Musings About Music

This beautiful 8x10, black and white glossy by the Photographer of the Stars, Maurice Seymour, of Chicago, is in my personal collection and framed on the wall of the Windmill Free House.

This following little story about Harry Richman is in two parts; first the understood history and second my observations about the man himself. I learned about him from his writings, conversations, and from a rare video copy of a Canadian interview with him much later in his life.

The Official History

Harry Richman was a leading entertainer in the 1920s and 1930s. He performed on stage and in movies; he strutted rather than danced. He was an accomplished pianist, songwriter, and nightclub performer and owner.

Additionally, he was an early aviation proponent.

Harry Richman was born Harry Reichman in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 10, 1895.  His mother and father came from Germany and Russia, respectively.  Harry changed his name to Richman when he was 11 and a paid piano player in cafes and bars.

At 15, he was playing piano for Mae West and later, for The Dolly Sisters.  And he was the pianist for equally famous Nora Bayes. In 1922, he appeared on Broadway with Bayes.

He developed a life-long association with Mae West and later, at a testimonial, she said to him, "I don't remember if I discovered you or you discovered me, Harry, but I do remember you had a great touch -- even on the piano." 

By 1923 he was performing as a single in vaudeville, being second on the bill, and he was getting good reviews in Variety, the newspaper of the entertainment business.   Two years later, he was playing the Palace in NYC...the top of the heap.  And later, he had considerable success in several George White’s Broadway "Scandals."  He was master of ceremonies and sang in Ziegfeld Follies of 1931.

He made a feature film in Hollywood in 1930, "Puttin’ on the Ritz," in which he sang and strutted to that Irving Berlin song. His record of the song was a hit that same year. He also starred in the movie, "The Music Goes Round and Round." His film career was short lived because of his inept acting which was made even more apparent by his powerful personality. However, his poor acting ability did nothing to dim his popularity as a nightclub and stage performer.

(To hear Harry sing, "Puttin' on the Ritz")

Maurice Chevalier gives Richman credit for the assumed style of Chevalier and there were leading performers who said they became famous because of their imitation of Richman’s flare. Richman was an original and so, has his imitators. At one time, he was considered the most imitated performer in America...and possibly France.

But did Harry have an idol?

Yes, it was one known for his success at performing and attracting beautiful, famous women: Al Jolson. Both Al Jolson and Harry Richman gave every song and every performance all they could give. The power and modulation in each performer’s voice was 100%.

Harry lived well but spent money freely on good times and for the most part retired in the 1940s when he started to lose his powerful, rich voice. He made a few appearances, including TV, into the 1950s.

Personal Observations

All the dry facts really say nothing about the man as a man. I have been interested in Harry Richman for several reasons and here are my qualified thoughts about him and most of this comes from his voice and his writings.

Harry published his autobiography, "A Hell of a Life," in 1966 when few people had any memory of him. The availability and price of this limited edition book varies and I am fortunate to have a copy. I have several period photographs of him, his autograph, some letters, and other Richman memorabilia.

Harry was primarily and constantly the quintessential womanizer and he bragged about it. In a literal sense, but unrecognized at the time, he acted as a pimp when wealthy acquaintances wanted some show girls for entertainment on their yacht as they cruised from Long Island, New York, where Richman had an estate, to Miami. Harry was considerate of his girl contacts by making the rich promise him that if the fellows were not happy with them, they would not just dump them ashore, but they would at least give the girls train fare back to NYC.

On one occasion he had a one-night fling with a married socialite and in print equated her bedroom performance to that of the more professional women whom he had purchased on many occasions. In a sham attempt to make the telling of this episode honorable, he stated that he couldn’t reveal her name because she might still have family living. Then he hinted at enough background information about her that anyone who knew her would know who he was talking about. With Harry, he had not a clue as to what he had done.

Harry married well a few times: three actually; but to no avail. At one wedding, he had 40 best men. Harry did nothing in a small way.

He was romantically involved with Clara Bow, as were many others, but Harry thought they were to be married since she said that they had been engaged 18 months. He was engaged; perhaps she was not. He found there was "someone else" when she told him on the phone, "Welcome home from England, Sweetheart. I am married now." Harry did not take this well at all. The gold-plated car he had given her was not returned.

The beautiful, redheaded Clara Bow...the original "It" Girl

And at some point, Harry was also engaged to Jean Harlow (by Harry’s recollection).

