Page "Groucho Marx" Paragraph 54

Groucho maintained his irrepressible sense of humor to the very end, however.

According to Dick Cavett's New York Times blog, when the elderly Groucho visited an old friend in the hospital, he said to the elevator attendant, as if in a department store, " Men's tonsils, please.

" When Groucho himself was on his deathbed, and a nurse came around with a thermometer, explaining that she wanted to see if he had a temperature, he responded, " Don't be silly — everybody has a temperature.

" George Fenneman, his radio and TV announcer, good-natured foil, and lifelong friend, often related a story in subsequent years of one of his final visits to Groucho's home: When the time came to end the visit, Fenneman lifted Groucho from his wheelchair, put his arms around his torso, and began to " walk " the frail comedian backwards across the room toward his bed.

As he did, he heard a weak voice in his ear: " Fenneman ," whispered Groucho, " you always were a lousy dancer.