Ritz Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Ritz Brothers were an American comedy team who appeared in films, and as live performers from 1925 to the late 1960s.
Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austria
n-born haberdasher
Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister, Gertrude. The fourth brother, George, acted as their manager. The performers were:
The family name was Joachim ' onMouseout='HidePop("15924")' href="/topics/Joe_Franklin">Joe Franklin
TV interview) but eldest brother Al, a vaudeville dancer, adopted a new professional name after he saw the name "Ritz" on the side of a laundry truck. Jimmy and Harry followed suit when the brothers formed a team. The Ritzes emphasized precision dancing in their act, and added comedy material as they went along. By the early 1930s they were stage headliners.
. This did well enough for the film's distributor, Twentieth Century-Fox, to sign the Ritzes as a specialty act for feature-length musicals. During this period they appeared in On the Avenue
, a 1937 Irving Berlin
musical. That same year Fox gave the Ritz Brothers their own starring series, beginning with Life Begins in College.
The brothers had a large following, and some fans compare them to the Marx Brothers
, but the Ritzes did not play contrasting characters like the Marxes did; the boisterous Ritzes frequently behaved identically, making it harder for audiences to tell them apart. The ringleader was always rubber-faced, mouthy Harry, with Jimmy and Al enthusiastically following his lead. They frequently broke into songs and dances during their feature comedies, and often did celebrity impersonations (among them Ted Lewis
, Peter Lorre
, Tony Martin
, even Alice Faye
and Katharine Hepburn
).
Their talent was also noted by Samuel Goldwyn
, who borrowed them from Fox for his Technicolor
variety show, The Goldwyn Follies, where they appeared with other headliners of the day including Edgar Bergen
and Charlie McCarthy. Perhaps their most successful film during this period was Fox's 1939 musical-comedy version of The Three Musketeers
, co-starring Don Ameche
. Later in 1939 the Ritzes staged a highly publicized walkout (complaining about the low quality of their latest script, The Gorilla). Fox responded by completing The Gorilla anyway, terminating the Ritzes' starring series, and casting them in a B picture starring Jane Withers
. The Ritz Brothers left Fox for good in 1939.
The Ritz Brothers were also caricatured, along with several other then-popular Hollywood celebrities, in the 1939 Donald Duck
short, The Autograph Hound
.
In 1940 they moved to Universal Pictures
, where they were scheduled to star in The Boys from Syracuse, but were removed from that production and reassigned to make brash B comedies with music. Their final film as a trio was Never a Dull Moment (1943). Al died in 1965. Harry and Jimmy continued to appear in films up until the 1970s.
The Ritzes were appearing at New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel in December 1965 when Al died of a sudden heart attack. Harry and Jimmy were devastated, as the trio had always been very close. The two surviving brothers continued the act, and appeared together in a couple of films. The last appearances of the Ritz Brothers as a team (minus Al) were in the mid-1970s films Blazing Stewardesses
and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, a spoof of the old Rin Tin Tin
and Lassie
movies. In Blazing Stewardesses the Ritzes were cast as replacements for The Three Stooges, who dropped out of the film following the death of Moe Howard
. Harry and Jimmy also made a lively encore appearance on television, as guests on Dick Cavett
's PBS talk show.
Harry's final months were plagued by Alzheimer's Disease
; Jimmy Ritz died in 1985 shortly before Harry, but Harry's health was so delicate that he was never told of his brother's passing. Harry died the following year.
The brothers were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, now called the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood, CA. They are interred near each other in the Hall of David Mausoleum.
, Jerry Lewis
, and Sid Caesar
. In his 1976 film Silent Movie
, Mel Brooks
paid tribute to the Ritz Brothers by casting Harry in a cameo (he's the fellow leaving a tailor's shop). It was the actor's last role.
An article in Esquire Magazine by Harry Stein (June 1976), "Mel Brooks Says This [Harry Ritz] is the Funniest Man in the World", makes a strong case that many top comedians were influenced by, and even borrowed bits from, Harry Ritz. In an interview in Playboy magazine, George Carlin said Harry Ritz "invented the moves for a whole generation" of comedians. One of the few (or only) discussions of the brothers in print is in Leonard Maltin's Movie Comedy Teams (1970).
Enduring tributes to them include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
, and mentions in The Simpsons
(episode "Mountain of Madness
"), M*A*S*H (episode "Aid Station") and the films My Favorite Year
, Mr. Saturday Night
and Pretty Woman
.
They were the favorite musical clowns of the great German-Jewish Poet Else Lasker-Schüler
, who lets them appear in her last play, "I and I" ("Ich und Ich").
Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-born haberdasher
Haberdasher
A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips, and other notions. In American English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter. A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.-Origin and use:The word appears in...
Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister, Gertrude. The fourth brother, George, acted as their manager. The performers were:
- Al Ritz, (August 27, 1901 – December 22, 1965)
- Jimmy Ritz, (October 4, 1904 – November 17, 1985)
- Harry Ritz, (May 22, 1907 – March 29, 1986)
The family name was Joachim ' onMouseout='HidePop("15924")' href="/topics/Joe_Franklin">Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin is an American radio and television personality. From New York City, Franklin is sometimes credited with hosting the first television talk show...
TV interview) but eldest brother Al, a vaudeville dancer, adopted a new professional name after he saw the name "Ritz" on the side of a laundry truck. Jimmy and Harry followed suit when the brothers formed a team. The Ritzes emphasized precision dancing in their act, and added comedy material as they went along. By the early 1930s they were stage headliners.
Movie career
The Ritz Brothers were hired for a New York-filmed short subject, Hotel Anchovy (1934), produced by Educational PicturesEducational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
. This did well enough for the film's distributor, Twentieth Century-Fox, to sign the Ritzes as a specialty act for feature-length musicals. During this period they appeared in On the Avenue
On the Avenue
On the Avenue is a 1937 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, and Alice Faye. All of the songs in this film were composed by Irving Berlin.-Plot:...
, a 1937 Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
musical. That same year Fox gave the Ritz Brothers their own starring series, beginning with Life Begins in College.
The brothers had a large following, and some fans compare them to the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
, but the Ritzes did not play contrasting characters like the Marxes did; the boisterous Ritzes frequently behaved identically, making it harder for audiences to tell them apart. The ringleader was always rubber-faced, mouthy Harry, with Jimmy and Al enthusiastically following his lead. They frequently broke into songs and dances during their feature comedies, and often did celebrity impersonations (among them Ted Lewis
Ted Lewis (musician)
Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis , was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. He was known by the moniker "Mr...
, Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
, Tony Martin
Tony Martin (entertainer)
Tony Martin is an American actor and singer.-Career:Tony Martin was born on Christmas Day, 1913 as Alvin Morris in San Francisco, California to Jewish immigrant parents. He received a saxophone as a gift from his grandmother at the age of ten. In his grammar school glee club, he became an...
, even Alice Faye
Alice Faye
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
).
Their talent was also noted by Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, who borrowed them from Fox for his Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
variety show, The Goldwyn Follies, where they appeared with other headliners of the day including Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
and Charlie McCarthy. Perhaps their most successful film during this period was Fox's 1939 musical-comedy version of The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (1939 film)
The Three Musketeers is a 1939 musical comedy film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel of the same name. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan, with the Ritz Brothers as his cowardly helpers.-Cast:*Don Ameche as D'Artagnan...
, co-starring Don Ameche
Don Ameche
Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
. Later in 1939 the Ritzes staged a highly publicized walkout (complaining about the low quality of their latest script, The Gorilla). Fox responded by completing The Gorilla anyway, terminating the Ritzes' starring series, and casting them in a B picture starring Jane Withers
Jane Withers
Jane Withers is an American actress best known for being one of the most popular child film stars of the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as for her portrayal of "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of TV commercials for Comet cleanser in the 1960s and early 1970s.-Biography:Withers began her career...
. The Ritz Brothers left Fox for good in 1939.
The Ritz Brothers were also caricatured, along with several other then-popular Hollywood celebrities, in the 1939 Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
short, The Autograph Hound
The Autograph Hound
The Autograph Hound is a 1939 American Donald Duck cartoon which features Donald Duck as an autograph hunter in Hollywood. Many celebrities from the 1930s are featured. This is the first cartoon where Donald Duck is featured in his blue sailor hat....
.
In 1940 they moved to Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, where they were scheduled to star in The Boys from Syracuse, but were removed from that production and reassigned to make brash B comedies with music. Their final film as a trio was Never a Dull Moment (1943). Al died in 1965. Harry and Jimmy continued to appear in films up until the 1970s.