Harry volunteered to fill some long hours (from noon until midnight) on a new radio station in NYC. Radio itself was a new phenomenon with just two stations in NY.  He was not getting paid and he could use the time as he chose. It was assumed that he would sing and chit-chat about music. He did that but he also promoted songs and nightclubs for reimbursement. He would go to the many songwriters he knew and tell them that for some amount of money, he would sing and tout their new song on the radio. He would publicly rate the popularity of the song but he based this ranking on the amount he was being paid. Thus, he invented "payola" but it was called "good business" when he did it.

Some women were attracted to Harry as a person, but there were many more who were attracted to Harry as a famous person. It was not uncommon for a successful fellow to bring his painted face, peroxided "niece" (many years his junior) to some famous drinking, dining, and dancing club, but when these nieces changed nightly and all looked like show girls and they always arrived after the shows closed for the evening...it was suspect, but publicly overlooked -- and privately much envied by less fortunate men.

It was a little crass to have one on each arm. Harry arrived with four: "I need two every night and two each morning." He was not joking. He publicly stated (without verification) that his sexual endurance was going to be studied by a major university.

On one occasion, when he arrived at a club, the doorman said, while opening the door for Harry and his blonde entourage, "Good evening, Mr. Richman. I hope you enjoy your evening." Harry stopped and asked, "What is the largest tip you ever got for opening a door?"

The doorman said, "One hundred dollars."

Harry said, "Here is two," and then as an after-thought asked, "Who gave you the hundred?"

The doorman said, "You did, Mr. Richman."

Harry could take advantage of any opportunity because at heart he was a hustler. By chance and bluster, he got the lease on a favored piece of NYC business real estate and put in his own night club, The Club Richman.. The clientele kept asking him to increase his cover charge so they would not be bothered by "tourists." At this time, the famous preferred the Stork Club but the snobbish, old-money rich wanted an exclusive club. Harry obliged them and made a lot of money.

The property was owned by Dale Carnegie’s widow. Harry, while charming her into making the property available to him at a very good price, he managed to impress her beyond his intent. She later gave him a gold cigarette case with his initials inlaid on the top.

This was an expensive gift, but Harry thought he was a diamond sort of fellow so he had a large number of diamonds set into the initials. Harry would not do anything like this without making sure everyone knew it. He would show the case, say who gave it to him, and then point out the diamonds. He would have never considered how Mrs. Carnegie might have felt to know that her gift was insufficient without the diamonds. This was not a polite thing to do but Harry did this sort of thing often.

At the 1939 World’s Fair in NYC, he promoted himself through the sales of a pretty and clever cigarette case sold exclusively at the Fair. It was designed like an envelope of polished brass with several hard coats of lacquer to prevent tarnishing. At the Fair a note could be placed inside and it mailed from the Fair to whomever the lucky recipient was. The receiver’s address was added in India Ink when the case was purchased.   The stamp was safe under several hard coats of lacquer. The cancellation was embossed in the top of the envelope cigarette case.

The reverse side had the flap held closed by internal spring tension. The case could be lightly squeezed and the lid would pop open, then the back would swing down so the case would lay flat and open in the palm, thus exposing the cigarettes to the potential smoker.  The case had his etched autograph inside and he used these cases for most of that year.

He could be very crude and all the time having at ready-call his favorite saying, "I bet no bum from Cincinnati could do this!" In Harry’s writings, he says this many times and always "Bum" is capitalized.

When he was young in Cincinnati and trying to demonstrate his newly-found sense of class, he was stung by the comment of a peer. The fellow referred to Harry as a "bum."

Harry would remember this and later when Harry purchased two dozen silk shirts with his initials on the pocket, he would add, "That is not bad for a Bum from Cincinnati!"

He was saying this until a few months before he died. It had hurt him that much. And it shaped the way he thought and the way he did things.

But he was an entertainer and went from a piano player making a few dollars a week to playing command performances by notables from Al Capone to King George VI to Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to England. When he was requested to come to England and sing for the king, that king abdicated while he was enroute.  When Harry was introduced to perform before the new king and queen, Harry said that he was happy to be there to perform for the king..."any of them."  When his formal program was concluded and before the drinking and the chit-chat began, Harry ended by saying to the king and queen, "May God bless and keep you...I wish I could afford to!"

It was an inclination of Harry’s to claim that anyone he had ever even met, had they done well later, it was because of him and his giving them an early boost in their career.

Harry was going to miss a performance date because of poor transportation and someone suggested that he could fly him to the town and he would make the date. The idea of someone actually owning and flying his own airplane struck Harry as a great idea and one that he had never considered. In short order, Harry took flying lessons, became an accomplished pilot, and bought a nice single-engine amphibian. This was good thinking because in those days there were more places to land on water than on a runway at an airport.

