brothers stage chronology (1905-45).