[Dixielandjazz] Sophie Tucker - Philadelphia Inquirer, November 22, 2013

[Robert Ringwald]

Sophie Tucker, Red Hot at the Walnut
by A.D. Amorosi
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 22, 2013
When Sophie Tucker called herself "the Last of the Red Hot Mamas," the plus-size
ragtime cafe singer-turned-Ziegfeld Follies vaudevillian-turned radio and TV personality
crafted an archetype, a sassy icon of traditional Yiddish song and bawdy comic tunes
whose catalog was dwarfed only by her outsize personality.
Tucker (1884-1966) was brassy, bodacious, loud and proud -- Mae West and Fanny Brice
rolled into one big lady. In her time she made hits of such songs as the slow, jazzy
"Some of These Days," "Real Women Have Curves," and "Hula Lou," and in her wake she
inspired the likes of Bette Midler. Anyone in show biz you'd call a "broad" has benefited
from her influence.
"Sophie was a bit of a stereotype, the loud, entertaining dame, the straight shooter
who speaks her mind and is always looking for a good man," says Bernard Havard, producing
artistic director of the Walnut Street Theatre, where Sophie Tucker: The Last of
the Red Hot Mamas opens this week in the Independence Studio on 3. "Every generation
has one."
When Havard saw the one-woman musical -- written by its star, Kathy Halenda, and
director, Richard Hopkins -- in Sarasota, Fla., not only did he realize that he had
to have it for the Walnut, he also recalled that the Walnut had Tucker's photo in
its lobby and memorabilia in its vault.
"Sophie was one of the supporting roles, Jenny Wimp, in our 1912 production of Louisiana
Lou," says Havard. "She did a foot-stomping spoof of underworld dancing, 'The Puritan
Prance,' that brought her the limelight, and annoyed the show's principal actor because
of it." Havard also has a program from Tucker's 1941 solo performance at Philadelphia's
Forrest Theater, at which she wore "a very expensive leopard-skin fur coat, definitely
not faux."
The Philadelphia connections don't end there. Author Lois Young-Tulin, Tucker's great-grandniece,
lives in Wyncote and has fond memories of vaudeville's grandest dame, who inspired
her to write.
"Sophie was charitable, not just with money, but time," Young-Tulin said during a
visit to the Walnut on Tuesday. "Especially with new actresses and singers, like
Judy Garland, who she mentored. Judy used to visit Sophie's and swim in her pool."
Young-Tulin not only inherited Tucker's writing skills and cherished tchotchkes --
candlesticks Tucker's parents brought from Russia, a gold, poodle-embellished wastepaper
basket, a blue diamond-encrusted enamel dog pin and matching cigarette case that
"still has Sophie's old Parliaments inside."
Tucker also left her great-grandniece a lesson. "Be independent. Sophie drummed that
into me. A girl must learn to be independent, never rely on other people or a man,
but be independent and know that she can take care of herself."
That brassy independence inspired coauthors Halenda and Hopkins (with their late
writing partner Jack Fournier) to have a go at Tucker's tale in 2002. For Halenda,
Sophie holds a focus on the ethno-religious aspect of Tucker's personality.
"Though I was raised a Baptist, I admired her passion and her very Jewish respect
and love of family," says the actress, citing such beautiful Tucker tunes as "My
Yiddishe Momma." She also keys into Tucker's power and emotionalism. "I appreciate
her stamina, heart, and philosophies on life and love."
Tucker was famously unlucky at love, with three ex-husbands to show for it, and Halenda
focuses as much on the pain in her life as the pleasure. "You can't appreciate good
times unless you've been kicked around, and at my age" -- the actress is 59 -- "I
get it. She went through a lot of heartache to find her heart. And I loved that she
was the first woman celebrity to wear pants in public."
Director Hopkins first found his inner Sophie, as many have, through Bette Midler,
whose live shows always include lengthy, bawdy Tucker interludes. Hopkins recalls
seeing Midler in the 1990s, hearing "Bette telling funny Sophie jokes, one after
the other, and thinking 'this old broad is shameless,' " says Hopkins. "So I started
researching her."
He sought out plays and musicals that featured Tucker, began to workshop what he
and Halenda were working on at their Florida Studio Theatre, and realized their play
should be a talking, dramatized concert. Fournier "delivered a daunting mound of
jokes, rhymes, couplets and musings," the show was launched, and the three quickly
had a successful touring one-woman production (arranger Jim Prosser provides piano
accompaniment).
While Hopkins thinks of Tucker as "crucial to the American psyche" as a woman alone
early in the 20th century who knows what she wants and goes out and gets it at a
time when very few women did, Halenda places her importance in a more contemporary
setting.
"Younger people will totally get her take on love, divorce, and staying true to yourself.
Sophie inspired Madonna and Miss Piggy. I bet Lady Gaga knows who she was."
-30


-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

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