At one time, he owned eight airplanes and he claimed that "his air force was larger than some nation’s."

He would finish a show in NYC, take a cab or one of his Rolls to a pier in East River, and take off at night in his Sikorsky S-39 amphibian. He would fly down to Miami, land on Biscayne Bay and taxi up to his boat dock at his home.  The plane was berthed beside his yacht "Doris" which was previously owned by tobacco heiress, Doris Duke. Air commuting over this distance was some pretty sophisticated individual flying for the late 20s and early 30s.

The house was built by Julius Fleischmann, of the yeast family. (We think that someone could make a lot of money selling yeast to bakeries...but the breweries were large users of yeast, as well.)

Harry bought the house for $30K, added $40K for 100 palms, oranges, lemon, limes, avocado, mango, and papaya. And he had a large garden, as well. The property was on Biscayne Bay where the Bay was about a two miles wide. Harry spent $40K on house additions after buying the next door lot for $10K. The original lot for the house was 150' x 300'. He had added a $30K dock for his boat and plane.

In 2010 dollars, the house cost him $1.4 million but that figure does not consider the escalating price of real estate on Biscayne Bay from 1930 until today.

At the suggestion of a fellow flier, on January 29, 1935, Harry nonchalantly established the altitude record for single-engine amphibians. On September 15^th of that year, with the same airplane, he established the long-distance, closed-course speed record for single-engine amphibians.

Harry thought that any airplane that could fly across the Atlantic should be flown back. No one had done that before. To promote aviation (not himself) he started planning the first round-trip, transatlantic flight.

(At this point I must say that Harry is not treated at all fairly by many in aviation circles and anyone who searches on "Richman" will find such poor references. Some of them are plain snide and inaccurate... though cleverly worded. It is said that a witty saying proves nothing – try convincing the American public of this.)

He started planning the first Atlantic round-trip flight and finally bought the plane to do it -- a modified Vultee, which he named, "Lady Peace." This was a (near-experimental) metal, low-wing aircraft with a single 750 h.p.engine. But Harry figured that he needed at least 1000 h.p. for take-off with the added fuel load. He learned that William Randolph Hearst was getting the next 1000 h.p. engine manufactured. Harry did not want to wait for the one he had ordered so after a quick telegram to Hearst (whom he knew -- naturally), the Hearst’s 1,000 h.p. engine was Harry’s.

He tested a bag of ping pong balls in his pool to figure out how many it would take to keep the plane afloat in case of ditching at sea. He tested them at different temperatures and pressures, as well. He left them to float in salt water for a week. He figured he needed 40,000. He bought 45,000 and managed to get them into every nook and cranny of the plane. He had to pay dearly to get this many ping pong balls because he was causing a one-man ping pong ball shortage -- and the source knew who wanted them.  Harry was ripped off.

And Harry was paying for all this himself and he would accept no sponsorship money even when he was begged to take it. The flight was for the promotion of aviation and not himself – which he hardly needed. However, he did have to borrow money from a New Orleans hotel man and old friend, but this was a personal loan and Harry repaid it.

He was doing some thorough planning.. He even had high-octane aviation fuel shipped to England for his return flight.

When all the hardware and planning was being completed, Harry started looking for a crewmate. He had never flown long distances over water and needed someone who had. Richman was active at the Miami Beach and Tennis Club and he asked around there to see if anyone had any ideas.

Someone at his club suggested he contact Dick Merrill, an Eastern Airline's pilot. Harry met with Merrill but Merrill thought it was a publicity stunt...until Harry explained how he had planned it and how much he had already done...and that Merrill would be paid just like he was co-piloting a commercial plane. This last item was a consideration in Merrill’s release from Eastern Airlines for the flight. Eddie Rickenbacker was the president of Eastern (a good friend of Harry’s – supposedly) and Harry had called Eddie to ask for Merrill’s release. Rickenbacker knew the commercial power of advertising and  agreed...if Richman paid Merrill his flight pay.

During this 1936 trip, Merrill flew some; Harry flew some.

Harry Richman before take off. "Lady Peace" is behind him.

