Miriam Marx Allen (May 19, 1927 – June 29, 2017) was an American author and the daughter of
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...
and his first wife, Ruth Johnson.
Marx was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
on May 19, 1927.
She studied for a time at
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
in Vermont.
But after being expelled for alcohol-related infractions three months before graduating, she worked as a writer at ''
Mademoiselle Magazine''.
She later worked on her father's quiz show, ''
You Bet Your Life
''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show deb ...
''.
She also appeared in several Marx Brothers documentaries.
In her 1992 book, ''Love Groucho: Letters from Groucho Marx to His Daughter Miriam'', she detailed her difficult relationship with Groucho, her battle against addictive substances, and her eventual reconciliation with her father.
She died June 29, 2017 in Capistrano Beach, California at the age of 90.
Her elder brother,
Arthur Marx
Arthur Julius Marx (July 21, 1921April 14, 2011) was an American writer, the son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson.
Marx spent his early years accompanying his father around vaudeville circuits in the United States a ...
, died in 2011.
Her marriage to Gorden Allen, whom she met at
Menninger Clinic
The Menninger Foundation was founded in 1919 by the Menninger family in Topeka, Kansas. The Menninger Foundation, known locally as Menninger's, consists of a clinic, a sanatorium, and a school of psychiatry, all of which bear the Menninger name. ...
while undergoing treatment for alcoholism, ended in divorce.
Bibliography
* Marx, Miriam. ''Love Groucho: Letters from Groucho Marx to His Daughter Miriam''. Faber & Faber, 1992; .
References
1927 births
2017 deaths
Writers from New York City
American people of German-Jewish descent
20th-century American memoirists
American women memoirists
Jewish American writers
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women
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