The Last of the Marx Brothers’ Writers

Louis Phillips
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Description

Jimmy Bryce, an ex-vaudevillian and comedy writer, lives in a run-down hotel in Los Angeles. As he waits for a young comic writer to arrive for comedy lessons, Bryce remembers his past life. His memory conjures up his ex-wife Alice and an original “Marx Brothers–like” character called Flammo or Julius Dumont. The play is studded with wild verbal and slapstick comic turns and tries to explore the world of terror and surrealism that lies on the other side of comedy.

Production Info

Cast: 5 total (1 female, 4 male)
Full Length Dark Comedy (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
Category:
Reviews

Press Quotes

“Louis Phillips invented Jimmy, and deserves full marks for it. If his play reminds us of THE SUNSHINE BOYS crossed with THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, the blend still seems fresh. This is how it feels to be trapped in your own ‘bits’ — the mind unable to beat except in gag rhythms, and nobody buys the gags anymore.” —Dan Sullivan, The Los Angeles Times

“Here is a piece of theater you absolutely must not miss … This fine, touching, inventive, and gorgeously zany play is about — you guess it — the failure of the American dream.” —Jonathan Saville, Weekly Reader (San Diego)

“It is strong and clever in its methodical pursuit of madness. It is studded with non sequiturs, puns, riddles, and sight-gags, running wild or worked into routines and shticks.” —Charlie Farber, Los Angeles Free Press

“The plays is framed in an exciting, almost frenetic mixture of wild imagery and stark reality … It is a nonstop bombardment of the senses and the mind.” —Bill Hagen, The San Diego Evening Tribune

About the Author

Author

  • Louis Phillips

    Louis Phillips, a widely published poet, playwright, and short story writer, has written some 50 books for children and adults. Among his published works are: five collections of short stories — A Dream of Countries Where No One Dare Live (SMU Press), The Bus to the Moon (Fort Schuyler Press), and The Woman Who Wrote King Lear and Other Stories (Pleasure Boat Studio), Fireworks in Some Particulars (Fort Schuyler Press) and Must I Weep for The Dancing Bear (Pleasure Boat Studio). Hot Corner, a collection of his baseball writings, and R.I.P. (a sequence of poems about Rip Van Winkle) from Livingston Press; THE ENVOI MESSAGES, and THE LAST OF THE MARX BROTHERS' WRITERS, full-length plays,(Broadway Play Publishing). His books for children include: The Man Who Store The Atlantic Ocean (Prentice Hall & Camelot Books), The Million Dollar Potato (Simon and Schuster) and How to Wrestle an Alligator (Avon). His sequence of poems — The Time, The Hour, The Solitariness of the Place — was the co-winner in the Swallow's Tale Press competition (1984). Among his published books of poems are: The Krazy Cat Rag (Light Reprint Press), Bulkington (Hollow Spring Press), The Time, The Hour, The Time, The Hour, The Solitariness of the Place (Swallow's Tale Press), Celebrations & Bewilderments (Fragments Press). He edited Best Loved Poems (Random House) and The Random House Book of Humorous Verse. Other books include: Gertrude Stein in Dayton & Other Plays, American Elegies and Late Night in the Rain Forest (World Audience Publishers). He teaches at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

About the Book

Book Information

Publisher BPPI
Publication Date 11/1/2007
Pages 78
ISBN 9780881453393

Special Notes

Special Notes

Licensees are required to include the original stage producers credits in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:

Originally produced by the Old Globe Theater, San Diego

The following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
The Last of the Marx Brothers’ Writers is produced
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com