Smith (Ethel) papers, 1950s-1990s

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Summary

Title:
Ethel Smith papers,
Dates:
1950s-1990s
Creators:
Smith, Ethel, 1902-1996
Abstract:
Ethel Smith gained fame as an organist and performer through radio, film, and records. Most associated with her career is her widely popular rendition of Tico Tico. The collection consists of materials related to her career and includes scrapbooks of press clippings, souvenir programs, publicity stills and photographs, sound recordings, and publications from the Ethel Smith Music Corporation.
Extent:
7 boxes (4.0 linear ft) 3 flat boxes
Language:
Finding aid is written in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ethel Smith papers (Collection 361). Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of materials related to the career of entertainer and musician, Ethel Smith. Included are sound recordings (including pieces from the Decca Personality Series), scrapbooks of press clippings, publicity stills and photographs, and a very small amount of correspondence, souvenir programs, printed music, and publications from the Ethel Smith Music Corporation. Additionally there is a script and budget report for the film, Lets Live a Little, and two contracts--one for Smith's last performance at Broward College Bailey Theatre.

Biographical / historical:

Ethel Goldsmith was born on November 22, 1910, in Pittsburgh, PA. She attended Carnegie Tech and majored in piano. She gained fame as an organist and performer through radio, film, and records. Most associated with her career is her widely popular rendition of Tico Tico. Spotted by a talent agent while working as the house organist at the St. Regis hotel in New York, she began appearing on radio in the late 1930s. In 1941 she took over from Eddie Duchin at the Copacabana Casino in Rio de Janeiro. She returned to the US and began playing for Your Hit Parade in 1943 where she arranged popular songs and performed with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, among others. In 1944 she appeared in the musical numbers for Bathing Beauty, her first feature for MGM. Other motion picture credits include Scandals, Twice Blessed, Easy to Wed, and Disney's Melody Time. During the course of her career she also appeared in stage performances such as Beyond Desire, The Desk Set, Season of Choice, and The Women. Smith founded her own publishing company, Ethel Smith Music Corporation in the mid-1940s which published arrangements of popular tunes and instructional books for the Hammond organ, as well as other items such as Ethel Smith's Latin American Rhythms for Percussion Instruments and her Hammond arrangements of Fritz Kreisler's violin pieces. Smith produced over 20 albums, mostly with Decca. She developed a nightclub act in which she played the organ and other instruments, sang and told jokes. Smith collected percussion instruments from all over the world which she used on records and in performances. In the 1960s she took a renewed interest in acting, taking small roles on stage and in film. In the 1970s she relocated to Palm Beach, Florida, where she occasionally performed for special occasions. She died in May 1996, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Sound Recordings
  2. Scrapbooks and Clippings
  3. Photographs
  4. Printed Material
  5. General Files

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Natalie Snoyman and Sue Hwang; machine-readable finding aid created by Sue Hwang, Julie Graham, and Caroline Cubé.
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from database containing container list structure and data, encoding added via MS Access and Notetab Pro; frontmatter gathered from MARC Record. Date of source: 230611.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

RESTRICTED Access: Use of audio material requires production of listening copies.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ethel Smith papers (Collection 361). Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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