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Nora Bayes
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Nora Bayes (born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg; October 3, 1880 – March 19, 1928) was an American singer and vaudeville performer who was popular internationally between the 1900s and 1920s. She is credited with co-writing the song "Shine On, Harvest Moon" and performed many successful songs during the First World War, including "Over There". She was also noted for her independent views and unconventional private life, becoming an early media celebrity. She made over 160 recordings.
Life and career
[edit]Early life
[edit]She was born in 1880 in Chicago, the daughter of Rachel and David Goldberg, a Polish-born saloon keeper. She seems to have been given the traditional family name Rachel at birth but was known as Eleonora, or "Dora" as a nickname. She grew up in a strict Orthodox Jewish household and moved with her parents to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in her teens. In 1899, she married salesman Otto Gressing.[1]
They lived in Joliet, Illinois, and in the hope of starting a stage career, she began performing at talent shows in nearby Chicago. She adopted the stage name Nora Bayes: "Nora" as a shortened form of Eleonora and "Bayes" because, according to one story, a local stage manager said that she would not have a good career with the name Goldberg. He suggested going through the Hebrew alphabet to find a name and recited "Aleph, bays..." when she stopped him and suggested Bayes.[2]
Early career
[edit]By late 1900, Helen Cohan, the mother of George M. Cohan, saw Bayes performing in vaudeville in Chicago. Bayes joined a touring company, performing in St Louis, Missouri and then California, before she decided to advance her career further and moved with her husband to New York City. She grew in popularity as a comic actress and singer, and in 1902 started performing Harry Von Tilzer's song, "Down Where the Wurzburger Flows", which she performed at the Orpheum Theatre in Brooklyn and which became her first big success.[2]
Over the next few years, Bayes performed in increasingly prestigious theatres in New York, toured the country, and between 1904 and 1907 made several tours of Europe. She first performed in London in December 1905, and was an immediate success.[2] After returning to the United States, she performed regularly on B. F. Keith's theatre circuit. She and Gressing divorced in 1907, and soon afterwards she was approached by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld to star in a new theatre show, The Follies of 1907.
The show, soon retitled The Ziegfeld Follies, was a huge success and established Bayes' status, making her one of the highest paid female performers in the world.[1] Ziegfeld contributed to her fame by telling the press falsely that Bayes lived on nothing but lollypops to keep her figure trim.[3]
In 1908, Bayes married fellow performer Jack Norworth, and the couple became media celebrities. They performed together, and were credited with co-writing the hit song "Shine On, Harvest Moon", included in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908, along with several other songs in the show.[4] Bayes was the star performer, commanding a much higher salary than Norworth, and sometimes challenging the authority of theatre managers and promoters. She walked out of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909 because of a disagreement with Ziegfeld over the billing of a rising new star named Sophie Tucker; Ziegfeld then sued Bayes for breach of contract, which prevented her performing in other theatres for several months.[1]
She and Norworth returned to the vaudeville circuit, in the show Miss Innocence, and commanded an even higher salary than before. "Critics noted that Bayes succeeded through her lush singing voice, her sensitivity to her audience’s tastes and her willingness to make fun of herself, including jokes about her Jewish background and her failed marriages."[1] In 1910, they appeared together in Lew Fields' show, The Jolly Bachelors.[2]
In 1910, Bayes made her first recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company, and had immediate success with "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly", an Americanised version of a British song. She and Norworth recorded and continued to perform together until their final show, The Sun Dodgers, in 1912. By this time, their personal and professional relationships were both troubled, and they divorced in 1913. One month later, Bayes married Harry Clarke, an actor and dancer; they divorced in 1915.[2] In 1913 she wore a green wig as a stunt, which led to a local popularity of colored wigs. She starred in the 1915 Broadway revue Maid in America.

