Though his fame didn't outlast the Depression era, Harry Richman was one of the top entertainers of the Jazz Age, a nightclub act with a flamboyant style often compared to Al Jolson. A period star of Broadway and the silver screen, he also earned notices for his hobby, aviation; he set a world record for altitude in 1935, and made the first transatlantic round trip in a single-engine plane. Born Harold Reichman, he started in vaudeville -- with a two-man act, as a comedian, and then with a song-and-dance number -- and played theaters from Chicago to San Francisco. Moving east ...