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Ethel Waters (1896-1977)
singer, actress, c. 1933, in As Thousands Cheer
Ethel Waters grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania. She didn't have much schooling. By the age of eight she had a job as a domestic worker and was married by the age of 13. She first worked on the stage at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, where she sang "St. Louis Blues." She then toured the South, billed as "Sweet Mama Stringbean," with carnivals, and tent and vaudeville shows.
Her first New York appearance was a one-week engagement at the Lincoln Theatre. She also played in Hello, 1919! at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem. Her first recordings were "The New York Glide" and "At the New Jump Steady Ball" on Cardinal Records in 1919. Then in 1921, she was hired by Black Swan Records to record "Down Home Blues" and "Oh, Daddy," which became a best seller. She went on a promotional tour in the South with Fletcher Henderson and the Black Swan Troubadours. After this, Waters continued to play the vaudeville circuit and worked in several theatrical revues. She turned down an offer to go to Paris with Revue Negre, which gave Josephine Baker her big break in show business. She appeared on Broadway for the first time in 1927 in Africana, and played Europe in 1930.
Irving Berlin wrote four songs for her for his Broadway show As Thousands Cheer. This show toured the south where Waters received star billing with the white players.
Waters, then a star, gave a recital at Carnegie Hall in 1938 and began to do straight dramatic work in 1939 in Mamba's Daughters. She made numerous recordings on labels such as Black Swan, Columbia and Paramount. Her movie credits include Cabin in the Sky (1942), Pinky (1949), and A Member of the Wedding (1952). Her autobiographies are His Eye is on the Sparrow (1951) and To Me It's Wonderful (1972).