SOPHIE TUCKER - PROGRAM SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: JOE E. LEWIS, HARRY RICHMAN - HFSID 278049

SOPHIE TUCKER, HARRY RICHMAN, and JOE E. LEWS
Undated program from Ben Marden's Riviera, signed by Tucker, Richman and Lewis. All three headlined this burlesque show at the Riviera.
Program signed: "Sophie Tucker", "Hello - Joe E Lewis" and "Harry Richman", all in pencil on back cover. B/w (printed in red, blue and black ink), 4 pages, 5½x7¾ folded, one sheet folded, front and verso, printed on cardstock. This is an undated program from Ben Marden's Riviera, a burlesque theatre "just across the George Washington Bridge." Tucker, Richman and Lewis all headlined this show at the Riviera with "Chandra-Kaly and his Dancers Devani and Mouni" and Chester Hale's Ballet Supreme with America's Loveliest Girls". According to the program, "BEN MARDEN creates entertainment history by presenting for the first time together the three foremost cafe performers of the day". After immigrating from Russia as an infant, SOPHIE TUCKER (1884-1966), 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. HARRY RICHMAN (1895-1972) was a multi-talented vaudevillian and performer. He had a few movie appearances, including in 1930's Puttin' on the Ritz, featuring the Irving Berlin song. However, most of Richman's experience was on the stage. He began as a piano accompanist for stars like Mae West and Nora Bayes, but was a singer, dancer, comedian, songwriter, and bandleader in his own right. Richman had a total of 10 Broadway appearances between 1920 and 1935, most of them revues and including George White's Scandals (1928-1929) and Ziegfield Follies of 1931 (1931). Richman was also an amateur aviator. In 1936, entertainer Harry Richman, aviation enthusiast and part-time pilot, sponsored a flight between New York and London. He chose Dick Merrill, chief pilot of Eastern Airlines, to pilot the plane, a single engine Vultee VI called Lady Peace. Their journey began at Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn, N.Y. on September 2nd. They were forced to land at Llwyncelyn, Carmarthenshine, Wales the next day. The return flight departed from Southport, England and ended in a crash-landing at Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada. The flight was successful and Merrill and Richman made the first roundtrip nonstop crossing of the North Atlantic. JOE LEWIS (1902-1971) began as a nightclub singer, but lost his voice after having his throat slit by a mobster. He came back as a comedian. Although he appeared in a few films, Lewis detested TV and was at his best in nightclubs, where he drank Scotch while telling his jokes. A heavy gambler, Lewis wrote an autobiography which became the 1957 film The Joker Is Wild, starring Frank Sinatra as Lewis. Lightly toned, soiled and creased. Otherwise, fine condition...