 The Ritz suffered from the effects of the General Strike of 1926 , subsequently seeing competition from the likes of the Dorchester Hotel and Grosvenor House . The Great Depression brought a sharp decline in business to the hotel , and in the summer of 1931 staff wages were reduced — the chefs , kitchen workers and the directors had a 25 % cut in their wages . To increase earnings , in 1935 Fred Cavendish @-@ Bentinck recommended that the hotel commence putting on a Cabaret show . Advertised in the Evening Standard , the programme was an immediate success . In January 1936 , Austrian comedian Vic Oliver was one of the entertainers hired to perform at the hotel for two weeks , and Cyril Fletcher appeared in the show for a month the following year . The BBC began broadcasting live performances from the restaurant of the hotel , with pianist Billy Milton and others . It was through the show that the Irving Berlin song " Puttin ' On the Ritz " grew in popularity , performed by Joe Kaye 's Dance Band . In 1937 , James Stephens shortly succeeded Lurgan as director of the Ritz before being replaced by Hans <unk> von <unk> , who had been on the board of the Ritz Hotel Development Company from 1910 and was also the chairman of the Paris Ritz . 
