About this item
The "First Lady of Show Business" and the "Last of the Red Hot Mamas," Sophie Tucker was a star in vaudeville, radio, film, and television. A gutsy, song-belting stage performer, she entertained audiences for sixty years and inspired a host of younger women, including Judy Garland, Carol Channing, and Bette Midler. Tucker was a woman who defied traditional expectations and achieved success on her own terms, becoming the first female president of the American Federation of Actors and winning many other honors usually bestowed on men. Dedicated to social justice, she advocated for African Americans in the entertainment industry and cultivated friendships with leading black activists and performers. Tucker was also one of the most generous philanthropists in show business, raising over four million dollars for the religious and racial causes she held dear.Drawing from the hundreds of scrapbooks Tucker compiled, Red Hot Mama presents a compelling biography of this larger-than-life performer. Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff tells an engrossing story of how a daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants set her sights on becoming one of the most formidable women in show business and achieved her version of the American dream. More than most of her contemporaries, Tucker understood how to keep her act fresh, to change branding when audiences grew tired and, most importantly, how to connect with her fans, the press, and entertainment moguls. Both deservedly famous and unjustly forgotten today, Tucker stands out as an exemplar of the immigrant experience and a trailblazer for women in the entertainment industry.
About the Author
I am currently an Associate Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. My research interests focus on American cultural and intellectual history in the 19th and 20th Centuries. I also study the construction of racial and ethnic identities and the politics of representation. I have published articles on race relations and popular culture in American Quarterly the Journal of American History, and Cultural History. My first book, Black Culture and the New Deal: The Quest for Civil Rights in the Roosevelt Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2009) describes the employment of state-sponsored cultural programs as a form of racial policy during the 1930s and 1940s. Here, I focused on how radio, film, theatre, and other cultural arenas became central to the state's institutional development, as officials recognized the growing need to publicly acknowledge African Americans. My fascination in the institutionalization of racial and ethnic identities, primarily in the form of cultural outlets, extends to all of my research and teaching. My new book, Red Hot Mama: The Life of Sophie Tucker will be published by the University of Texas in April 2018. This project is the first extensive biography of singer, vaudevillian, and cabaret superstar Sophie Tucker. Best known for "My Yiddishe Mama" and "Some of These Days," Tucker first rose to celebrity in the 1910s and for five decades worked as one of the most famous singers across the U. S. and in Europe. Close to songwriters such as Irving Berlin and newcomers such as Judy Garland, Tucker forged the path for many women in show business, particularly those who defied conventional expectations for women. While Tucker was outrageous in her performances, she was also a strong advocate for the rights of African Americans in the entertainment industry, and for Jewish causes across the globe. Tucker serves as an ideal figure for understanding a period of incredible transformation in the American mass media, as well as the various ways in which ethnic groups--in this case American Jews--shaped their own religious/cultural practices to adapt to modern America. My book utilizes materials from the 400 scrapbooks that Tucker preserved for her own legacy.
