{"id":2775,"date":"2013-09-16T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-16T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faujsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:18:07","slug":"sophie-tucker-last-of-the-red-hot-mamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/collections\/judaic-collection\/sophie-tucker-last-of-the-red-hot-mamas\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red-Hot Mamas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Portrait<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as the Last of the Red Hot Mamas, Sophie Tucker<\/strong><\/a> had a career that began in vaudeville, embraced the new jazz age of the 1920\u2019s and lasted well into the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Widely known for her bawdy humor (which may seem tame by today\u2019s standards) and her big personality, she never lost touch with her Jewish roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Tucker \u2018s original Decca rendition of My Yiddishe Momme, recorded in 1928, featured an English version<\/strong><\/a> on Side A and a Yiddish version<\/strong><\/a> on Side B.  Among the recordings she made on the Mercury label beginning in the 1950s was this rendition of My Mother\u2019s Sabbath Candles, also in both English<\/strong><\/a> and Yiddish<\/strong><\/a> versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Tucker quotes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I couldn’t make [Momme] understand that it wasn’t a career that I was after. It was just that I wanted a life that didn’t mean spending most of it at the cookstove and the kitchen sink. (Some of the Days<\/em>, 1945)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knew the theater was to be closed down, and a landmark in show business would be gone. That feeling got into the acts. The whole place, even the performers, stank of decay. I seemed to smell it. It challenged me. I was determined to give the audience the idea: why brood over yesterday? We have tomorrow. As I sang I could feel the atmosphere change. The gloom began to lift, the spirit which formerly filled the Palace and which made it famous among vaudeville houses the world over came back. That’s what an entertainer can do. (Concerning the November 19, 1932 closing of the Palace theater in NYC, i.e. the end of vaudeville.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected items<\/strong><\/a> from our collection of Sophie Tucker recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Tucker\u2019s performance on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Autographed<\/a>
Autographed inside flap from copy of Tucker’s autobiography<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If you enjoyed this blog post be sure to like us on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Known as the Last of the Red Hot Mamas, Sophie Tucker had a career that began in vaudeville, embraced the new jazz age of the 1920\u2019s and lasted well into the 1960s. Widely known for her bawdy humor (which may seem tame by today\u2019s standards) and her big personality, she never lost touch with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737,413],"tags":[272,307,335,336,357],"class_list":["post-2775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collections","category-judaic-collection","tag-my-yiddishe-momme","tag-red-hot-mama","tag-some-of-these-days","tag-sophie-tucker","tag-vaudeville"],"yoast_head":"\nSophie Tucker: Last of the Red-Hot Mamas - Recorded Sound Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Celebrate Sophie Tucker, the Last of the Red Hot Mamas, with historic recordings and bold musical legacy from the Recorded Sound Archives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/collections\/judaic-collection\/sophie-tucker-last-of-the-red-hot-mamas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red-Hot Mamas - 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