Pearl Williams (September 10, 1914 – September 18, 1991) was an American entertainer.
Career
Born Pearl Wolfe, Williams started out as a secretary, but quickly turned to playing the piano by ear and became an accomplished player. In 1938 she went to an audition for a singer as accompaniment. She was hired on the spot and that same night went on stage at the
Famous Door
The Famous Door was a jazz club on New York's 52nd Street. It opened in 1935 and was one of the major clubs on the street, hosting leading jazz musicians until 1950, through changes of location and periods of closure.
History
The Famous Door ope ...
on 52nd Street with
Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he ...
's band. But it took 14 years and a heckler to make her find her calling. One night, in 1952, a heckler was consistently telling her to get off and that her jokes were horrible, and she said to him, "Oh, fuck off!" The audience howled, and she quickly became a hit.
"What Patsy Abbott? She’s not in our class; what are you crazy? Where she belong with us? She’s a nice girl."— Pearl Williams, ''The Cabaret'' nightclub, Miami Beach, 1961[Josh Ku]
'If I Embarrass You, Tell Your Friends' The Musical Comedy of Belle Barth and Pearl Williams
/ref>
In 1961, signed by Stanley Borden, the owner of After Hours Records, she recorded her first album, ''A trip around the world is not a cruise''. Known for her bawdy humor and aggressive manner, she released nine best-selling "party" records during her career, including:
* ''All the Way''
* ''Bagels & Lox!''
* ''She's Doin' What Comes Naturally!''
* ''A Trip Around the World is Not a Cruise''
* ''You'll Never Remember it, Write it Down!''
* ''Battle of the Mothers!'' (with Belle Barth)
* ''Party Snatches – the Best of . . .'' (featured)
Williams is one of several female Jewish comedians (along with
Belle Barth
Belle Barth (born Annabelle Salzman, April 27, 1911 – February 14, 1971) was a Jewish American comedian who worked primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known for her foul mouthed, bawdy, irreverent humor.
Comedy career
Annabelle ...
,
Patsy Abbott,
Rusty Warren
Rusty Warren (born Ilene Goldman; March 20, 1930 – May 25, 2021) was an American comedian and singer, specializing in sex-related themes and such songs as "Bounce Your Boobies" and " Knockers Up!".
Early life
Warren was born in New York City i ...
and
Totie Fields
Totie Fields (born Sophie Feldman; May 7, 1930 – August 2, 1978) was an American comedian.
Early life
Fields was born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut. She started singing in Boston clubs while still in high schoo ...
) who traced their "bawdy" performance style back to
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was a Russian-born American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popula ...
. The back cover of ''A Trip around The World is Not a Cruise'' repeats the anecdote that when they met, Tucker told Williams that "You're me at your age, only better." An echo of Tucker can be discerned when Williams says in her act, "I get broads come in here, they sit in front of me and they stare at me. Everything I do, they stare at me. Then they walk out saying, 'She's so dirrr-ty!' If they're so refined how come they understand what I'm saying?"
Williams performed for 18 years at the Place Pigalle in
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, before retiring in 1984, commenting ''"I'm tired, I need a rest. After 46 years in show business, night after night, day after day, non-stop, I'm tired"''. She hung up her microphone for good in April of that year. She lived out her final years in
North Miami Beach
North Miami Beach (commonly referred to as NMB) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The City of North Miami Beach is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. Originally named "Fulford-by-the-Sea" in 1926, after ...
and
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
.
On September 18, 1991, aged 77, she died in her sleep from heart disease.
Posthumous
In 2007, clips of Williams, along with those of
Betty Walker
Betty Walker (August 7, 1928 – July 26, 1982) was a Jewish-American actress and comedian who performed primarily during the 1950s and 1960s.
Life and career
Walker was born Edith Seeman in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Latvians, Latvian Jewi ...
,
Belle Barth
Belle Barth (born Annabelle Salzman, April 27, 1911 – February 14, 1971) was a Jewish American comedian who worked primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known for her foul mouthed, bawdy, irreverent humor.
Comedy career
Annabelle ...
,
Totie Fields
Totie Fields (born Sophie Feldman; May 7, 1930 – August 2, 1978) was an American comedian.
Early life
Fields was born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut. She started singing in Boston clubs while still in high schoo ...
, and
Jean Carroll, were featured in the Off-Broadway production ''The J.A.P. Show: Jewish American Princesses of Comedy'', which included live standup routines by four female Jewish comics juxtaposed with the stories of legendary performers from the 1950s and 1960s.
The J.A.P. Show: Jewish American Princesses of Comedy
website
See also
*The Actors' Temple
The Actors' Temple, officially named Congregation Ezrath Israel, is a non-denominational Jewish synagogue located at 339 West 47th Street, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.
History
The c ...
Further reading
*
*
*
:*
* Del Negro, Giovanna P.,
From the Nightclub to the Living Room: Gender, Ethnicity, and Upward Mobility in the 1950s Party Records of Three Jewish Women Comics
, in Simon J. Bronner (ed.), Jews at Home: The Domestication of Identity
*
* Josh Ku
'If I Embarrass You, Tell Your Friends' The Musical Comedy of Belle Barth and Pearl Williams
*
*
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Pearl
1914 births
1991 deaths
20th-century American Jews
People from Long Island
People from North Miami Beach, Florida
Place of birth missing
20th-century American women pianists
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American singers