Marx Brothers and Chico appeared less prominently. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, never developed their stage characters to the same extent as the elder three. They each left the act to pursue business careers at which they were successful, and for a time ran a large theatrical agency through which they represented their brothers and others. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared in the first five films in relatively straight (non-comedic) roles. The performing lives of the brothers owed much to their mother Minnie Marx, who acted as their manager until her death in 1929. The
Minamata: The Victims and Their World breakthrough film, "", contributing to the Minamata disease victims’ struggle for recognition and reparations through cinema was a natural response for Tsuchimoto. Hence, "Minamata: The Victims and Their World" came to be without any funding from sponsors. Instead, producer Ryūtarō Takagi essentially crowdsourced funds to produce this documentary as well as future films in the series. Upon criticism for not including any details on the medical aspects of the Minamata disease, Tsuchimoto, who had intended for "Minamata: The Victims and Their World" to be his only documentary on the disease, continued his documentary series with the films "" and "The