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BIOGRAPHY
Rising to fame in the twenties and early thirties, Ruth
Etting was renowned for her great beauty, her gorgeous voice and her tragic life. She
starred on Broadway, made movies in Hollywood, married a mobster, had
numerous hit-records, fell in love and was known as America's Sweetheart of Song.
Born in David City, Nebraska on November 23,
1897, Ruth
left home at seventeen for Chicago and art school. She got a job designing costumes at a
night club called the Marigold Gardens and when the tenor got sick, she was pulled into
the show since she was the only one who could sing low enough. That led to dancing in the
chorus line and eventually featured solos. Her career in costume design and art was soon
forgotten.
By 1918 she was the featured vocalist at the
club and the Gimp entered her life. A Chicago gangster, Moe Snyder married Ruth in 1922
and managed her career for the next two decades. Her numerous radio appearances during
these years, led her to become known as Chicago's Sweetheart.
In 1926 she was discovered by a record company executive
and immediately signed to an exclusive recording deal with Columbia Records, which led to
nation-wide exposure. Her early recordings were very straightforward in delivery. She
later commented that "I sounded like a little girl on those records!" and
insisted that her voice was actually much deeper than these recordings would lead one to
believe.
In 1927 Ruth was ready to hit New York and
she was an instant success. Irving Berlin suggested her for the Ziegfeld Follies and she
was hired after Ziegfeld checked her ankles, not her voice. She appeared in
the Follies of 1927. In 1929 she starred with Eddie
Cantor in Whoopee! and in 1930 she made 135 appearances in
Simple Simon with Ed
Wynn. In 1931 she appeared in the very last
Follies, shortly before Ziegfeld's death.
The blond hair and blue eyes and stunning voice all led to
her being dubbed the Sweetheart of Columbia Records, America's Radio Sweetheart, and
finally America's Sweetheart of Song. She began to experiment with tempo and phrasing
during this period in her career. Her trademark was to change the tempo - alternating
between normal tempo, half-time and double-time to create and maintain interest.
Ruth had over sixty hit recordings. Among her best in the
Jazz Age are "Button Up
Your Overcoat" and
"Mean to Me" and in the
depression, "Ten Cents A Dance".
Her versions of "Shine on
Harvest Moon", "Let Me Call You Sweetheart",
"You Made Me Love
You" and "Love Me or
Leave Me" became her signature songs.
Next she headed to Hollywood and made a string of movie shorts
and three full-length features. Her big break came in
Roman Scandals with Eddie Cantor
and Lucille Ball in a bit part. Then came Gift of Gab
and Hips Hips Hooray.
It was in Hollywood that her loveless marriage finally fell
apart. In 1937 Ruth fell for her accompanist and in a rage, the Gimp shot him. The
musician survived, Snyder went to jail and Ruth ended up divorcing him and marrying her
true love, Mryl Alderman. But the scandal was too much for her career to survive. She made
a few attempts at a comeback, but her days as America's Sweetheart were over.
Ruth Etting made her first record in 1926 and
her last in 1937. Completely lacking in the performer's ego, she called her early
recordings corny and kept none of her original 78's. In 1955 her story was made into a
movie, ultimately nominated for six Academy Awards and winning the Award for Best Story.
Love Me or Leave Me starred Doris Day and James Cagney as the Gimp.
Ruth
Etting died on September 24 1978, in Colorado Springs.
In 1999, Ruth Etting's version of "Ten Cents A Dance",
and in February of 2005, her version of "Love Me or
Leave Me" were inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.
Sources for this biography:
Jim Bedoian, Take Two Records, 1979 and 1981
Fred Hyatt, KPFK - FM, Los Angeles, Take Two Records, 1987
R. Richard Savill, The
Jazz Age Page, 1997
The Internet Movie Database
Ltd, 1997
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