Gertrude Niesen (July 8, 1911 – March 27, 1975) was an American

torch singer A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affecte ...

, actress, comedian, and songwriter who achieved popular success in

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

and films in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early years

Niesen was born aboard ship as her Swedish father and Russian mother returned from a vacation in Europe. As a child, she hoped for a career on stage and began performing in vaudeville. She attended Brooklyn Heights Seminary, where she found and developed an interest in music.

Career

Niesen began singing as a career in the early 1930s, performing on radio and in night clubs. She first appeared on film (credited as Gertrude Nissen) with Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra and

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

in a

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

short film, ''Yacht Party'' (1932). On

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

, Niesen was the featured singer on ''The Ex-Lax Big Show'' on CBS and host of ''The Show Shop'' (1942), on NBC-Blue. She left ''The Ex-Lax Big Show'' in the summer of 1935 to sing leads in musical productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre. She recorded for Victor,

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, and Brunswick in the 1930s, and in 1933 was the first to record the song "

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical '' Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Ge ...

", by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

and

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading B ...

. She appeared in the Broadway musical ''Calling All Stars'' in 1934 and in the '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1936''. Her Broadway credits also include ''Follow the Girls'' (1944) and ''Take a Chance'' (1932). Niesen's singing at a cafe in Hollywood led to her signing a contract with Universal. She also began to appear regularly in movies, including ''Top of the Town '' (1937), in which she sang four songs, ''

Start Cheering ''Start Cheering'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Jimmy Durante, Charles Starrett, Joan Perry, and Walter Connolly. It is best remembered today for guest appearances throughout the film by The Three Stoog ...

'' (1938), and ''A Night at Earl Carroll's'' (1940), in which she sang a song that she co-wrote, "I Want to Make with the Happy Times". Her other films included ''Rookies on Parade'' (1941), ''

This Is the Army ''This Is the Army'' is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. duri ...

'' (1943), ''He's My Guy'' (1943), and ''

The Babe Ruth Story ''The Babe Ruth Story'' is a 1948 biographical film of Babe Ruth, the famed New York Yankees slugger. It stars William Bendix (New York Yankee batboy in the 1920s) as the ballplayer and Claire Trevor as his wife Claire Merritt Hodgson. Critics ...

'' (1948). She co-starred with

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

in the 1944 stage musical ''

Follow the Girls ''Follow the Girls'' is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton, Eddie Davis and Fred Thompson and music and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal, and Phil Charig. A major wartime hit in both New York City and London, its thin plot about a burlesque ...

'', in which she sang "I Want to Get Married", one of her better-known songs. She recorded for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

throughout the 1940s, and released a self-titled LP for the label in 1951.Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.com
/ref> She also appeared on many radio shows and on TV in the early 1950s.

Personal life and death

Niesen married Chicago nightclub owner Al Greenfield in Las Vegas on July 19, 1943. The couple divorced but remarried in 1954, remaining married until Niesen's death in Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Hollywood, California in 1975, aged 63, after a long illness.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1938) * '' Rookies on Parade'' (1941) * ''

'' (1943) * ''

Thumbs Up A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively. These gestures have become metaphors i ...

'' (1943) * ''

'' (1948)

References

External links

* * 1911 births 1975 deaths Singers from New York City Actresses from New York City Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) American film actresses American musical theatre actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers {{US-theat-actor-stub