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      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      University of California Press, Ltd.

      London, England

      © 2012 by The Regents of the University of California

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Koestenbaum, Wayne.

      The anatomy of Harpo Marx / Wayne Koestenbaum.

      p. cm.

      ISBN 978-0-520-26900-2 (cloth : alk. paper)

      ISBN 978-0-520-26901-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. Marx, Harpo, 1888–1964. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. 3. Comedians—United States—Biography. I. Title.

      PN2287.M54K84 2012

      792.702´8092–dc23

      [B]

      2011024490

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

      Any classification you read provokes a desire in you to put yourself into it somewhere: where is your place? At first you think you have found it; but gradually, like a disintegrating statue or an eroding relief, its shape blurs and fades, or better still, like Harpo Marx losing his artificial beard in the glass of water he is drinking out of, you are no longer classifiable. — ROLAND BARTHES, Roland Barthes

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