Traillink | TrailLink

At the turn of the century, women were increasingly taking up leadership roles in America—bolstering the Temperance movement, demanding their suffrage and joining men in the workplace. Many women took to publishing their words and art in newspapers and magazines. Ruth Etting, a youngster during this radical shift who would become a star of the stage and screen—grew up surrounded by the work of empowered and independent women. [1]

Etting was a big fan of illustrator Nell Brinkley, who found national success within newspapers and the print media during the early 1900s. Brinkley’s popularity as an illustrator and comic artist grew as her most famous characters, the “Brinkley Girls,” portrayed woman as daring, feminine and active. These idyllic “pretty girls,” with stylish curls, flowing dresses and eyes lined with kohl, represented the evolving style of a growing number of independent women in the United States and became a pop culture sensation from the 1910s to 1930s. [2] Ten-year-old Etting first saw the Brinkley Girls in her grandfather’s copies of the Omaha Bee newspapers and immediately drew inspiration from Brinkley’s comics. These characters soon sparked creative passion within the heart of this small-town Nebraskan girl, eventually leading her to a career as a performer and, eventually, national fame. [3]

In 1929, at the height of her career, Ruth Etting starred in Florenz Ziegfeld’s Broadway show “Whoopee.” Like a character pulled from the pages of Brinkley’s sketch book, Etting commanded the stage with a head of curls, kohl-lined eyes and a voice shaped by her small Nebraska farm town of David City. [4] Her success on Broadway skyrocketed Etting to fame, earning her additional roles in musicals, on the radio and in film. How did Etting end up as a leading voice of Broadway, radio and cinema?

Etting was born in 1896 to a family considered small-town royalty; beginning in the 1870s, her grandfather, George Etting, owned and operated David City Roller Mills, which crushed grain for surrounding farms and manufacturers. [5] The Etting family business brought Ruth prosperity and local fame from her birth—giving her opportunities not afforded to her peers—but it could not shield her from the harsh reality that would unfold in her youth. In 1903, Etting’s mother, Winifred, passed away. [6] Unable to cope with the loss of his wife, Alfred Etting put Ruth into the care of her grandfather, George. As a result, Ruth developed a severe stutter that led other children to ostracize her and impeded her quality of education. [7]

Not to be deterred, Etting found community and acceptance through the choir at the Congregational Church of David City. [8] Music became an outlet, as—when she sang—she could express herself and her talents without disruption. Outside of sacred music, Etting’s introduction to popular music was aided by her family’s involvement in the Chautauqua circuit. Chautauqua was an educational and cultural movement popular from the 1870s through the 1920s. Originating in Chautauqua, New York, the movement expanded into circuits that would travel to rural towns across the United States, presenting lecturers, musicians and preachers to large assemblies of locals. [9] In David City, the Chautauqua circuit would pitch their tents on the Etting family farm. Year after year, Etting would join hundreds of her Nebraskan neighbors inside the tents to soak in the spectacular live musical performances of large concert bands and choirs, as well as small groups of singers of all types of genres and cultural backgrounds. Etting’s passion for the art of live entertainment grew every year as the Chautauqua came through town, fueling her interest in music. [10]

As she grew older, Etting’s interests expanded to include drawing and fashion. Within the pages of her grandfather’s Omaha Bee newspapers, Etting found the illustrations of Nell Brinkley and fell in love with the strength and style of the Brinkley Girls. She would use the figures to practice freehand drawing and began making her own clothing modeled in their style. Her classmates began to recognize as the girl with immaculate, chic garments. Etting’s speech disorder lessened as she grew into young adulthood. She continued to sing and embody the type of independent woman so elegantly portrayed in Brinkley's cartoons. [11]

Unlike many of her peers, her family’s wealth allowed Etting to pursue her passion for clothing design. After graduating from David City High School in the late 1910s, Etting moved to the Windy City to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. When she wasn’t working on costume design, she was seeking solo singing opportunities around the city. Etting was booking gigs as “Chicago’s Sweetheart,” drawing attention with her innocent stage presence and low, mezzo-soprano voice. Her charm soon caught the eye of Martin Snyder—a notorious Chicago gangster. Etting and Snyder married just as her career took off, sending her on a vaudeville circuit around the Midwest and landing her and Snyder in New York City by 1927. [12] Once in the city, Etting was cast by legendary Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld to star in “Ziegfeld Follies of 1927” and later in “Whoopee” (1929).

As opportunities grew in Hollywood, Etting decided to move to Los Angeles where she starred in films like “Hips, Hips, Hooray” (1934) and “Gift of Gab” (1934). [13] Her career in Hollywood was short-lived, however, and drama followed Etting off the set into her personal life. Her husband’s mob activity negatively impacted Etting’s career prospects, and by 1937 the couple had divorced. Despite their separation, Snyder, who had moved back to New York, continued to harass Etting over the phone and, eventually, went back to California with the intention of killing Etting and her boyfriend, pianist Myrl Alderman. After a shooting altercation in which Alderman was injured, Snyder was tried and found guilty of attempted murder. [14]

The shooting and Snyder’s trial garnered excessive national attention and effectively halted Etting’s career. After a few attempts to get back to work, Etting and Alderman moved to Colorado Springs, where they lived the rest of their lives together. Decades after her death in 1978, her legacy continues to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in the Grammy Hall of Fame. From David City to New York City to Los Angeles, Ruth Etting will forever be revered by Americans as a star. [15]

[1] Trina Robbins, Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001), https://archive.org/details/nellbrinkleynew00trin/page/142/mode/2up.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Kenneth Irwin and Charles O. Lloyd, Ruth Etting: America’s Forgotten Sweetheart (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2010); p.8-9
[4] Ibid, p.8-9
[5] Ibid, p.2.
[6] Anita Breckbill and Laura Damuth, Ruth Etting- Chicago's Sweetheart and L.A.’s Little Lady, Nebraska Library Association, Quarterly 31, no. 4, p. 18-19
[7] Irwin and Lloyd, Ruth Etting, p.5
[8] Ibid, p.9-10
[9] Andrew C. Rieser, The Chautauqua Moment: Protestants, Progressives, and the Culture of Modern Liberalism, 1874-1920 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), 15–46, https://doi.org/10.7312/ries12642.
[10] Irwin and Lloyd, Ruth Etting, p.7-8
[11] Ibid, p. 9
[12] Breckbill and Damuth, Ruth Etting- Chicago's Sweetheart and L.A.’s Little Lady, p. 19
[13] Ibid, p.20
[14] Associated Press,“Ruth Etting’s Husband Shot by Her Former Mate, “Moe” Snyder,” The Lincoln Star, October 17, 1938, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13124630/myrl-alderman-shooting/.
[15] Breckbill and Damuth, Ruth Etting- Chicago's Sweetheart and L.A.’s Little Lady, p.20