Jimmy Ritz

{{Infobox comedian

| name = Jimmy Ritz

| image = Jimmy Ritz in The Gorilla (1939) 2.jpg

| caption = Ritz in The Gorilla (1939)

| birth_name = Samuel Joachim

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|10|04|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|11|17|1904|10|04|mf=y}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Hollywood Forever Cemetery

| medium = {{hlist|Film|stage}}

| years_active = 1925–1976

| genre = Slapstick

| spouse = Ruth Hillard
({{abbr|m.|married}} 1938; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 19??)
{{marriage|Judy Lee|1953|1959|reason=divorced}}

| children = 1

}}

Jimmy Ritz (born Samuel Joachim; October 4, 1904 – November 17, 1985), was an American comedian and actor. He was also the second Ritz Brother.

Early life

Ritz was born Samuel Joachim to parents Max (December 1871 – January 4, 1939) and Pauline Joachim (May 1874 – November 26, 1935) on October 4, 1904. His father was a haberdasher from Austria-Hungary and his mother was Russian. Ritz had three brothers, George, Al, and Harry, and a sister, Gertrude Soll.{{Citation |title=Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America |first1=Frank |last1=Cullen |first2=Florence |last2=Hackman |name-list-style=amp |first3=Donald |last3=McNeilly |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-93853-2 |page=935 }}.

Career

The Ritz Brothers began as a dancing act in 1925, and by 1929 they had become vaudeville headliners. When vaudeville faded, they took their act, which combined complicated dance routines, sound-alike singing voices and a distinctively zany, juvenile humor (their theme song was titled Collegiate), to film, full theatrical presentations, and eventually television.

They were appearing on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood when movie producer Darryl F. Zanuck spotted them. Their first film, Sing, Baby, Sing, in 1936, was followed by On the Avenue, You Can't Have Everything, Life Begins in College, Hi'ya, Chum, One in a Million, The Gorilla, The Three Musketeers, The Goldwyn Follies, Straight, Place and Show, Pack Up Your Troubles, Argentine Nights, Behind the Eight Ball, Blazing Stewardesses and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, the last two with Harry only. Al died in 1965.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/21/arts/jimmy-ritz-comic-dies-at-81.html|title=Jimmy Ritz, Comic, Dies at 81|work=The New York Times|date=November 21, 1985|access-date=February 22, 2015}}