Ruth Etting - Ten Cents a Dance

The difinitive pop singer of the twenties

Sophie Tucker, Lee Morse, Belle Baker, and Jane Green were the best belters, or red hot mamas of the twenties, while Annette Hanshaw and Marion Harris were the jazz singers, but Ruth Etting was the best pop torch singer, and she sang with loads of style, syncopation, and sophistocation. This cd is her very best, for it features her hits as well as peppy numbers that were popular during the day, it also featuers many torch songs. The highlights include Ten Cents A Dance, Hello Baby, If I Could Be With You. Many times even on the torchier numbers she'd sing the 1st chorus straight, and then jazz up the secend. Also there are some fine jazz musicians backing her up, if you're into 20's jazz, you'll recognize them. This cd is difinitive, and if you liek 20's music at all, this is essential. January 14, 2006

ten cents a dance

Great cd- really sets the tone for the late 20's musical style. September 25, 2005

great selection of songs

This album contains a great selection of songs. Most of them are of a ragtime-like style. Etting has a very touching, lethargic voice that effortlessly delivers wistfulness. And there is certainly no lacking of eloquence in her phrasing.

The re-mastering is good overall. However, a few songs have some slight echo effect and I'd rather have them without that. Track No. 14 has skippings. December 29, 2004

Say, somebody ought to make a movie about that gal!!!!

So just who is this Ruth Etting anyway? Just one of the most famous singers of popular songs in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Ruth arrived in Chicago at the ripe old age of 17 and kicked around for a few years going to school and working odd jobs. By all accounts she was ambitious, talented, extremely personable and a knockout!! She was primarily interested in pursuing a career in costume design. However, in 1922 she married a small time racketeer named Martin Snyder. He was in a position to open doors for his young wife and before she knew it she was singing on pioneer radio programs and making studio recordings. She quickly became known as "Chicago's Sweetheart of the Air". And people began to take notice. In fact, Florenz Ziegfeld signed her to sing in "Ziegfeld Follies of 1927" It appeared that the sky was the limit for the irrepressable Ruth Etting.
Between 1926 and 1933, Ruth Etting recordings were a fixture on the nation's airwaves. And she sold lots and lots of records. In fact over 60 of Ruth's recordings would make the charts! This collection from England's ASV records highlights the recordings Ruth made between 1926 and 1930. It is a marvelous overview of an artist at the height of her ability and popularity. You will be treated to several of Ruth's biggest hits including "Ten Cents A Dance", "Body and Soul" and her trademark song "Love Me Or Leave Me". There are a number of other tunes I heartily enjoyed including her version of "Button Up Your Overcoat" and the lively "Sam, The Old Accordian Man." I find that it is lots of fun to sample music from a different era and most of the tunes on this collection are quite enjoyable indeed. The disc is accompanied by three pages of interesting liner notes on the artist as well.
As things turned out life was not always a bowl of cherries for Ruth Etting. Her personal life kind of fell apart in the mid 1930's due in part to a most unfortunate shooting involving her husband Martin and a piano player she was seeing. As a result of all the publicity stemming from this incident, Ruth Etting decided to quit the business altogether. She would go on to marry that piano player and the couple retired to a small ranch in Colorado. And oh yeah, somebody did make a movie about the life of Ruth Etting. M-G-M released "Love Me Or Leave Me" back in 1955 starring Doris Day. That is a flick I definitely want to check out. November 14, 2004

Beautiful and enchanting. A must buy!

I was amazed by the beauty of the songs and the quality of the recordings. #3."Funny, Dear, What Love Can Do" and #20."Love Me or Leave Me" are absolutely beautiful. They can stand with Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" and Karen Carpenter's "Superstar."
"Ten Cents A Dance", "But I Do, You Know I Do", "If I Could Be With You", and "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" are also great torch songs. "Could I", "Sam the Accordian Man" and "Dancing The Blues Away" are memorable dance tunes.
I agree with an earlier reviewer that "Mean to Me" is disturbing. It sounds like it is sung from the point of view of an abused woman who blames herself for her predicament.
Ruth Etting's voice matured from Flapperish in 1926 to elegant in 1930. She has a woman's voice, never a girl's. This differentiates her favorably from several of her contemporaries. January 27, 2004

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