Heilman & Haver - Episode 70 (Guest Robert Bader - Part II)

Welcome to Heilman & Haver - Episode 70.  We hope you enjoy the show!

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Robert Bader

Robert Bader is an author, archive curator, and the writer, director, and producer of many things, including PBS’s upcoming episode of American Masters: Groucho & Cavett, debuting for all you Seattle folks at 8pm, Tuesday, December 27th, on KCTS9.  Tune in and discover the enduring friendship between television personality Dick Cavett and his mentor, iconic comedian Groucho Marx. Their relationship is chronicled through interviews with Cavett, archival footage, and interviews with contemporaries like George Burns, Jack Paar and Woody Allen.

In 2018, Robert produced and directed another story of friendship, Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes which won the Critics Choice Award in 2020, the same year it debuted on HBO.  Robert co-wrote the film with Cavett, chronicling Muhammad Ali’s life and career through the lens of his many interviews with Cavett and the documentary is available to stream on HBO Max and on DVD. He has also produced critically acclaimed television documentaries Dick Cavett’s Watergate and Dick Cavett’s Vietnam for PBS, produced numerous archival DVD and CD releases, including five acclaimed DVD sets of The Dick Cavett Show, two of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx and two of Bing Crosby: The Television Specials.   

Robert manages the archive of The Dick Cavett Show and is the curator of several important entertainment archives, including those of the estates of Bing Crosby, the Marx Brothers, and Danny Kaye. He also serves on the Board of Directors for The Al Hirschfeld Foundation and Marx Brothers Incorporated, and has helmed countless projects, shows, films, radio and CD releases, including the launch of the Film Preservation Society’s silent film restoration series on Blu-ray with the 1925 film Too Many Kisses, which features Harpo Marx.  Robert is also the author of Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage now available in paperback, and the editor of Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales, an anthology of the comedian’s lost writings.

Robert’s most recent book is entitled Speaking of Harpo, co-authored with the late Susan Fleming Marx, Harpo’s widow.  Susan appeared in three Broadway shows and twenty-eight films before she turned her back on a show business career she never really enjoyed or wanted. The role of her lifetime came when she married Harpo Marx in 1936. Together, they raised four adopted children and enjoyed one of Hollywood's happiest and most successful unions. But their twenty-year age difference made Susan a young widow in 1964.  

Speaking of Harpo is Susan's account of her more than thirty-year adventure with Harpo including encounters with people like Charlie Chaplin, William Randolph Hearst, Salvador Dalí, Joan Crawford, Howard Hughes, Helen Keller, Bugsy Siegel, Sam Goldwyn, Ginger Rogers, and of course, the Marx Brothers. The book provides an inside look at the family and pulls no punches when discussing her brothers-in-law, who weren't always her favorite comedians.  

The book was released in July 2022 and would make an excellent gift for that Marx Brother’s fan or golden age film buff on your list. You can pick up a copy at www.speakingofharpo.com and we hope you enjoy the second half of our interview with Robert Bader.