Bayes continued to find success on the Keith vaudeville circuit, billed as "The World's Greatest Singing Single Comedienne",[5] before reuniting briefly with Norworth in the Broadway revue Odds and Ends of 1917. She then launched her own one-woman show, and starred in the musical Ladies First in 1918, in which she appeared with young piano accompanist George Gershwin.[2] She also returned to recording, and had one of her greatest successes with the patriotic First World War song, "Over There", written by George M. Cohan. She signed a new contract with Columbia Records, and recorded over sixty songs for the label over the next six years.[6] Her most successful recordings for Columbia included "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?" (1919) and "Make Believe" (1921).[7] In 1920 she had a hit with "Broadway Blues" with words by Arthur Swanstrom and music by Carey Morgan.[8]
Later career
[edit]She married for a fourth time in 1920, to actor and entertainer Arthur Gordon (sometimes billed as Gordoni).[1] They adopted three children together, but divorced in 1922 after two years together. By this time, Bayes' success was diminishing; she made no recordings after the end of her Columbia contract in 1923, bookings decreased, and she was performing in smaller venues. She refused to take part in the expanding film industry, claiming that she would make too much money and that "the mental anguish I would suffer would make me unfit to enjoy life. No, siree. No movie work for me!"[2]


She made several trips to Europe in the early 1920s, travelling with her adopted children. Bayes was described as "easily the most popular female entertainer in vaudeville for much of the first quarter of the 20th century".[9] One researcher commented:
Bayes refused to obey the social mores that ruled expectations of how women should behave. Her personal life caught the attention of the press: she provided endless headlines for her broken theatre contracts and her five divorces. Her marriages were reported across the globe. On news of her fifth marriage, one Australian newspaper reported her advice to wives: “as soon as one becomes bored, one should secure divorce.” The press hardly knew which was more shocking, her divorces or the fact she had walked out of her contract with Florenz Ziegfeld.[10]
Death and legacy
[edit]Bayes married again in 1925 to New York businessman Ben Friedland, the ceremony taking place on board a ship. She continued to perform until 1927. However, by that time she was becoming ill and visibly weakened by stomach cancer, which she had been suffering from for several years. She died at the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn in 1928, aged 47.[2] She left an estate of $43,500 for her family.[1]
Friedland refused to allow her remains to be buried before his own death, so her coffin remained in a receiving vault for eighteen years. Friedland died in 1946 and she was buried alongside him in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. A headstone was not put in place until 2018,[2] when Michael Cumella, a fan of Bayes, made arrangements for one to be added to her grave.[11]
The 1944 movie Shine On, Harvest Moon, starring Ann Sheridan as Bayes, is a highly fictionalized account of her life with Jack Norworth, who was still alive at the time but was not involved in the project.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Kibler, M. Alison. "Nora Bayes". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bill Edwards, "Nora Bayes", RagPiano.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021
- ^ LeFurgy, Bill. "The Ziegfeld Follies: Revolutionizing Broadway, Hollywood, and Culture". billefurgy.com. Retrieved March 9, 2025.
- ^ "Nora Bayes". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ Bayes, Nora (1880–1928), Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021
- ^ Nora Bayes, Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 2 March 2021
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. pp. 48–49.
- ^ Jasen, David A (2002). "Broadway Blues". A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-415-93700-9.
- ^ Elaine Bennett, "Nora Bayes, the Beyoncé of the early 20th Century". Retrieved 2 March 2021
- ^ Sarah Whitfield, "Spotlights on Women Composers in Early Broadway History: Week Two, Nora Bayes", Maestra Music. Retrieved 2 March 2021
- ^ Kilgannon, Corey (2018-04-15). "After 90 Years, a Broadway Headliner Is Getting a Headstone". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
External links
[edit]- Nora Bayes at IMDb
- Nora Bayes at Find a Grave
Nora Bayes
View on GrokipediaEarly Life
Family Background and Childhood
