Video: See a rare Harpo Marx beer ad from 1960

While the Marx Brothers will forever be known for making an imprint on cinema with Duck Soup, Horse Feathers, A Night at the Opera and other comedy classics, they also made a huge number of television appearances at the dawn of the medium.

Today Shout! Factory releases The Marx Brothers TV Collection, the first set of its kind that includes more than 50 rare TV moments.

Wanna see the brothers on The Jack Benny Program, The Dick Cavett Show and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show? It's all here — and whoa, celebrity talk/variety shows were as popular then as reality shows are today. (I prefer the former.)

Today you can sample the set with this rare video of a Labatt beer ad Harpo shot in 1960. Harpo, who died in 1964, was in semi-retirement when he made this odd commercial. Marx historian and DVD producer Robert Bader offers the story behind it:

While in semi-retirement, Harpo was encouraged by friends to collect the unemployment insurance he was entitled to. After filming a series of Labatt beer commercials in Toronto, he went to the unemployment office in Indio, Calif., near his Palm Springs home. He filled out the forms, stating that he had worked one day that week, and was paid $11,500. Not recognizing him, the clerk asked if he'd misplaced the decimal point and meant to write $11.50. After a few attempts, he convinced the confused woman that he did indeed earn the amount he had filled in on the form. Harpo got his unemployment check for $55 and Labatt got some very strange commercials.

The Marx Brothers TV Collection also includes a booklet with rare photos and an essay by Bader. It's on sale now.