SOPHIE TUCKER - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 09/02/1965 - HFSID 320452

SOPHIE TUCKER
Tucker writes a letter to American Cross President and CEO Basil O'Connor, asking him for aid with her classroom project in Israel
Autograph letter signed "Sophie/Tucker" in blue ink. 1 page, 7¼x10½, on personal letter head at the New Dimona High School in Israel's Negev. New York City, September 2, 1965. To "Dear Mr. O'Connor", In full: "I hope you won't mind my writing and asking your keep for my classroom in Israel,. We do need help so much, please may I hear you. Bless you. Thanks." After immigrating from Russia as an infant, SOPHIE TUCKER(1884-1966, born Sonia Kalish in Russia), began singing in her father's kosher restaurant in Hartford, Connecticut. Moving to New York, she established herself as a popular star of vaudeville and Broadway, appearing with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1909. In 1911, she recorded Some of These Days, which became her signature song and the title of her 1945 autobiography. Other songs made famous by Tucker included Red-Hot Mama (in 1928, the Palace Theater in New York billed her as "The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas", a slogan that became synonymous with the bawdy singer-entertainer). Another song, My Yiddische Mama, became all the more popular among European Jewry after it was banned by Hitler. Tucker, who made her film debut in Honky Talk (1929), made numerous film appearances in the 1950s and 1960s, and her TV appearances include several visits to the Ed Sullivan Show. Although Tucker tried all modes of entertainment, she preferred live cabaret audiences. BASIL O'CONNOR served as National Chairman and President and CEO of the American Red Cross from 1944-1949. O'Connor, who had established a law practice in Boston, became a partner of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the law firm of Roosevelt & O'Connor in 1925. In 1932, when FDR was elected President, he asked O'Connor to join his administration, but O'Connor declined to continue to serve in his private practice and with the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. As head of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, O'Connor raised millions of dollars through his "March of Dimes" and other fund-raising efforts. He was at the helm of the organization when Jonas Salk introduced the polio vaccine credited with conquering the disease. O'Connor, who was called "Doc" by FDR, was one of the executors of the President's will. Normal mailing folds. Binding holes at top edge. Lightly toned. Fine condition.