Summary: Hank Rosenfeld spent seven years interviewing the late Golden Age comedy screenwriter Irving Brecher for their book, The Wicked Wit of the West. Who was Irving Brecher? For starters, he was the last Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screenwriter from the “Golden Age” of the 1940s. He convinced Judy Garland to star in Meet Me in St. Louis, wrote Bye Bye Birdie, and gave Jackie Gleason his first TV series and a new set of teeth. The "Wicked Wit of the West" (as Groucho Marx dubbed him) tells juicy tales about Hollywood legends John Wayne, L.B. Mayer, Jack Benny, George Burns, Ann-Margret, Ernie Kovacs, Cleo the basset hound, and of course, Groucho, Harpo and Chico. When journalist Rosenfeld met Brecher, he had a million questions. What was it like to be the only man ever to write two Marx Brothers movies by himself? To be the last of the great MGM roundtable of screenwriters? To be the famous unknown who wrote vaudeville and radio shows for Milton Berle, punched up The Wizard of Oz, and created "The Life of Riley"-- on radio, in the movies, and as the very first television sitcom! Rosenfeld was on staff at Spy magazine and has written for the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Post, Premiere, PAPER, and the Shambhala Sun. He is currently a storyteller on NPR's "All Things Considered," "Marketplace," "Weekend America" and "Off-Ramp."
