Strange but true: this is the first comprehensive and fully researched biography of all five Marx Brothers -- Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo. It features the first authentic account of their origins, their comedic roots, and their twenty-four years on stage prior to their first movie, The Cocoanuts, in 1929. Monkey Business brings to life the vanished world of America's wild and boisterous variety circuits, leading to the Marx Brothers' Broadway successes and their alliance with New York's theatrical lions, George S. Kaufman and the Algonquin Round Table.

Louvish showcases well-minted Marxian dialogue and much madness and mayhem in this tale of the Brothers' Hollywood battles, their films, their loves and marriages, and the story of the forgotten brother Gummo, who never appeared on screen. Salvador Dali's "missing" script for Harpo, the true identity of the longsuffering Margaret Dumont, and the politics of "Marxism a la Groucho" all spice up this definitive biography of these beloved brothers.