Movies
| Year | Movie |
|---|---|
| 1934 | Hotel Anchovy |
| 1936 | Sing, Baby, Sing |
| 1937 | One in a Million |
| 1937 | On the Avenue On the Avenue On the Avenue is a 1937 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, and Alice Faye. All of the songs in this film were composed by Irving Berlin.-Plot:... |
| 1937 | You Can't Have Everything You Can't Have Everything You Can't Have Everything is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. The movie stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche, and was the film debut for Gypsy Rose Lee.-Plot:... |
| 1937 | Life Begins in College |
| 1938 | The Goldwyn Follies The Goldwyn Follies The Goldwyn Follies is a 1938 Technicolor film written by Ben Hecht, Sid Kuller, Sam Perrin and Arthur Phillips, with music by George Gershwin, Vernon Duke, and Ray Golden, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Some sources credit Kurt Weill as one of the composers, but this is apparently incorrect... |
| 1938 | Kentucky Moonshine Kentucky Moonshine Kentucky Moonshine is a 1938 film directed by David Butler.-Plot:Radio singer Tony Martin's rating are slipping, so he makes travel plans to the Southern United States to find new talent. The Ritz boys get wind of Tony's pending trip. Marjorie Weaver and the Ritz Brothers make a trip to Kentucky... |
| 1938 | Straight Place and Show |
| 1939 | The Three Musketeers (1939 film) The Three Musketeers (1939 film) The Three Musketeers is a 1939 musical comedy film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel of the same name. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan, with the Ritz Brothers as his cowardly helpers.-Cast:*Don Ameche as D'Artagnan... |
| 1939 | The Gorilla |
| 1939 | Pack Up Your Troubles (1939 film) |
| 1940 | Argentine Nights |
| 1942 | Behind the Eight Ball (film) |
| 1943 | Hi'ya, Chum Hi'ya, Chum Hi'ya, Chum is a 1943 American musical comedy film starring Jane Frazee.-Cast:* Ritz Brothers - Merry Madcaps* Jane Frazee - Sunny Lee* Robert Paige - Tommy Craig* June Clyde - Madge Tracy* Paul Hurst - Archie Billings... |
| 1943 | Never a Dull Moment (1943 film) |
| 1975 | Blazing Stewardesses Blazing Stewardesses Blazing Stewardesses is a 1975 sex comedy film that reunited the last remaining members of the Ritz Brothers comedy team. Originally, the film was to have starred the Three Stooges featuring Moe Howard, Emil Sitka , and Curly Joe DeRita, but Howard's illness led to the Ritz Brothers being brought... |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a 1976 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern, Teri Garr, and Art Carney... |
In later life
The Ritz Brothers continued to appear on stage and in nightclubs, and made guest appearances on network television in the 1950s. They soon became a top Las Vegas attraction. In 1958 Harry participated in a sketch-comedy LP, "Hilarity in Hollywood" (also known as "Hilarity in Hi-Fi").The Ritzes were appearing at New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel in December 1965 when Al died of a sudden heart attack. Harry and Jimmy were devastated, as the trio had always been very close. The two surviving brothers continued the act, and appeared together in a couple of films. The last appearances of the Ritz Brothers as a team (minus Al) were in the mid-1970s films Blazing Stewardesses
Blazing Stewardesses
Blazing Stewardesses is a 1975 sex comedy film that reunited the last remaining members of the Ritz Brothers comedy team. Originally, the film was to have starred the Three Stooges featuring Moe Howard, Emil Sitka , and Curly Joe DeRita, but Howard's illness led to the Ritz Brothers being brought...
and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, a spoof of the old Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
and Lassie
Lassie
Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...
movies. In Blazing Stewardesses the Ritzes were cast as replacements for The Three Stooges, who dropped out of the film following the death of Moe Howard
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...
. Harry and Jimmy also made a lively encore appearance on television, as guests on Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
's PBS talk show.
Harry's final months were plagued by Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
; Jimmy Ritz died in 1985 shortly before Harry, but Harry's health was so delicate that he was never told of his brother's passing. Harry died the following year.
The brothers were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, now called the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
in Hollywood, CA. They are interred near each other in the Hall of David Mausoleum.
Tributes
The influence of the Ritz Brothers was greater than their film career, in part because of their long career as nightclub entertainers. They influenced actors including Danny KayeDanny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, and Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
. In his 1976 film Silent Movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
paid tribute to the Ritz Brothers by casting Harry in a cameo (he's the fellow leaving a tailor's shop). It was the actor's last role.
An article in Esquire Magazine by Harry Stein (June 1976), "Mel Brooks Says This [Harry Ritz] is the Funniest Man in the World", makes a strong case that many top comedians were influenced by, and even borrowed bits from, Harry Ritz. In an interview in Playboy magazine, George Carlin said Harry Ritz "invented the moves for a whole generation" of comedians. One of the few (or only) discussions of the brothers in print is in Leonard Maltin's Movie Comedy Teams (1970).
Enduring tributes to them include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, and mentions in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(episode "Mountain of Madness
Mountain of Madness
"Mountain of Madness" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 2, 1997. In the episode, Mr. Burns tries to encourage more teamwork among his employees and forces the workers of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to go...
"), M*A*S*H (episode "Aid Station") and the films My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
, Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night is a 1992 film that marks the directorial debut of its star, Billy Crystal.It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., a fictional stand-up comedian. Crystal produced and co-wrote the screenplay with the writing duo Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz...
and Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...
.
They were the favorite musical clowns of the great German-Jewish Poet Else Lasker-Schüler
Else Lasker-Schüler
Else Lasker-Schüler was a Jewish German poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist movement. Lasker-Schüler fled Nazi Germany and lived out the rest of her life in Jerusalem.-Biography:Schüler was born in...
, who lets them appear in her last play, "I and I" ("Ich und Ich").
External links
- Mel Brooks Says This Is the Funniest Man On Earth Harry Stein's article from Esquire Magazine, June 1976.