Harry Richman

Harry Richman, born Henry Reichman Jr. on August 10, 1895, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was an American entertainer whose skills spanned singing, acting, dancing, comedy, piano, songwriting, and bandleading. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants Henry and Katie Reichman, he lost his father at age 14. He began playing piano professionally in a Cincinnati saloon at age 10, and by the time he adopted the stage name Harry Richman at 18, he was already working as a professional entertainer in vaudeville.

Richman built his early career as a piano accompanist to established stars including Mae West and Nora Bayes. His association with Bayes brought him to Broadway for the first time in 1922, launching a stage career that would extend through 1942. During the 1920s he appeared in multiple editions of George White's Scandals, earning recognition that culminated in his serving as master of ceremonies for the 1926 edition, an opening night at which the first seven rows of orchestra seats sold for $50 each. His Broadway credits also included the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, the revue George White's Music Hall Varieties in 1932, the musical Say When, and New Priorities of 1943.

Alongside his stage work, Richman operated Club Richman, a speakeasy located next to Carnegie Hall that seated 240 patrons. The interior was designed to resemble an outdoor patio, with painted scenes visible through false windows and a ceiling painted with stars to catch the performers' spotlight. The club remained a popular venue until it burned down in 1929. At the height of his popularity in the early 1930s, Richman claimed weekly earnings of $25,000.

In 1930 he made his feature film debut in Puttin' On the Ritz, in which he introduced the Irving Berlin title song, generating a phonograph record hit that year. His film career did not extend far beyond that debut. Later in his performing life he held a residency at the Latin Quarter club in Boston, where he appeared on Sundays in late 1941. Richman largely stepped back from performing during the 1940s, though he made occasional appearances, including on television, into the 1950s. He published his memoirs, A Hell of a Life, in 1966.

Richman was married three times and had no children. His first wife was Melvina Stephenson, whom he married in 1917. He subsequently married showgirl Hazel Forbes in Palm Springs, California, in March 1938; the two shared a home in Beechhurst, Long Island before divorcing in 1942. His third marriage, to Yvonne Day in 1943, also ended in divorce.

Beyond the stage, Richman pursued aviation as an amateur. In 1936 he served as co-pilot alongside aviator Henry Tindall "Dick" Merrill on the first round-trip transatlantic flight, piloting his own single-engine Vultee V-1AD transport named The Lady Peace. To provide flotation in the event of a forced water landing, Richman packed much of the aircraft's empty space with ping pong balls. The flight concluded with a landing in Wales, completed in 18 hours and 38 minutes. He subsequently sold autographed ping pong balls from the journey for the remainder of his life. He was also a sailing enthusiast, though his yacht Chevalier II exploded in July 1931, killing one person. In the political sphere, Richman, a Democrat, sang "God Bless America" at the 1940 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Richman spent much of his fortune during his lifetime and his final years were marked by financial hardship and illness. He died on November 3, 1972, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 77, and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.