SOPHIE TUCKER, QUEEN OF JAZZ, SUES FOR DIVORCE
Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On October 7, 1920, Sophie Tucker*, Queen of Jazz, filed suit for divorce in Superior Court. Miss Tucker claimed her husband, Frank C. Westphal, "did not appreciate her talent for shimmy** and song."
The couple married in October 1917, but were separated in April 1918. Sophie Tucker said her husband "deserted her."
*Sophie Tucker, aka Sofia Kalish (1886-1966) was born in Ukraine. Her family arrived in Boston in 1887 & lived in the North End for 8 years. They moved to Hartford, Connecticut & operated a restaurant where Sophie sang for tips.
ST married Louis Tuck, they separated & she moved to New York. She made her first theater appearance in 1907 & performed in the Ziegfeld Follies. ST recorded "Some of These Days" for Edison Records, re-released in 1926 the tune sold a million copies.
ST appeared in the sound motion picture "Honky Tonk" in 1929. She was billed as "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" & continued to perform the rest of her life, appearing on Ed Sullivan in 1965.
**Shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still except for the shoulders which are quickly alternated back & forth.
SOURCE
"Shimmy Peeved Hubby, So She Seeks Divorce," The Washington Times, Final Edition, October 7, 1920, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
Sophie Tucker
Bain News Service Photo (1920s)
Library of Congress Image
