But as rich as this list would be, it would introduce us only to the canonical history, the biographies of the familiar, established stars. Still to be added would be the visitors from other venues, such as Molly Picon, star of Yiddish theater, and Sarah Bernhardt, star of the stage. ( Fanny Brice might be added, although her early career focused more on the Ziegfeld Follies than on the vaudeville circuit per se.) One might also remember those headliners who were Jewish but kept their Jewish identity offstage, such as Nan Halperin and Nora Bayes. When hearing or reading the phrase “Jewish women in vaudeville,” one is likely to think first of the headliners Sophie Tucker and Belle Baker, chief among those who placed their ethnicity at the center of their acts.
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