Ruth Roye (née Becker; January 9, 1896 – June 12, 1960) was an American
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
singer and comic performer who was billed as the "Princess of
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
". She had a successful career before marrying and retiring from show business.
Life and career
Born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
to
Russian Jewish
The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...
immigrants, she and her family moved to New York City in the early 1900s. She started work in the family's
nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
, and made her stage debut as a singer and comedienne at the
Union Square Theatre in 1913.
[
She rapidly became successful, toured vaudeville venues, and came to be billed as the "Princess of Ragtime" or the "Empress of Ragtime".][ One critic said of her that "as a dainty and charming girl heis hard to beat, and her conception of popular songs is distinctly original... heis gifted with a personality that has been declared by critics to be a dynamo of magnetism...".][ Ruth Roye, ''Performing Arts Archive'']
Retrieved November 8, 2023 She was a friendly rival of Belle Baker
Belle Baker (born Bella Becker; December 25, 1893 in New York City – April 29, 1957, in Los Angeles) was a American Jews, Jewish American singer and actress. Popular throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Baker introduced a number of ragtime and ...
and, like Baker, had songs written for her by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
. Her most successful songs included "Aba Daba Honeymoon
"Aba Daba Honeymoon" is a show tune with lyrics by Arthur Fields and music by Walter Donovan. It was published in 1914 by Leo Feist. It is known through its chorus, "Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the chimpie to the monk; Baba daba daba d ...
", which she launched in 1914, "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee
"Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" is an American popular song written in 1912, with music by Lewis F. Muir and lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert. The "Robert E. Lee" in the title refers to the steamboat of that name.
Popular versions in 1912 were by the ...
", and "Ain't We Got Fun
"Ain't We Got Fun" is a popular foxtrot published in 1921 with music by Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn.
It was first performed in 1920 in the Fanchon and Marco revue ''Satires of 1920'', then moved into vaudevi ...
".[Anthony Slide, "Ruth Roye", ''The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville'', University Press of Mississippi, 2012, p.441][Trav S.D., "Ruth Roye: Princess of Ragtime", ''Travalanche'', March 6, 2012]
Retrieved November 8, 2023
She married in 1921. She made a few recordings for until 1924, and performed in theatres until at least 1926. She had two daughters, and remarried in 1937, to Julius Kolleeny. She died in New York in 1960 at the age of 64, after a long period of ill health.["Ruth Roye, 65, Is Dead", ''New York Times'', June 13, 1960, p.27]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roye, Ruth
1896 births
1960 deaths
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American vaudeville performers