It is 1931 Germany and I’m at a beer hall for an evening performance by the Marx Brothers. The artificial lights in the hall are very yellow. After the show is over (I don’t really remember the performance at all, just the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction to it), the Marx Brothers’ manager goes through the crowd selling books. It’s their life story. He offers me a books at $10, but I refuse. When he lowers the price to $9, I accept and buy the book. Examining it, there’s no dust cover. The cover is a light red fabric, with the title on the spine. When I open the book, inside the back cover is a large yellow sticker. It’s a poor cartoon drawing of a beer maiden, holding pitchers of beer in each hand. Underneath is a ribbon with the words: “Logo? Not Hardly!”
I ask the man what his name is. He says it’s Gustav, and he’s been the Marx Brothers’ European manager since earlier in their career, when he entered the Brothers’ circle after winning a late-night poker game with Chico. He goes on to explain that they also have a manager in the states, but Gustav can’t stand him. I show Gustav the yellow sticker in the book and ask him what the words mean and why the cartoon looks so odd. He says that the words mean something important and very specific, and that the Marx Brothers know what it means, but they’ve kept it a secret. He explains that the cartoon was drawn by Harpo one night when he was quite drunk. Afterwards, he proclaimed that it was just ugly enough to be beautiful, on par with Picasso. I then ask Gustav if it’s possible to get my book autographed by all the Brothers, and he says, “I can even get you Zeppo.