Sophie Tucker : first lady of show business / by Armond Fields.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fields, Armond, 1930-2008.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tucker, Sophie, 1884-1966.

Tucker, Sophie.

Singers--United States--Biography.

Singers.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

vii, 264 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., [2003]

Summary:

In 1906, armed only with the names of several Tin Pan Alley songwriters and encouragement from friends, Sophie Tucker arrived in New York to seek a career on the popular stage. This young, ambitious orthodox Jewish immigrant would come to personify the American Dream and gain international fame in a career spanning sixty years. This is a biography of a vaudeville and cabaret performer who saw herself as one of the first liberated women and the "Last of the Red Hot Mammas." It tells the story of her birth as her mother traveled to Boston from Russia, her childhood in Boston, and her first public performance at Poli's Vaudeville Theatre at the age of 13. It also recounts her troubled marriage to Louis Tuck and the birth of their son, her meeting with Willie Howard, a vaudeville veteran who encouraged her to go to New York and pursue a stage career, her discovery by Flo Ziegfeld, her rise to headliner status under the guidance of her agent William Morris, and her work in films.

Contents:

Welcome to America

Breaking in

The Mary Garden of ragtime (1)

The Mary Garden of ragtime (2)

Vaudeville stardom

Celebrating cabarets

Risky business

At the top of her game

Burning up the boards

Honky tonk

Escape to London

Looking back over her shoulder

The labor union blues

Fast becoming a legend

The glory years

A fabulous character.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-257) and index.

ISBN:

0786415770

OCLC:

51878557