Movies include: Honky Tonk, 1929 Gay Love, 1934 Broadway Melody of 1938, 1937 Thoroughbreds Don ’t Cry, 1937 Follow the Boys, 1944 Sensations of 1945, 1944 Atlantic City, 1944.Īwards: Election to the Friars Club, 1950 Gold Seal Commendation from the Mayor of San Francisco, 1953 Citation of Merit from the Mayor of New York City, 1953 Gold Heart Award, London Variety Club, 1959.īecause Tucker was somewhat hefty, and was not considered to be one of the beauties of her day, her manager and producers had her sing in black face as a comic singer. Musicals include: Mary Mary, 1911 Louisiana Lou, 1912 Hello Alexander, 1919 Follow a Star, 1930 Leave It to Me, 1938. Sang in Ziegfeld Follies, Atlantic City, 1909 toured with Frank Westphal, 1914-1916 toured with The Kings of Syncopation, 1916-1919 sang in the Winter Garden Theater, 1919 toured England, 19 command performance for King and Queen of England, 1934. 1901 married Frank Westphal, 1914, divorced 1917 married Al Lackey 1930, divorced 1933.ĭebuted at the Village Cafe, New York City, 1906 began singing in Vaudeville, 1906. For the Record …īorn Sophie Kalish, January 13, 1884, in Russia died February 9,1966, in New York. By 1906, Tucker was traveling the New England Vaudeville circuit. Perseverance led to a performance at an amateur hour, which led to an agent, which led to vaudeville. Eventually, she was able to get a job singing at a beer hall. When money became low, she ended up singing for her supper at small cafes. For months, she tramped around the city of New York trying to get someone to give her a chance. Performed in Vaudevilleīreaking into show business is hard work, but Sophie Tucker, as she began calling herself, was used to that. Tucker continued working for the restaurant until she had a small savings of her own, and then, leaving Albert in the loving care of her sister and mother, left Hartford for the lights of Broadway. After the birth of their first child, Albert, he left them. It quickly became evident that while Louis Tuck was a good man, he was not a hard worker, and was not going to give his wife the life she wanted. Soon after finishing high school, Sophie Tucker married Louis Tuck. She witnessed her mother working even harder, and she wanted to create an easier life for herself and her mother. She would rise early before school to prepare food, and work after school washing dishes until very late. She soon realized that singing for the customers was easier than cooking for them, and decided go into show business herself.Īll throughout her school years, Tucker helped in the restaurant -cooking, cleaning, and serving. Tucker, an energetic extrovert even as a child, picked up their songs quickly, and found she could also pick up some spare change when she sang them for the diners. Because the restaurant offered good food at low prices, it was often filled with the entertainers playing the local vaudeville house. ![]() The family lived first in Boston, and then when Tucker was eight, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to open the restaurant where she was to get her first taste of show business. Her parents, Russian Jews, fled their country in the late nineteenth century for the better life America had to offer. Tucker always boasted that she was born on the road, not between theaters, but between countries. Known as “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, ” she thoroughly enjoyed her slightly risque reputation. She picked songs she knew her audiences would love, both tear-jerking ballads and comic “hot ” songs -she laughed uproariously, and wept copiously on stage as in life. With limitless energy, she traveled constantly for many years, giving several shows a night. Sophie Tucker was loud, lavish, brash, brassy, sexy, sassy, and just a little bit naughty.
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