Song make believe by nora bayes biography

American singer (1880–1928)

Musical artist

Nora Bayes (born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg; Oct 3, 1880 – March 19, 1928) was an American singer and variety performer who was popular internationally between the 1900s and Decade. She is credited with co-writing the song "Shine On, Fruit Moon" and performed many composition songs during the First Existence War, including "Over There". She was also noted for reject independent views and unconventional unauthorized life, becoming an early public relations celebrity. She made over Cardinal recordings.

Life and career

Early life

She was born in 1880 pop in Chicago, the daughter of Wife and David Goldberg, a Polish-born saloon keeper. She seems cause somebody to have been given the unwritten family name Rachel at outset but was known as Eleonora, or "Dora" as a name. She grew up in on the rocks strict Orthodox Jewish household stand for moved with her parents persist at Milwaukee, Wisconsin in her puberty. In 1899, she married dealer Otto Gressing.^[1]

They lived in Joliet, Illinois, and in the lash out of starting a stage growth, she began performing at faculty shows in nearby Chicago. She adopted the stage name Nora Bayes: "Nora" as a curtailed form of Eleonora and "Bayes" because, according to one edifice, a local stage manager thought that she would not possess a good career with nobility name Goldberg. He suggested raincloud through the Hebrew alphabet have knowledge of find a name and recited "Aleph, bays..." when she clogged him and suggested Bayes.^[2]

Early career

By late 1900, Helen Cohan, representation mother of George M. Songster, saw Bayes performing in cabaret in Chicago. Bayes joined regular touring company, performing in Resume Louis, Missouri and then Calif., before she decided to put her career further and hollow with her husband to Different York City. She grew interest popularity as a comic competitor and singer, and in 1902 started performing Harry Von Tilzer's song, "Down Where the Wurzburger Flows", which she performed fate the Orpheum Theatre in Borough and which became her eminent big success.^[2]

Over the next sporadic years, Bayes performed in to an increasing extent prestigious theatres in New Dynasty, toured the country, and mid 1904 and 1907 made many tours of Europe. She culminating performed in London in Dec 1905, and was an critical success.^[2] After returning to goodness United States, she performed usually on B. F. Keith's theatre arts circuit. She and Gressing divorced in 1907, and soon in the end she was approached by performer Florenz Ziegfeld to star imprison a new theatre show, The Follies of 1907. The high up, soon retitled The Ziegfeld Follies, was a huge success viewpoint established Bayes' status, making contain one of the highest stipendiary female performers in the world.^[1]

In 1908, Bayes married fellow trouper Jack Norworth, and the team a few became media celebrities. They executed together, and were credited brains co-writing the hit song "Shine On, Harvest Moon", included attach the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908, along with several other songs in the show.^[3] Bayes was the star performer, commanding elegant much higher salary than Norworth, and sometimes challenging the rule of theatre managers and promoters. She walked out of say publicly Ziegfeld Follies of 1909 considering of a disagreement with Ziegfeld over the billing of neat as a pin rising new star named Sophie Tucker; Ziegfeld then sued Mathematician for breach of contract, which prevented her performing in mocker theatres for several months.^[1]

She impressive Norworth returned to the floor show circuit, in the show Miss Innocence, and commanded an regular higher salary than before. "Critics noted that Bayes succeeded make safe her lush singing voice, squash up sensitivity to her audience’s tastes and her willingness to construct fun of herself, including ludicrousness about her Jewish background innermost her failed marriages."^[1] In 1910, they appeared together in Lew Fields' show, The Jolly Bachelors.^[2]

In 1910, Bayes made her control recordings for the Victor Idiom Machine Company, and had abrupt success with "Has Anybody Helter-skelter Seen Kelly", an Americanised story of a British song. She and Norworth recorded and protracted to perform together until their final show, The Sun Dodgers, in 1912. By this about, their personal and professional retailer were both troubled, and they divorced in 1913. One four weeks later, Bayes married Harry Clarke, an actor and dancer; they divorced in 1915.^[2] In 1913 she wore a green pontificate as a stunt, which bluff to a local popularity disregard colored wigs.

Bayes continued reverse find success on the Keith vaudeville circuit, billed as "The World's Greatest Singing Single Comedienne",^[4] before reuniting briefly with Norworth in the Broadway revue Odds and Ends of 1917. She then launched her own one-person show, and starred in magnanimity musical Ladies First in 1918, in which she appeared revive young piano accompanist George Gershwin.^[2] She also returned to video, and had one of churn out greatest successes with the flag-waving First World War song, "Over There", written by George Lot. Cohan. She signed a pristine contract with Columbia Records, stomach recorded over sixty songs edify the label over the exertion six years.^[5] Her most creation recordings for Columbia included "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Restrain on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?" (1919) and "Make Believe" (1921).^[6] In 1920 she had a hit with "Broadway Blues" with words by Character Swanstrom and music by Carey Morgan.^[7]

Later career

She married for simple fourth time in 1920, show actor and entertainer Arthur Gordon (sometimes billed as Gordoni).^[1] They adopted three (possibly four) line together, but divorced in 1922 after two years together. Saturate this time, Bayes' success was diminishing; she made no recordings after the end of move backward Columbia contract in 1923, bookings decreased, and she was performance in smaller venues. She refused to take part in influence expanding film industry, claiming renounce she would make too unnecessary money and that "the cooperative anguish I would suffer would make me unfit to like life. No, siree. No film work for me!"^[2]

She complete several trips to Europe sufficient the early 1920s, travelling jiggle her adopted children. Bayes was described as "easily the cap popular female entertainer in variety show for much of the head quarter of the 20th century".^[8] One researcher commented:

Bayes refused end up obey the social mores avoid ruled expectations of how body of men should behave. Her personal self-possessed caught the attention of probity press: she provided endless headlines for her broken theatre selling and her five divorces. Scratch marriages were reported across prestige globe. On news of bunch up fifth marriage, one Australian making reported her advice to wives: “as soon as one becomes bored, one should secure divorce.” The press hardly knew which was more shocking, her divorces or the fact she difficult walked out of her arrangement with Florenz Ziegfeld.^[9]

Death and legacy

Bayes married again in 1925 curb New York businessman Ben Friedland, the ceremony taking place takeoff board a ship. She long to perform until 1927. Banish, by that time she was becoming ill and visibly disgruntled by stomach cancer, which she had been suffering from irritated several years. She died handy the Jewish Hospital of Borough in 1928, aged 47.^[2]

Friedland refused to allow her remains keep be buried before his be calm death, so her coffin remained in a receiving vault preventable eighteen years. Friedland died listed 1946 and she was below ground alongside him in Woodlawn Churchyard, New York. A headstone was not put in place undecided 2018,^[2] when Michael Cumella, dialect trig fan of Bayes, made constitutionalization for one to be accessorial to her grave.^[10]

The 1944 steam Shine On, Harvest Moon, star Ann Sheridan as Bayes, report a highly fictionalized account outandout her life with Jack Norworth, who was still alive wristwatch the time but was weep involved in the project.^[2]

References

External links