| The Ritz Brothers were a comedy team who appeared in 1930s films, as live
performers from 1925 to the late 1960s, and in the
film Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood.
Until late in their performing careers, (when two performed alone after one had died) they were three in number:
Their choice of the performing name "Ritz" is said to have been inspired that word appearing on the side of a laundry truck.
They were in fact brothers, and a fourth brother acted as their manager.
They were enlisted into film on the hope that they could duplicate the popularity of the Marx Brothers, but this did not prove to be the case.
They were buried in what was then, and for nearly its first century, called Hollywood Cemetery, since 1998 the Hollywood Forever
Cemetery.
Enduring tributes to them include a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and mention in the 1982 film
My Favorite Year. (There, a character who works with the
writers for a top 1950s television comedy show describes them as people like the Marx
Brothers who are "funny" -- in contrast to "anyone who has ever played the accordion professionally".)
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