| Ritz Brothers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Medium | Stage, film, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1925–1979 |
| Genres | Slapstick |
| Former members | |
The Ritz Brothers were an American family comedy act consisting of brothers Al (1901-1965), Jimmy (1904-1985), and Harry Ritz (1907-1986) who performed extensively on stage, in nightclubs and in films from 1925 to the late 1970s. A fourth brother, George, acted as their manager.
The four brothers were born in Newark, New Jersey to Austrian Jewish haberdasher Max Joachim and his wife Pauline. They also had a sister Gertrude. [1]
Harry explained on a Joe Franklin TV interview that the family name was pronounced "joe-ACK-him", and that 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. [2]
In 1934 Educational Pictures, producers of short subjects, hired "The Three Ritz Brothers" to make a series of six two-reel comedies in New York. [3] The first, Hotel Anchovy, did well enough for the film's distributor, 20th Century-Fox, to void the Educational contract and hire the team as a specialty act for feature-length musicals, to be filmed in Hollywood. From 1935 to 1937 the brothers barged in on the action in several musical comedies, including Sing, Baby, Sing , One in a Million , and the Irving Berlin musical On the Avenue . In 1937 Fox gave the Ritz Brothers their own starring series, beginning with Life Begins in College .
The brothers had a large following, and some fans compared them to the Marx Brothers, but the Ritzes did not play contrasting characters like the Marxes did, instead adopting the same boisterous behavior, 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, and even Alice Faye and Katharine Hepburn). The brothers were caricatured in animated cartoons, including the 1937 Warner Bros. short A Sunbonnet Blue and the 1939 Walt Disney short The Autograph Hound .
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.
Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck always viewed Harry Ritz as the star of the act, with Al and Jimmy as excess baggage. Zanuck's handwritten notes on Ritz scripts insisted that Harry's roles and dialogue should be built up. [4] Zanuck even told Harry what a big star he could be if he only got rid of his brothers. Harry ended the conversation immediately, refusing to consider splitting the act. Zanuck bought an old Ralph Spence play, The Gorilla (staged in 1925), and pushed the Ritzes into a 1939 film version. The Ritzes complained about the low quality of the script and staged a highly publicized walkout. Zanuck responded by completing The Gorilla anyway, terminating the Ritzes' starring series, and casting them in a B picture: Pack Up Your Troubles starring Jane Withers. Zanuck then arranged to loan the brothers out to Republic Pictures, a minor-league "budget" studio known for westerns and serials. The Ritz Brothers refused the deal and left Fox for good in late 1939.
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).
The Ritz Brothers left Hollywood in 1943 to concentrate on their nightclub act and personal appearances. In the 1950s they made guest appearances on network television (including All Star Revue, a 1952 comedy hour broadcast live, in which the Ritzes dominated the action and earned rave reviews). 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 close. The two surviving brothers continued the act and appeared together in several 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 when Moe Howard's declining health forced the trio to cancel. (Contrary to many accounts, Moe was still alive when Blazing Stewardesses filmed in March 1975; he was too ill to work. Moe died in early May of that year; Blazing Stewardesses opened a month later in June 1975.) Harry and Jimmy made semi-regular appearances on the 1970 television revival of the comedy-themed game show, Can You Top This? and made a lively encore appearance on television, as guests on Dick Cavett's PBS talk show.
In 1979, television producer Garry Marshall ( Happy Days , Laverne & Shirley ) prepared an American version of the British sitcom Are You Being Served? . The British series was set in the venerable Grace Bros. department store, owned by the elderly Mr. Grace (Harold Bennett). The American adaptation, retitled Beane's of Boston, cast Harry Ritz as the owner, Mr. Beane. In the pilot, which did not sell, Tom Poston plays the role and Harry Ritz does not appear.
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 death. Harry died five months later.
The brothers were entombed in Hollywood Cemetery, now called the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. They are entombed near each other in the Hall of David Mausoleum.
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 Kaye, 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 is the fellow leaving a tailor's shop). [5] It was the actor's last role.
In a 1976 Esquire article, Harry Stein makes the case that many top comedians were influenced by, and even borrowed bits from, Harry Ritz. [6] In an interview in Playboy magazine, George Carlin said Harry Ritz "invented the moves for a whole generation" of comedians. [7]
Other tributes to them include mentions in The Simpsons (episode "Mountain of Madness"), M*A*S*H (episode "Aid Station"), Soap (TV series) (episode 48), and the films Pretty Woman , Mr. Saturday Night and My Favorite Year : "On the funny side, there's the Marx Brothers, except Zeppo, the Ritz Brothers, no exceptions, both Laurel and Hardy, and Woody Woodpecker." Another tribute to The Ritz Brothers appeared in Leave It to Beaver (Season 6, Episode 30, "The Book Report"), where Beaver (Theodore Cleaver) writes a book report about 'The Three Musketeers' based on the Ritz Brothers movie of the same name.
