In the popular music of the Jazz Age, there were mainline popular songs, and then there were torch songs. Torch songs were almost invariably sung by women, lamenting a lost love in sultry ballads, which showed off their vocal range and seductive style. Today, Diana Krall is probably the best representative of the torch singer, although her style is nothing like that of Ruth Etting and the other torch singers of her time. In our time, torch songs do not have the same significance as in the twenties, when having a man was the most important thing in a woman's life. It was the essence of being a woman. To lose a man was to lose everything.
In 1927, Ruth and Moe moved to New York City, where she caught the eye of Florenz Ziegfeld, who gave her her first real big break. Ziegfeld and Irving Berlin auditioned her for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. As Ruth put it, "I walked. He looked at my ankles, and that was it. That was my audition. He wouldn't hire anyone, no matter how talented, with big ankles.'
Irving Berlin wrote "Shaking the Blues Away" for her appearance in the Follies, which made her an instant star. She went on to star in Whoopee!, singing "Love Me or Leave Me;" in the 9:15 Revue, singing "Get Happy"; and in Simple Simon, singing "Ten Cents A Dance." There's an interesting story about Simple Simon. Ruth was signed only twenty-four hours before the New York opening, and "Ten Cents A Dance," one of her biggest hits, was written for her in only three-quarters of an hour. She learned the song in minutes and went onstage to sing it without any rehearsals.
During her years in New York, Ruth also made frequent appearances on the CBS Chesterfield Hour, Music that Satisfies. Also during her New York period, she began making two-reeler shorts for Warner Brothers' Vitaphone Studios. Shorts were designed to fill out the movie program, which also included cartoons and a newsreel. The shorts Ruth appeared in were usually miniature musicals, with a simple plot containing at least two songs, primarily about a young girl alone in the world, who finds her Prince Charming at the end of the second reel. If any of you watch Turner Classic Movies, you can occasionally see Ruth Etting performing in the two-reelers. She had a unique style, which cannot be described, but has to be heard, and these shorts are interesting if only for the somewhat crude settings and hackneyed plots of the early years of the "talkies." But Ruth always dominated them, showing her true star quality. It's difficult to compare her with contemporary singers, but the late Peggy Lee comes closest. Each of them just stood there and sang; they didn't need to contort themselves, use gimmicks, backup singers, or unlikely costumes (like Madonna's bustiers) on the stage. Just the simple magnetism of their style, beauty, and presence was enough to "put over" their songs.
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