The Ritz Brothers - Life Begins in College - "Yankee Doodle Dance" 1937

[From "Kovacs Corner" on YouTube.com] - "Subtle they're not. New they're not. But funny." This 1961 newspaper review of the Ritz Brothers succinctly summed up their appeal for their millions of fans -- and was also a fair assessment of their lack of appeal for their millions of nonfans. The sons of Austrian-born haberdasher Max Joachim, the brothers grew up in New Jersey and Brooklyn, deciding individually to pursue show business careers. Al, the oldest, took the plunge first, winning numerous dance contests and doing extra work for a Long Island movie studio; Jimmy and Harry followed suit, securing solo stage bookings as singer/dancers. After all three Joachim brothers graduated from high school, they decided to team up as a song-and-comedy act, adopting the stage name "Ritz," reportedly having spotted their new cognomen on a laundry truck. With fourth brother George as their agent, the Ritz Brothers worked their way up from nightclubs and vaudeville to several featured spots in the lavish Broadway revues of legendary showman George White. The boys' act, which substantially remained the same throughout the years, consisted of the threesome indulging in precision dancing, tongue-twisting lampoons of popular stories and song hits, and plenty of knockabout comedy. While all three brothers had healthy egos, they had no qualms about building several of their routines around the superior talents of Harry Ritz, as witness their famous bit "The Man in the Middle is the Funny One." In 1934, the Ritz boys made their screen debut in the two-reel comedy Hotel Anchovy, which led to their being signed by 20th Century-Fox as a specialty act for that studio's big budget musicals. - Fandango.com

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