Prologue : noxis on the conoxis -- Our father's krugel -- The heart and the harp -- Kidding the captain : "was has gesachta" : Uncle Al, the original Marx brother -- Horatio Alger and the tin can swinger -- "Impersonations of the Yiddisher" from the Whangdoodle Four to Mrs Schang -- The incubator and the chicks : from Wayburn's Nightingales to Minnie's Mascots -- "Ah poosh, ah poosh, ah poosh!" -- Sex, life and vaudeville -- Down by pantages -- "An elaborate disorder of amateur antics" -- The Kaiser, Art Fisher and the Rhode Island Reds -- Farewell to the old five-and-dimes -- There is no chapter 13 in this book -- "Washington with a mustache" -- Humor risks -- Cometh the hour, cometh the men : the four horsemen meet the round table -- Vive la France! or opening sardines with a sword -- From Coolidge to Cocoanuts : "do you want to be wage slaves?" -- The mystery and mystique of Daisy Dumont : staying at a bum hotel -- Triumph of the left-handed moths -- Before Hollywood or "why are you so concerned with having real backgrounds when one of the leading characters wears an obviously false moustache?" -- Stowaways in the forward hatch -- The pleasure principle and the poetic seal -- "Hey, where's your brother?" -- This program is coming to you from the House of David! : the short and snappy life of Waldorf T. Flywheel -- Cracked ice : Freedonia to Moscow Express -- Make that three hard-boiled eggs! -- Get your tutsi-frutsi ice cream! -- "Step this way" or how long can these swans keep singing? -- Custody of the moustache -- Of thee I sing : from "dear mir" to the almost last hurrah -- Solo dreams -- "Is it sad or high-kicking?" -- Twilight of the gags or "wife failed to see anything funny in Groucho jokes" -- What price pumpernickel? : the Marxist manifestos or beyond the ghosts -- Coughing in the night or lingering past the late show -- Epilogue : the legacy.