They made it (barely) and while Harry was waiting for favorable weather to return, naturally, he was partying. However, Merrill, on his own, was garnering what Harry said he did not want – publicity. But Merrill was getting publicity for the pilot...who was himself (according to Merrill). The owner of the aircraft and financier of the flight was Richman but according to Merrill, Richman was merely his (Merrill’s) passenger! Merrill was talking to loud-mouth newspaper men in London. It was Merrill who wanted the publicity for himself. These stories appeared in the press and Harry was very unhappy. It was now looking like a publicity stunt. And then Eddie Rickenbacker showed up in London to talk with the press. He was promoting Eastern Airlines and his chief pilot, Merrill.

Harry had been a little naive on the point of his being involved in anything that others would not make the most of.  They could leech from his popularity and fame for their own public selves. For them, it was just too easy to do -- and too hard to resist.

Harry was furious with Merrill and Harry gave the newspaper man Hell (who happened to be a young loud-mouth, who never checked his sources -- Ed Sullivan).  Merrill had reported that the plane would be shipped back; not flown back. This was the very thing that was to be avoided by a round-trip Atlantic flight...the first.

Harry immediately made arrangements to have the fuel taken to a beach where Harry landed for fueling for the return flight. He needed the long beach to take off with the heavy load. He had told Merrill in London that when he got ready to take off the beach, he would look to his right and if Merrill was in the seat, that was fine...otherwise, he was leaving without him.

A contrite Merrill showed up and took his seat.

They returned home virtual enemies. The things that Merrill claims happened, did not happen the way he  stated them. He apparently could do no wrong.  Only Merrill and Harry were there. However, Merrill, out-living Harry, and having children, can certainly be his own hero even at someone else's expense. The plane continued to make news years after Harry sold it.

To recoup some of his costs, Harry autographed those ping pong balls and sold them.

Merrill continued his publicity stunts on his own after that.

I was interested in what Harry did after he retired and I wondered if he ever felt any remorse about the way he had treated women. This "human abuse of humans" is a principle issue today but much less so then, yet, Harry’s behavior seems a little extreme even for that day. His faults were many but he never recognized them as faults.

In 1947, he said that the voice forced him to retire "but every other part is still working fine -- I can still satisfy two ladies a day." At 52, he was implying two every day.

A few years ago, I located and purchased a rare copy of a Canadian televised interview with Harry that was done in 1970.

Harry still looked good, had a good speaking voice, and he was speaking in a measured manner...and the interview opened with his explanation of his perception of the female. His comments were certainly qualified by experience, and the interviewer and editor saw from the total interview what was important to Harry Richman.

When asked the measure of experience, Harry said that when he lived with Al Jolson for many years, he told him that they were working for the same goal...to be the richest actor in the grave yard. But Harry added..."with the most friends because friends cannot be bought."

Harry said that his life before 1966 was a hell of a life and in 1970 he stated that now he realized it was a double hell of a life.

In the interview, Harry was still bragging about his exploits with women and he agreed that the figures that he spent $13 million on women, $1 million on gambling, and $1 million on golf was pretty accurate.

He was a man with a constant nature.

During the time of the interview, Harry was living in a little white rent bungalow on a corner in Santa Monica, CA. He was no doubt living rent free in a house owned by his friend, Mae West, for whom he  played piano early in his career. West seems to have owned a lot of property there and helped other old performers.

Harry apparently was not being over-run by fans because his name and address were listed in the telephone book: "Harry Richman."

So Harry spent his life trying to demonstrate that he was not a Bum -- but Harry was confusing a "Bum" with a "panhandler"...and there were plenty of panhandlers around in those days.

No. Harry never figured out that what might have been implied was "a no-class bum." Harry Richman, for all his style and pizzazz simply had no class about him.

He was indeed a "no-class Bum."

Harry Richman died in Hollywood, California, November 3, 1972, from lung cancer.   George Jessel, America's Toastmaster General & Master of the Eulogy, delivered the eulogy at Harry's funeral.

Epilogue – The following month, just a few blocks from Harry’s rent house, his co-star of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, Ruth Etting, would be enjoying a party in her honor. She was 80, he would have been 77. No one thought of Harry. She had remembered Nick Lucas and he attended. The following year, she was dead at 81.

These people brighten the night like a neon sun.

Ken Cashion

Then You Know That You're In Love 1924

I Don't Believe It - But Say It Again 1925

I Found A Roundabout Way To Heaven 1926

I Love The Moonlight 1926

My Baby Knows How 1926

Rags 1926

Blue Bonnet - You Make Me Feel Blue 1926

C'est Vous (It's You) 1927

Miss Annabelle Lee 1927

Ro-Ro-Rolling Along 1930

That's That

One Little Raindrop 1930

Dream Avenue 1930

(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time 1931

Help Yourself To Happiness 1931