The brothers, who were born Al, Jimmy and Harry Joachim, got their starts individually. Al, the oldest, entered the entertainment business first, doing extra work on movies and winning dance contests. Next came Jimmy and Harry who performed solo as singers and dancers. Soon the Joachim brothers decided to pool the family talent (with fourth brother George serving as their agent) -- and take a stage name. Now known as the Ritz Brothers, a name reportedly inspired by a passing laundry truck, they launched their act in nightclubs and on the vaudeville circuit. The Brothers soon made their way into featured spots on Broadway. And in 1934, Hollywood came calling.
The Ritz Brothers made their screen debut in a two-reel short called Hotel Anchovy (1934) and were promptly signed by Fox. Their first feature film was Sing, Baby, Sing (1936). By 1937, the Ritz Brothers were the stars of the picture -- they carried the show in Life Begins in College. Straight, Place and Show was made toward the end of their contract with Fox. They made just three more pictures with the studio after Straight, Place and Show, which included one of their all-time bests, The Three Musketeers (1939).
Appearing with the Ritz Brothers in Straight, Place and Show was the already legendary Broadway sensation Ethel Merman, who got her start playing nightclubs. It was her rendition of "I Got Rhythm" in the Gershwin musical Girl Crazy that first made her famous in 1930. Unfortunately, Merman seemed to have less luck in Hollywood. She was allowed to reprise her Broadway role in Anything Goes (1936), but more often her stage hits went to other actresses on screen - Betty Hutton, for example, in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) or Rosalind Russell in Gypsy (1962). Many of her 1930's films were minor musicals, like Kid Millions (1934) opposite Eddie Cantor. One exception was the lavish Irving Berlin showcase Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). After Straight, Place and Show, Merman made few film appearances (a movie version of her stage hit, Call Me Madam (1953), an ensemble player in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1963), focusing instead on Broadway productions.
A few trivia tidbits about Straight, Place and Show: Look for Lon Chaney, Jr. playing a chauffeur. The story behind the movie's screenplay is also interesting. Fox paid $50,000 for the rights to the Damon Runyon-Irving Caesar play Saratoga Chips which was said to be the highest amount to date paid for an unproduced play.
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Director: David Butler
Screenplay: Irving Caesar (play), Damon Runyon (play), M.M. Musselman, Allen Rivkin
Cinematography: Ernest Palmer
Art Direction: Lewis H. Creber, Bernard Herzbrun
Music: Ray Golden, Sid Kuller, Lew Pollack, Louis Silvers, Jule Styne
Cast: Harry Ritz (Harry), Al Ritz (Al), Jimmy Ritz (Jimmy), Richard Arlen (Denny Paine), Ethel Merman (Linda Tyler), Phyllis Brooks (Barbara Drake).
BW-66m.
by Stephanie Thames
