Theatre Register

Ruth Etting

Shows · Ruth Etting

Actor 1897–1978 On stage 19271931

Ruth Etting (November 23, 1896 – September 24, 1978) was an American singer and actress during the 1920s and 1930s, who had over 60 hit recordings and worked in stage, radio, and film. Known as "America's sweetheart of song", her signature tunes were "Shine On, Harvest Moon", "Ten Cents a Dance" and "Love Me or Leave Me". As a young girl in Nebraska, Etting had wanted to become an artist; she drew and sketched all the time. At sixteen, her grandparents decided to send her to art school in Chicago. While Etting attended class, she found a job at the Marigold Gardens nightclub. After a short time there, Etting gave up art classes in favor of a career in show business. Etting, who enjoyed singi…

On stage 5 productions, 4 years

1927 Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 New Amsterdam Theatre · Original · directed by Sammy Lee 167 perf.
1928 Whoopee New Amsterdam Theatre · Original · directed by William Anthony McGuire 379 perf.
1928 Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic [1929] Frolic Theatre · Original · directed by Sammy Lee
1930 Simple Simon Ziegfeld Theatre · Original · directed by Zeke Colvan 135 perf.
1931 Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 Ziegfeld Theatre · Original · directed by Edward Clarke Lilley 165 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Dorothy Patterson 4 productions
Mary Coyle 3 productions
Jean Ackerman 3 productions
Helen Walsh 3 productions
Gladys Glad 3 productions
Frieda Mierse 3 productions
Dorothy Flood 3 productions
Catherine Moylan 3 productions
Blanche Satchell 3 productions
Ruth Patterson 2 productions
Rose Gale 2 productions
Pirkko Ahlquist 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 12 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on1 work

America's Sweetheart

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature2 passages

  • Simple Simon Cast included Ed Wynn, Alan Edwards, Doree Leslie, Ruth Etting, Harriet Hoctor, Will Ahearn, Bobbe Arnst, Paul Stanton and Lennox Pawletheatre-pdfs/Thou Swell Thou Witty-The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart - Hart, Dorothy.txt
  • with composer Walter Donaldson. In that show Eddie Cantor introduced ‘Makin’ Whoopee” and Ruth Etting first sang “Love Me or Leave Me.” But Kahn spent most of his career in Hollywood, where he collaborated on the scores for The Jazz Singer (1927), Flying Down to Rio (1933) andtheatre-pdfs/Word Crazy-Broadway Lyricists (Hischak).txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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