The GROUCHO MARX Only I Knew

HIS FORMER ASSISTANT RECALLS THE LAUGHTER AND HEARTBREAK OF THE COMIC LEGEND'S FINAL YEARS

- Emily Ahn

In the summer of 1974, Steve Stoliar was out of a job—which proved to be a lucky break. The UCLA student soon found himself employed as an assistant to his childhood idol, Groucho Marx. “Initially, I worked seven days a week, because I couldn’t get enough of it,” Stoliar tells Closer. “It had been such a years-long dream, just to shake Groucho’s hand and thank him for all the laughs. And here I was inside his house!”

By that point, the radio, TV and film comedian, born Julius Henry Marx, was in his 80s and already a legend. He’d started in vaudeville, made 13 films with the Marx Brothers, and became the longtime host of TV’s