Topic: A Ritz Brothers DVD Set

[luke795]

Now we need a Ritz Brothers DVD Set from FOX and Universal.

[metaldams]

Now we need a Ritz Brothers DVD Set from FOX and Universal.

Really Luke, why so verbose? 

I was actually thinking of starting a thread over what classic comedy should be released next on DVD now that Laurel and Hardy is coming out, and I can honestly say The Ritz Brothers did not enter my mind, but to each their own.

[falsealarms]

I say start that topic.... it seems interesting.

[falsealarms]

Well, what about Clark and McCullough? They've been criminally neglected.

[shemps#1]

Seriously?....
....
....<shakes head>
....Seriously?

I know each and every one of us have come across a mob scene at our local DVD outlet as angry throngs shout in unison "WE WANT RITZ!  WE WANT RITZ!" I now know why they looked at me strangely when I suggested they should try the local grocery store and not the F.Y.E.

Here's a simple lesson in DVD Economics for you Luke (and you too, false). In order for whomever owns the rights to the "all important" canons of the Ritz Brothers and Clark and McCullough (whom I had never even heard of until just now) there would have to be a demand for them. And I'm not talking about a lone loon who states his wish very unconvincingly with a meager sentence on a Three Stooges message board. As convincing as your argument is it is not enough.

You see gentlemen, manufacturing these things costs money: not just to print and press the DVDs mind you but other things like artwork, advertising and so on. So despite your obviously earnest and heartfelt plea for a Ritz Brothers retrospective ("Now we need a Ritz Brothers DVD Set from FOX and Universal." I feel your angst in all 47 letters and the period my brother!) I'm afraid it's all going to fall on Deaf ears. Now since I am fluent in American Sign Language I could accompany to the offices of 20th Century Fox and Universal but they would just sign to me and I would interpret for you what I already know: that there would have to be a lot more than one person who wants a fuckin' Ritz Brothers DVD set. In order for them to go through the trouble of making sets there would have to be hundreds of thousands of passionate, loquacious people such as yourself who also yearn for the Ritz Brothers. Sadly, the demand does not warrant supply.

Your best bet would to wait for the respective studios to offer such material for those "pick and choose your own DVD-R" deals they have on the web. I warn you though that can get mighty expensive.

[falsealarms]

You don't need to explain that to me. I'm just saying it's too bad some things get overlooked with the passage of time.

[metaldams]

Your best bet would to wait for the respective studios to offer such material for those "pick and choose your own DVD-R" deals they have on the web. I warn you though that can get mighty expensive.

When it comes to The Ritz Brothers, Wheeler and Woolsey (who already have a couple of DVDs like this) and their like, these made to order DVD's are exactly what I was thinking.  While I personally would love a set of rare Columbia and Roach shorts, realistically, DVR's are about our best bet right now for this to happen.

Borders is going out of business, and they sell mainstream films and music.  Basically, the whole business of physical media is dying out.

[metaldams]

Clark and McCullough (whom I had never even heard of until just now)

Geez you're out of it.  I just had a discussion with a real hot girl at a bar discussing which film was greater, ODOR IN THE COURT or IN A PIG'S EYE.  She was a rarity though, as I find most young college females these days prefer silent shorts to early talkies.

[falsealarms]

When it comes to The Ritz Brothers, Wheeler and Woolsey (who already have a couple of DVDs like this) and their like, these made to order DVD's are exactly what I was thinking.  While I personally would love a set of rare Columbia and Roach shorts, realistically, DVR's are about our best bet right now for this to happen.

Borders is going out of business, and they sell mainstream films and music.  Basically, the whole business of physical media is dying out.

Borders is going out of business because their high prices, getting beat soundly on the e-reader front (Amazon Kindle, BN Nook), building too many stores, and for many years outsourcing their online business to Amazon. Though you may be right about physical media. Amazon sells as many e-books as physical books now.

[metaldams]

Borders is going out of business because their high prices, getting beat soundly on the e-reader front (Amazon Kindle, BN Nook), building too many stores, and for many years outsourcing their online business to Amazon. Though you may be right about physical media. Amazon sells as many e-books as physical books now.

Even at Best Buy, stock is dwindling and the same at Target.  Within the next ten years, I predict buying physical media at a store will be a thing of the past.  Where's a good Criswell photo when I need one? 



That'll do.

[falsealarms]

I agree with some of that. I think buying CDs will be a thing of the past. MP3s have really killed CDs. There's probably not many people in their teens and 20s (maybe even 30s) who buy many/any CDs these days. I've bought maybe a handful in the past few years. I stream my music online, a stark contrast to how I got my music when I was growing up in the 90s (CDs in a store). Internet connections were way too primitive to stream music back then (I don't miss dial up). People in HS when I was (99-03) still had CD walkmans. Now you won't find many HS'ers now with anything besides an MP3 player.

But I think movies will live on awhile longer thanks to Blu Ray (and maybe Blu Ray 3D). The biggest change I've seen at my Target isn't less floor space for movies, but a clear shift in space devoted to Blu's vs DVDs. Blu Ray sales are on the rise. Unlike music, I still prefer physical copies of movies.

We still probably have a long ways to go before books are in as bad shape as CDs.

[Rich Finegan]

Now we need a Ritz Brothers DVD Set from FOX and Universal.

If you're a Ritz Brothers fan, have you seen the 1929 Vitaphone short HILDA starring Billie "Swede" Hall? (It's available on the recently released DVD set "Vitaphone Varieties 1926-1930"). I believe that the unbilled hotel bellboy in the short is Jimmy Ritz (in a totally previously undocumented credit). He is even called "Jimmy" in one scene.

As Ritz fans know, the brothers didn't make a film until early 1934 (the Educational short HOTEL ANCHOVY). But did you know they were contracted to make two Vitaphone 2-reel comedies later in 1934? For whatever reason, it never happened.