Nora Bayes was born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg on October 3, 1880, in Joliet, Illinois, to Orthodox Jewish immigrant parents David Elias and Rachel (Miller) Goldberg, though some accounts cite Chicago, Illinois, or Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as her birthplace.[3][4][5][6] Raised in a strict Orthodox Jewish household, she experienced a childhood steeped in religious traditions and cultural practices that shaped her early worldview, including observances and community life common among Eastern European Jewish immigrants in urban America.[3][5] Her family's emphasis on piety and modesty often clashed with Dora's budding fascination with performance and the outside world, as her parents regarded theater as incompatible with their values.[5] The Goldbergs, like many in their community, prioritized education and adherence to kosher laws and Sabbath rituals, fostering an environment where entertainment pursuits were discouraged in favor of stable, traditional livelihoods. The family relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during her teenage years, where the industrial city's growing Jewish enclave provided continued immersion in Orthodox customs but also exposure to diverse influences amid economic challenges faced by immigrants.[5] These formative experiences, including Yiddish-inflected humor and familial storytelling, subtly informed her later comedic style, though she navigated tensions between her heritage and ambitions by distancing herself publicly from it. In 1899, at age 18, she married salesman Otto Anselm Gressing (sometimes described as an undertaker) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, signaling her early steps toward independence from her family's orthodox framework; the couple then settled in Joliet, Illinois.[3][6]Initial Steps into Show Business
At the age of 18, Nora Bayes, born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg, married Otto Anselm Gressing, a salesman from Milwaukee, on February 23, 1899, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.[6] The couple settled in Joliet, Illinois, where the marriage provided a degree of financial stability that enabled her to pursue her interest in performance.[3] This personal milestone coincided with her initial forays into entertainment, as she began participating in amateur talent contests near Chicago, leveraging her proximity to the city's burgeoning theater scene.[7] Bayes made her amateur debut around 1899 at venues such as Hopkins' Theater on State Street in Chicago, where she performed songs like "After the Ball" and won small prizes, including $5 for one rendition.[5] These local appearances, often in theaters and saloons, allowed her to hone basic stage skills amid the competitive amateur nights popular in the Midwest at the time.[3] Her Jewish family background subtly shaped her emerging humor, incorporating light ethnic references that would later define her comedic persona.[3] Transitioning to professional work, Bayes secured her first vaudeville engagements in 1900, taking on minor roles in touring stock companies that traveled through Midwestern circuits, including stops in St. Louis.[5] By early 1901, she had relocated to New York City with Gressing, seeking greater opportunities on the Broadway stage, which marked a pivotal shift from regional performances to the national spotlight.[4] That same year, she adopted the stage name "Nora Bayes," reportedly suggested by a Jewish stage manager who modified "Bays" from the Hebrew alphabet (letter bet, or "B") to suit her act, distancing herself from her birth name while retaining a nod to her heritage.[5] During this period, she developed an initial comedic style rooted in vaudeville traditions, emphasizing expressive gestures and self-deprecating ethnic humor to engage audiences in small roles.[7]Career
Vaudeville Debut and Early Success
Nora Bayes made her Broadway debut in 1901 at the age of 21, appearing as a chorus girl in the musical comedy The Rogers Brothers in Washington, produced by Abe Erlanger, which ran for 49 performances at the Knickerbocker Theatre. This early exposure marked her entry into professional theater, building on amateur performances she had begun as a teenager in Chicago. Supported initially by her first husband, Otto Gressing, an undertaker whom she married around 1899, Bayes transitioned from small-time venues to larger stages.[3] Her breakthrough came in 1902 with the song "Down Where the Wurzburger Flows," composed by Harry Von Tilzer, which she performed at the Orpheum Theatre in Brooklyn.[3] The novelty tune, a humorous ode to German beer culture, propelled her to fame and earned her the nickname "The Wurzburger Girl," significantly boosting her salary to top vaudeville rates of around $1,000 per week by the mid-1900s.[5] This hit showcased her emerging singing-comedy style, characterized by a husky contralto voice and witty delivery that captivated audiences in East Coast circuits. Bayes refined her act through the early 1900s, specializing in ethnic and character songs that highlighted her versatility in impersonations and self-deprecating humor, often drawing on her Jewish heritage for comedic effect.[3] By 1905, her international appeal was evident during a European tour, where she opened the bill at London's Palace Theatre in November, performing to enthusiastic crowds and solidifying her status as a global vaudeville star.[5] Returning to the U.S., she established herself as a solo performer by 1906 on the prestigious B.F. Keith circuit, delivering 25-minute acts that blended song, comedy, and audience interaction, commanding high fees that reflected her rising prominence.[5]Ziegfeld Follies and Peak Collaborations