They received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987, in response to a campaign led by comedians Jan Murray, Red Buttons, Milton Berle, and Phyllis Diller. [8] In 1996, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to them. [9]
They were the favorite musical clowns of the German-Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schüler, and they appear as characters in her last play, I and I (Ich und Ich). [10]
Norman Lear has said of Harry Ritz and the Ritz Brothers, "Harry Ritz was as funny as any human being, in or out of comedy, I have ever [met]... he was a jewel, in a glorious setting, and his brothers were the setting." [11]
| Year | Movie |
|---|---|
| 1934 | Hotel Anchovy (short subject) |
| 1936 | Sing, Baby, Sing |
| 1937 | Cinema Circus (cameo appearance in short subject, in Technicolor) |
| One in a Million | |
| On the Avenue | |
| You Can't Have Everything | |
| Life Begins in College (first starring feature film) | |
| Ali Baba Goes to Town (cameo appearance) | |
| 1938 | The Goldwyn Follies |
| Kentucky Moonshine | |
| Straight, Place and Show | |
| 1939 | The Three Musketeers |
| The Gorilla | |
| Pack Up Your Troubles starring Jane Withers | |
| 1940 | Argentine Nights co-starring The Andrews Sisters |
| 1942 | Behind the Eight Ball |
| 1943 | Hi'ya, Chum |
| Show-Business at War (March of Time short subject) | |
| Never a Dull Moment | |
| 1956 | Brooklyn Goes to Las Vegas (short subject) |
| 1975 | Blazing Stewardesses |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood |
| Year | Movie |
|---|---|
| 1976 | Silent Movie |
Melvin James Brooks is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, songwriter, and playwright. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 19 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2024.
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run : Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run; the pivotal "third stooge" was played by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model and singer.
Silent Movie is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Caesar, with cameos by Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Marcel Marceau, and Paul Newman as themselves. The film is produced in the manner of a 20th-century silent film with intertitles instead of spoken dialogue ; the soundtrack consists almost entirely of accompanying music and sound effects. It is an affectionate parody of slapstick comedies, including those of Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett, and Buster Keaton. The film satirizes the film industry, presenting the story of a film producer trying to obtain studio support to make a silent film in the then-present 1970s.
Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Peter Boyle portrayed the monster. The film co-stars Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman.
Moses Harry Horwitz, better known by his stage name Moe Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the leader of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. That group initially started out as Ted Healy and His Stooges, an act that toured the vaudeville circuit. Moe's distinctive hairstyle came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing an irregular shape approximating a bowl cut.
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as On the Avenue (1937) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). She is often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard "You'll Never Know", which she introduced in the 1943 musical film Hello, Frisco, Hello.
Joseph Wardell, known professionally as Joe DeRita, was an American actor and comedian, who is best known for his stint as a member of The Three Stooges in the persona of Curly Joe DeRita.
The Gorilla is a 1939 American comedy horror film starring the Ritz Brothers, Anita Louise, Art Miles, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, and Patsy Kelly. It was based on the 1925 play of the same name by Ralph Spence.
Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle Hammons (1882–1962). Educational primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton (1934–37) and the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple (1932–34). The company ceased production in 1938, and finally closed in 1940 when its film library was sold at auction.
Blazing Stewardesses is a 1975 American sex comedy film directed by Al Adamson. Its title derives from the 1975 film The Naughty Stewardesses and the 1974 film Blazing Saddles.
Straight, Place and Show is a 1938 American comedy film directed by David Butler and starring the Ritz Brothers, Richard Arlen, and Ethel Merman, and released by 20th Century-Fox. It based on the unproduced play Saratoga Chips by Damon Runyon and Irving Caesar. It features a performance of the song "With You on My Mind" by Merman.
Down Argentine Way is a 1940 American musical film made in Technicolor by Twentieth Century Fox. It made a star of Betty Grable in her first leading role for the studio although she had already appeared in 31 films, and it introduced American audiences to Carmen Miranda. It also starred Don Ameche, The Nicholas Brothers, Charlotte Greenwood, and J. Carrol Naish.
You Can't Have Everything is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. The film stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche, and was the film debut for Gypsy Rose Lee credited as Louise Hovick part of her birth name.
Life Begins in College is a 1937 American comedy film directed by William A. Seiter. It marked the Ritz Brothers' first starring role in a feature film.
Al Ritz, was an American comedian, actor and entertainer. Ritz was the oldest of the Ritz Brothers.
Harry Ritz, was an American comedian and actor. He was the youngest of the Ritz Brothers.
Jimmy Ritz, was an American comedian and actor. He was also the second Ritz Brother.
Argentine Nights is a 1940 musical film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring The Andrews Sisters. It was their first film.
Never a Dull Moment is a 1943 American comedy film directed by Edward C. Lilley and written by Mel Ronson and Stanley Roberts. The film stars Ritz Brothers, Frances Langford, Mary Beth Hughes, Franklin Pangborn, Stuart Crawford, George Zucco, Elisabeth Risdon and Jack La Rue. The film was released on November 19, 1943, by Universal Pictures.
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