Sophie Tucker First Lady of Show Business

"This is a biography of a vaudeville and cabaret performer who saw herself as one of the first liberated women and the "Last of the Red Hot Mammas." It tells the story of her birth as her mother traveled to Boston from Russia, her childhood in Boston, and her first public performance at Poli's Vaudeville Theatre at the age of 13. It also recounts her troubled marriage to Louis Tuck and the birth of their son, her meeting with Willie Howard, a vaudeville veteran who encouraged her to go to New York and pursue a stage career, her discovery by Flo Ziegfeld, her rise to headliner status under the guidance of her agent William Morris, and her work in films."--BOOK JACKET.