ARCH WARD - AUTOGRAPH CIRCA 1940 CO-SIGNED BY: THE RITZ BROTHERS , THE RITZ BROTHERS (JIMMY RITZ), THE RITZ BROTHERS (AL RITZ), THE RITZ BROTHERS (HARRY RITZ) - HFSID 84350

ARCH WARD and THE RITZ BROTHERS: AL RITZ, JIMMY RITZ and HARRY RITZ
Signatures: "Regards from/Arch Ward", 6x4½ album leaf. Ink note (unknown hand) at upper right: "10-10-40". Also signed on verso:"Ritz Bros/Al", "Harry" and "Jimmy". Magazine photo (b/w, 3x1½) to right of signatures. Ink note (unknown hand) at upper right: "8-15-40". ARCH WARD (1897-1955), sports editor of the "Chicago Tribune", was also an important sports innovator. In 1923, Ward organized the first Golden Gloves tournament for young amateur boxers. Ten years later, he originated the idea of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, the first of which was held in Chicago in 1933 during the Chicago World's Fair. The "Chicago Tribune" was in charge of distributing and counting the ballots. Ward's next big contributions were to football. In 1934, he organized the College All-Star Game, in which a team of graduating seniors played the defending National Football League champions for charity. The series continued, playing in Chicago's Soldier Field, until the NFL's total dominance of the event brought it to an end in 1976. Ward wasn't finished with football. He was a principal organizer of the All-American Football League, which challenged the NFL in 1946 and triggered a salary war. The AAFL folded three years later, but three of its franchises, the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts, survived as teams in the NFL. Brothers AL RITZ (1901-1965), JIMMY RITZ (1904-1985) and HARRY RITZ (1907-1986), who became known for their wide-eyed expressions, first became a team called the Collegians in 1925 (managed by a younger brother, George). The zany comedians debuted in Hollywood with a film short, Hotel Anchovy, in 1934. Their other movie vehicles included Sing, Baby Sing (1936), Life Begins in College (1937), The Three Musketeers (1939) and Never a Dull Moment (1943). The brothers remained popular thereafter in live performances and TV guest appearances. Jimmy and Harry appeared individually in small film roles into the mid-1970s. Small binder holes at right edge. Fine condition.