Expert: Barbara L. Baker - 7/12/2004

Question
My father has been searching for years for the name of a movie that had Harry Ritz (of Ritz Bros. fame) dancing in a conga line.  He seems to think this was after their heyday, so the timeline might be in the early-mid '50's.

Answer
Dear Mike:  I've been trying to locate a possible title for you, but so far I haven't been able to narrow it down.  The Internet Movie Data Base (imdb.com) lists a number of films for Harry Ritz, but none were done in the 1950s.  The Ritz Brothers last film with all of them was 1943, called "Hi'ya, Chum."  The next film Harry made, with his surviving brother, was an awful B-movie called "Blazing Stewardesses" in 1975.  Harry did appear as himself in some TV specials in the 1950s, and there were also some documentaries using archival footage of the Ritz Brothers made in the 1950s and 1960s.  

I checked the plot summaries and trivia for as many of these films, specials, etc. as I could, as well as some books I have around, and I can't find a specific reference to a conga line (although there is reference to Harry and the others dancing as well as singing in numerous films).  Using "Conga line" as a keyword mostly turned up animated movies, or films without Harry Ritz in them (such as 1941's "Ball of Fire").

Is it possible your father is recalling archival footage or a TV special?  If not, do you have any other information about this film?  It seems plausible that Ritz could have been in something like a conga line in several films, based on the limited plot info I have, but I am not able to identify a particular film without more information (any at all, but esp. plot events, other possible actors, etc.). There are some other angles I could try if I had a bit more knowledge about the film.

I hope you or your father can provide some more information, because I would like to help him locate this title, since he's been searching for years.