Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Subjects
Descriptive Summary
Title: Ethel Smith papers,
Date (inclusive): 1950s-1990s
Collection number: 361
Creator: Smith, Ethel, 1902-1996
Extent: 7 boxes (4.0 linear ft)3 flat boxes
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.
Language: Finding aid is written in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Performing Arts Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
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.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
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.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
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.
Biography
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.
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.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Sound Recordings
- Scrapbooks and Clippings
- Photographs
- Printed Material
- General Files
Subjects
Smith, Ethel, 1902-1996 -- Archives.
Entertainers -- United States -- Archival resources.
Women organists -- United States -- Archival resources.