Al Ritz

Hi'ya, Chum

Entertainers get stranded in a small boomtown, and open up a restaurant.

You Can't Have Everything

Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve...

Show-Business at War

A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.

The Three Musketeers

A parodic remake of the story of the young Gascon D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris, his heart set on joining the king's Musketeers. He is taken under the wings of three of the most respected and feared Musketeers, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos. Together they fight to save France and the honor of a lady from the machinations of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

The Sound of Laughter

A compilation of film clips of comedies from 1930's.

Classic Comedy Teams

Steve Allen hosts this collection of clips of some of the greatest comedy teams in movie and television history, including Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Burns and Allen, The Three Stooges, The East-Side Kids, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis.

Kentucky Moonshine

The Ritz Brothers pretend to be Kentucky hillbillies in order to get a booking on a radio show.

The Gorilla

When an escaped circus gorilla appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, a threatened attorney calls on the detective trio of Garrity, Harrigan and Mullivan to act as bodyguards. In short order, we discover that there is more to the attorney than meets the eye, and the ape may be innocent after all. When a pretty young heiress faces peril, it's up to our heroic trio to save the day.

On the Avenue

A new Broadway show starring Gary Blake shamelessly lampoons the rich Carraway family. To get her own back, daughter Mimi sets out to ensnare Blake, but the courtship is soon for real, to the annoyance of his co-star, hoofing chanteuese Mona Merrick.

Ali Baba Goes to Town

While visiting Hollywood a starstruck movie fan (Eddie Cantor) fantasizes about himself cast in an Arabian adventure. Director David Butler's comedy--with many songs--also features Tony Martin, Roland Young, Gypsy Rose Lee (billed as Rose Hovick), John Carradine, June Lang, Virginia Field, Charles Lane, The Peters Sisters and many big-name guest stars playing themselves.

Take It or Leave It

A young husband becomes a game-show participant in the hopes of winning the cash to pay his pregnant wife's doctor.

Pack Up Your Troubles

Three American soldiers help a young girl deliver a secret message across enemy lines.

One in a Million

American theatrical manager discovers Greta Muller preparing for the Olympics in Switzerland and brings her to Madison Square Garden.

Life Begins in College

When a wealthy Indian student endows the college so they can keep the football coach rumor has it the Indian has played professionally and can't be on the team.

Straight, Place and Show

The Ritz Brothers go to the race track. They raise training end entrance money in a wrestling match and help a young man train the horse of his fiancée.

Never a Dull Moment

Nightclub gangsters hire a vaudeville act called the Three Funny Bunnies (Ritz Brothers).

Sing, Baby, Sing

The "Caliban-Ariel" romance of fiftysomething John Barrymore and teenager Elaine Barrie is spoofed in this delightful 20th Century Fox musical. Adolphe Menjou plays the Barrymore counterpart, a loose-living movie star with a penchant for wine, women, and more wine. Alice Faye plays a nightclub singer hungry for publicity. Her agent (Gregory Ratoff) arranges a "romance" between Faye and Menjou. Eventually Faye winds up with Michael Whalen, allowing Menjou to continue his blissful, bibulous bachelorhood. Sing, Baby, Sing represented the feature-film debut of the Ritz Brothers, who are in top form in their specialty numbers--and who are awarded a final curtain call after the "The End" title, just so the audience won't forget them (The same device was used to introduce British actor George Sanders in Fox's Lancer Spy [37]).

Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6

Fernand Gravey and Danielle Darrieux arrive in Hollywood; the Ritz Brothers achieve immortality, leaving their footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre; a premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre brings out Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Barbara Stanwyck, Franchot Tone, Joan Crawford, and many others.

Behind the Eight Ball

The story takes place at a summer theater in the Berkshire Mountains, where heroine Joan Barry (Carol Bruce) is staging a Broadway-bound musical comedy. Only one problem: two guest stars are shot and killed on two successive evenings, right in front of the audience. Hoping to solve the mystery, detective William Demarest demands that everyone -- actors and theatergoers alike -- return the following weekend to restage the show. But with no major performer willing to assume the fatal guest-star slot, Joan is forced to hire the Three Jolly Jesters (Al, Harry and Jimmy Ritz), Manhattan washroom attendants with showbiz aspirations.

Argentine Nights

An all-girl band flees to Argentina to avoid their creditors. Comedy with songs.

What's My Line?

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.