Marx Brothers: The Unknown Marx Brothers (1993)

This is probably the only good documentary on the Marx Brothers. and it opens with a mash of highlights of all movies.
All 4 brothers changed their names, these werent thier real names they started with. Groucho got his name because of he always used to have a grouching bag with money in it, chico for chasing chicks, harpo for, well, playing harp and zeppo because he was born when zeppelin flew over the place. quite a simple way to choose names dont you think? The mother pushed them into show business so she could keep an eye on them all at once. what a dedicated mother. Apperently Chico was a guy for hire in his youth and his con artist skills were used in real life before it was used on stage. Harpos most notoriuos look came from a guy who rolled cigars. Both of them learned how to paly by themself, never seen before, and never gave thier secret away. they were playing for real and it wasnt just a background music on top. Harpo never spoke because at one show a guy forgot to write any lines for him, and when reviews came out they loved it.
After duck soup paramiunt dropepd them and clsoed the door. The marxism was starting to raise up by then, and the marx brothers were seen in different light. Chicos gambling connections have allowed thme to go back to live stage, bu that only came to life after Chico allowed other brothers to handle his money, because he was loosing it all to gambling already. Zeppo died from Pneumonia and their movies were going downhill. All but chico were rich by then so they decided to retire.
After the World war 2 they got back to work in "you bet your live" and many other radio and tv shows. somrthing that is not often told. they go on elaborate telling about all the brothers career after the movies. they practically put half of the documentary just on that. They do a not so big segmen on thier personal lives which is very intresting, like harpo waking kids in the night to play with them becuase he was working all day and night was the only time he had. and chico taking in all lost animals he could find.
And in my opinion, they outdone both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in thier time.