From Vaudeville to the Big Screen, the Ritz Brothers from our early days were "Union Suit Fans in the Limelight."
Brothers Al, Jimmy, and Harry Joachim (born from 1901 through 1907) and later becoming the very popular Ritz Brothers, not only typically wore union suits in their day but, at least on one occasion, danced in them on a movie stage surrounded by chorus girls.
Besides movies, the vaudevillian brothers performed in nightclubs as well as on burlesque stages before breaking into the movies and television. Older brother, George, kept them in line as their manager. The four boys and their sister, Gertrude, were born in Newark, New Jersey where their father successfully owned a clothing store as they were growing up. There is no evidence today that parents, Max and Pauline Joachim, supplied them with union suits as adult performers.
The Brothers Ritz thrilled their millions of fans by combining comedy with precision dancing. And, I mean precision. Their dancing, first in tuxedos and eventually undressed to their union suits all the while singing the song, Long Underwear, is remarkable. Copy and paste the following for a look at their clip...
https://youtu.be/PesMhAiaAiY
This act, singing and dancing in union suits, seems rather corny in this day and age. But the brothers were highly successful making movies distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM, and Universal Pictures. It's widely believed they influenced later comedians, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar, George Carlin, Mel Brooks, and Norman Lear.
Al died this very day 55 years ago. Jimmy died in 1985 and Harry in 1986. No doubt these popular comedic dancers left their mark on American show-biz.
I don't know for sure which movie this is clip is from. It may be from "You Can't Have Everything." If you know, be sure to email me for identifying in this post. Thanks to Joe of NYC for introducing me to these talented characters which allows me to introduce them to you.