Nora Bayes made her debut in the inaugural Ziegfeld Follies of 1907, joining the cast late in its run at the Jardin de Paris in New York City, where the revue ran for 70 performances.[8] Her vibrant performances quickly elevated her status, leading to starring roles in the 1908 and 1909 editions, where she became a headliner alongside other luminaries.[3] The Follies of 1908, which enjoyed 120 performances, showcased Bayes in sketches and songs that highlighted her comedic timing and powerful contralto voice, solidifying her as a central figure in Florenz Ziegfeld's glamorous productions. By 1909, despite a mid-run dispute that led to her temporary departure, Bayes had established herself as an indispensable star, contributing to the revue's reputation for blending satire, beauty, and musical innovation over its 64-show engagement.[3][8] In 1908, Bayes married fellow performer and songwriter Jack Norworth, forming a celebrated duo act that captivated audiences in vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies.[9] Billed as "America's Happiest Couple," the pair's on-stage chemistry—featuring Norworth's high tenor harmonizing with Bayes' rich vocals—turned them into media darlings, with their personal and professional partnership frequently highlighted in contemporary press as a symbol of show business romance and success.[10] Their collaborative routines in the Follies of 1908 emphasized playful duets and comedic interplay, enhancing the revue's appeal and contributing to its extended run.[9] A pinnacle of their partnership was the introduction of "Shine On, Harvest Moon" in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908, a song co-written by Bayes, who composed the music, and Norworth, who penned the lyrics.[9] The romantic waltz became Bayes' signature hit, celebrated for its luminous melody and heartfelt lyrics evoking a moonlit rendezvous, and it propelled the duo to even greater fame within the production.[3] Beyond performance, Bayes demonstrated her multifaceted talent through songwriting credits, providing lyrics for multiple tunes featured in the Ziegfeld revues, including contributions to the 1909 Follies that underscored her role as a creative force rather than solely an interpreter.[11] Her lyrical work often captured the era's playful optimism and urban energy, complementing the Follies' satirical edge. This period of peak collaboration with Norworth lasted until their divorce in 1913, marking the end of their joint stage triumphs.[9]World War I Era Performances and Recordings
During World War I, Nora Bayes emerged as a prominent figure in patriotic entertainment, leveraging her vaudeville stardom to support the war effort through morale-boosting performances. In June 1917, she introduced George M. Cohan's anthem "Over There" on stage, marking its debut and quickly establishing it as a symbol of American resolve.[12] Her rendition, captured in an early Victor recording that same year, resonated widely, with Bayes performing the song at rallies and benefit concerts, including those for the Red Cross, to rally public support and foster national unity amid the conflict.[13] These appearances solidified her image as a patriotic icon, drawing on her prior success in the Ziegfeld Follies to amplify her solo appeal in wartime settings.[13] In 1915, Bayes appeared as a replacement in the revue Maid in America, playing multiple roles including Nettie and Cleopatra while contributing additional lyrics during its run of 108 performances.[14] Bayes starred in the Broadway musical Ladies First, which opened on October 24, 1918, at the Broadhurst Theatre and transferred to the Nora Bayes Theatre on December 30, 1918, running for 164 performances until March 15, 1919.[15] In the lead role of Betty Burt, she showcased her comedic and vocal talents in a production featuring additional music by a young George Gershwin, including the interpolated song "The Real American Folk Song (Is a Rag)," co-written with Ira Gershwin under his early pseudonym Arthur Francis.[15] The show highlighted Bayes' transition to solo stardom, blending humor, dance, and song to entertain audiences during the final months of the war. In 1917, Bayes launched her one-woman show Songs as Is and Songs as Was, a bold independent production that allowed her to curate and perform a mix of contemporary and classic tunes, free from theater chain constraints.[5] This venture paved the way for her naming rights to the Nora Bayes Theatre in New York City's Broadway district in 1918, a venue that hosted Ladies First and underscored her growing influence as a producer and performer.[16] The theater, formerly the 44th Street Theatre's rooftop space, symbolized her peak autonomy in the industry during the postwar transition. Bayes recorded extensively during this period for Victor and Columbia labels, amassing over 160 sides in her career, with many WWI-era releases emphasizing patriotic, ethnic, and novelty themes to reflect the era's cultural diversity and optimism.[1] Her 1917 Victor disc of "Over There" became a chart-topping hit, while the 1919 Columbia recording of "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)" captured the postwar repatriation sentiment with its humorous take on soldiers' experiences abroad.[1] Other notable releases included novelty tracks like "The Greatest Battle Song of All" (Victor, 1916), a pre-U.S. entry rallying cry, and ethnic-flavored songs such as "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" (Victor, 1910, reissued in era compilations), blending Irish dialect humor with vaudeville flair.[1]| Label | Year | Song Title | Type/Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victor | 1917 | Over There | Patriotic |
| Columbia | 1919 | How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree) | Novelty/Postwar |
| Victor | 1916 | The Greatest Battle Song of All | Patriotic/Novelty |
| Victor | 1910 (era reissue) | Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? | Ethnic/Novelty |