Larry Rich

Biography

Early professional name: Larry Richardson Larry Rich came from a family that was very active in the theatre. One of five children, Laurence Richardson Jossenberger was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, Victor (1872-1962) was a stage carpenter in the Greenwall Opera House at Third and Rusk Streets. Victor later became a film editor in Hollywood. A Fort Worth newspaper reported that young Larry sold sheet music in the lobby of the local Majestic Theatre, and introduced the patrons to the song "Frankie and Johnny." Larry founded a theatrical stock company in 1909 that performed in many Texas towns. He later went on the road with L.H. Wilson, touring the East, the Pacific Coast, then returning to Fort Worth. All three boys in the family became players in local stock companies in Texas (Frank North Stock Co.), New Jersey, Missouri and California (Burbank Stock Company). Eventually all the boys used the professional name Rich, derived from their mother's name, Helen Samantha Richardson, and they toured in stock companies. According to an obituary, Larry's mother was known on the stage as Helen Rich. In 1913 Larry, as Laurence Jossenberger, appeared in touring productions, including "One Good Woman" (1913). Later in the 'teens, Larry (still as Laurence Jossenberger) acted in the nascent film business, working for United Film Co., New Art Pictures Corp., and Pike's Peak Films Company. It was while filming "The Heart Of A Man" (1914), the first production of the Colorado-based Pike's Peak Photoplay Company, that Larry was injured while playing dead on cliff that collapsed beneath him. He was playing what he described as "a Mexican heavy." It was reported that his horse fell on him and broke an arm and a rib. As a result, Larry appeared at film screenings to tell his tale of peril to an audience eager to hear the inside story from a movie star. On September 26, 1919, while acting in Los Angeles theatres, he married Cheri McIntosh (October 11, 1900-?). One newspaper reported that Cheri had been one of the few Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties who could actually swim. As "Cherri Mack" she had also played in theatre, so they were married at 9:00 PM onstage in a Burbank theatre. By 1919 Larry used the professional name Larry Richardson, and his wife would later be billed with him as Cheri Rich or "Mlle. Cherie." Larry's brother Philip Jossenberger (1898-1956), who went by the professional name Phil Rich, played with the Garrett Stock Co. in Kansas, and toured extensively in vaudeville before becoming a successful supporting player in Hollywood. His brother Victor Jossenberger (1896-1965) was known as Bernie Rich. Not only was Bernie active in theatre (scenery, acting, singing), but he had great skill as engineer in the growing field of aviation. The most successfully member of the family was Richard Lee Jossenberger (1909-1967), known professionally as Dick Rich, who was a prolific actor with over 200 film credits. Larry's sister, Merle Marie Jossenberger (1900-1961) was married to a musician named Nathaniel Richard Lesnie (1909-1967) and lived most of her life in Hollywood. Nat Lesnie changed his name to Leslie sometime after 1930. In 1924 Rich was manager of two St. Louis theatres, the Lyric and The Avenue. In 1925, as Larry Richardson, he appeared in Century Studio comedies in support of comics like Wanda Wiley, Edna Marion, and Eddie Gordon. Some of the titles include "My Baby Doll," "Itching For Revenge," "A Taxi War," and "Crowning the Count." Around 1925, Larry created a vaudeville act, and changed his professional name to Larry Rich, and it would stay that way for the rest for his career. Touring coast-to-coast on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit, Larry Rich was known as clown, singer, dancer, master of ceremonies and fronted a dance orchestra of 10 to 14 musicians. He often joked about being mistaken for Paul Whiteman, and being chased down the street for autographs. Ultimately he would surpass Whiteman in girth. In vaudeville he successfully toured the country with his wife, Cheri, the Dean Twins (dancers) and often his brother, Bernie. In 1928, the Vitaphone Film Corp. featured Larry in a highly entertaining musical short entitled erroneously, "Dick Rich & His Synco-Symphonists." Film shorts of the late 1920s were made in a few days, and it was not unusual for a typo to be made in the credits. Ironically, years later it would be his brother, Dick Rich, who would become a successful actor in Hollywood. The film, now available from Warner Home Entertainment, captures Rich's ebullient and wry sense of humor. He was often compared, physically, to the portly, legendary Paul Whiteman. In the film, he is aided by the Dean Twins and his wife, billed as Cheri Rich. It appears that the family caused confusion with name spelling, as Larry's first name was often in print as Lawrence or Laurence (he signed his name Laurence). His wife's name was spelled in various ways; as Cherri, Cherry, Cherie, McIntosh, Macintosh, MacIntosh. His adopted daughter was billed either as Janee Rich or Shirlee Rich. The name Jane "Cuddles" Shirley appears in the credits of Rich's 1925 film "My Baby Doll." In New York, Larry and Cheri Rich lived on West End Avenue in 1930, then moved to Jamaica, Queens. While touring in Minneapolis he discovered a local act called the Andrews Sisters. He added them to his show and in January, 1932 introduced them to New York during his engagement at the legendary Hippodrome. They adopted two children, Larry Rich, Jr. and Jane Shirlee, who appeared in vaudeville with their parents. In 1933 he returned to St. Louis as member of the Municipal Opera, making his debut as "Karp," handyman from Barnum's museum, in "The Nightingale." Rich often shared the bill with famous headliners, including Dick Powell, Irene Bordoni, Marion Sunshine, Van & Schenck, Carmel Myers, Helen Kane and Ozzie Nelson. His "Musical Monarchs" and "Synco-Symphonists" revues were slightly less than an hour in length. The shows consisted of several varied acts, that could include as many as 40 performers: Rich's orchestra, a tap troupe, a wire-walker, another comedian, a pantomime artist, an aerialist, a gymnast, singers, "The Little Rich Girls" (dancers), and always his wife, Cheri, sometimes billed as a "Parisian singer," or "Miss Pert of Paradise." The fans enjoyed when he stepped down and wandered through the audience, "on a hand-shaking tour," baton in hand. It was in 1935 that Rich's struggle with heart problems and diabetes led to his cancellation of an engagement in Boston. In a period of six months he had gone from 370 pounds to 170. In the summer of 1935, Rich was appearing at Loew's Paradise Theatre in the Bronx (with his wife and children), when he was suddenly taken ill, and died at home in Jamaica, Queens, Saturday, August 3 from a heart ailment. A Christian Science funeral service was held at Riverside Memorial Chapel at West 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. He was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. On August 7, 1935, Broadway columnist Ed Sullivan wrote: "Larry Rich, the vaude actor, is dead...So goes the terse announcement that doesn't reveal the grand trouper's courage...He had been ailing from diabetes for some time... Last week, he was booked into the Paradise Theatre...After the first show, an ambulance took him to the hospital...'For God's sake,' Rich pleaded to Manager Jerry Di Rosa, 'Don't cancel me. I need the money desperately'...He came from the hospital to the theatre to play each of twenty-eight shows at the Paradise...Then, his string played out, Larry Rich died...But he died happy...His week's check will go to his widow...Greater love, they say, hath no man...In my box score he's marked 1,000 per cent..."