Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Vaudeville and nightclub singer, recording artist and comedian who performed in burlesque and musical shows.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34Looking back, did you have a happy childhood?
Tell you the truth, I don't remember my childhood at all. I was a slavey. I worked hard. We had a little restaurant, and I used to serve, wash the dishes, and scrub the floors, and oh, dear boy, it was tough.
Presenter asks
1:09What gave you this idea of being an entertainer?
In the restaurant when the performers would come in and dine at our place. I knew they were performers and I … I just sneaked around and would sing around and show off and learned how.
Presenter asks
1:28When did you decide you were going to be a professional?
When I ran away from home in nineteen oh six To New York City.
Presenter asks
1:30Did you find work fairly easily?
Oh, no. Oh, no. I walked the streets starved, would go into restaurants and wash the dishes and sing for the customers. I don't know. Nothing was easy.
Presenter asks
2:25Looking back on those days, the days of road shows, Vaudeville, traveling the country, was there any one engagement, one opportunity that you look back on as your first big break?
Not exactly. The only thing that I can remember distinctly was in the Burlesque Show. I did Blackface and I lost my trunk on the road some place and I had to go on Whiteface, and the star of the show loaned me her gown with a long train. … I had never had a long train, didn't know how to walk on or do anything, but I managed to walk out well nicely, and then when I had to turn to go back I tripped and I fell flat on my … [backside]. … I got up and I said, 'Now what are you laughing at? What are you … this hurts me!' And they kept on laughing. They thought it was part of the act. Well, I kept it in part of the act 'cause it was a great stunt and I became a comedian.
Presenter asks
4:45In your long career, you've seen many changes in show business. What do you think of the new pattern?
Well, are you referring to the rock and rollers and the twists and things? … We had that years ago in a different form, a different number, and they come and they go, and we'll have something new next year. But the true and tried performers that you will never wipe off in our show business.
Presenter asks
5:37Sophie, for years and years you've been billed as the last of the red-hot mammas. Were there … are there any others?
Well, I'm looking around for some. I can't find any.
“Tell you the truth, I don't remember my childhood at all. I was a slavey. I worked hard. We had a little restaurant, and I used to serve, wash the dishes, and scrub the floors, and oh, dear boy, it was tough.”
“I walked the streets starved, would go into restaurants and wash the dishes and sing for the customers. I don't know. Nothing was easy.”
“I was disgusted that I had to wash and keep my mother's feet. … And I vowed that if ever I got money enough I would take her out of that restaurant. And my first recording for Edison enabled me to take her out of the restaurant. That was in nineteen hundred nine.”
“I had never had a long train, didn't know how to walk on or do anything, but I managed to walk out well nicely, and then when I had to turn to go back I tripped and I fell flat on my [backside] … I got up and I said, 'Now what are you laughing at?' … They thought it was part of the act. Well, I kept it in part of the act 'cause it was a great stunt and I became a comedian.”
“I love that intimacy above all.”