Belle Barth
Encyclopedia
Belle Barth née Annabelle Salzman, was a Jewish-American comedian who worked primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known for her bawdy, irreverent humor.
merchant, and at a very early age started performing at Borscht belt
hotels and small nightclubs. Her first husband was Peter Barth, whose surname she retained when they divorced. In 1950 she moved to Miami Beach, where she married executive D. Thorne in 1954. Belle worked small clubs throughout the area, occasionally travelling to New York and Chicago to perform. In 1953 Barth was arrested and fined 25 dollars for her act: several other cases against her were thrown out of court, including one lawsuit for 1.6 million dollars, brought by two schoolteachers who claimed that Barth's act had corrupted them morally and harmed their health. In spite of these charges Barth did not modify her act. While living in Miami Beach she opened Belle Barth's Pub in the Coronet Hotel on 21st Street and Collins Avenue.
During the 1960s she performed often in New York and Las Vegas. Her 1960 album
, If I Embarrass You Tell Your Friends, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
. In 1961 she played both the Roundtable club in New York (where she recorded her second album), and a midnight show at Carnegie Hall
on November 25, 1961. In Las Vegas she played at the Thunderbird, then Caesar's Palace in Nero's Lounge. She returned to Miami Beach to play at venues including Harry's American Showroom at The Eden Roc, the Red Room at the Saxony, the Hotel Plaza in Joe's Lounge for Lovers, and Sans Souci lounge. She was usually accompanied by Margie Sherwin on piano.
in May 1970, after her final performance in Miami Beach, at Joe's Lounge at the Hotel Plaza, during March 1970. She performed at the Flamingo once more in September 1970. She died at 10 p.m. on February 14, 1971, aged 59, at her Miami Beach home.
, who quoted her line "Shut your hole, mine's makin money!"
In 2000, “Sophie, Totie & Belle: a fictional meeting of Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields and Belle Barth,” written by Joanne Koch and Sarah Blacher Cohen, with some original music by Mark Elliott, lyrics by Mark Elliott and Joanne Koch, appeared for a limited engagement off Broadway at Theatre Four, opening March 15- April 10, 2000 featuring Joann Cunningham as Belle. The show had numerous productions before and after 2000, from 1990-2003, in Philadelphia, New Hope, PA, North Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Sarasota and New Port Ritchie, Florida featuring Joann Bradley as Belle. The April 28, 1996 New York Times review by Alvin Klein of the Forum Theatre –Queens Theatre in the Park New York and New Jersey production singled out the Belle Barth section of the show as outstanding:
“If Belle—‘Miami’s answer to Lenny Bruce’—is the star of this occasion, blame her defiantly funny, audience winning material. And blame Vicky Tripodo [as Belle] who is having the smash hit of her career.”
Joanne Koch and Sarah Blacher Cohen, seeing the great potential in the Belle character, started to discuss a possible new show focusing only on Belle, but Sarah Cohen’s fatal illness left Joanne to develop the new show: “Belle Barth: If I Embarrass You, Tell Your Friends.” This time Koch collaborated with composer Ilya Levinson and lyricist Owen Kalt (her collaborators on a previous musical “American Klezmer”) to create a completely original score for a two-person musical devoted to Belle. “Embarrass” workshopped in 2007 with Honey West as Belle directed by Alexandra Billings at the Acorn Theatre in Michigan, then at the Chicago Writers’ Bloc at the Theatre Building Chicago, (funded by the Dramatists Guild Fund, Inc.) then at the Stages 2008 Festival of New Musicals at Theatre Building Chicago, where it was picked up by Theo Ubique Theatre for a premiere November 9 –December 21, 2008 production at the No Exit in Chicago featuring Bethany Thomas as Belle directed by Fred Anzevino.
In 2007, Barth was 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, Jean Carroll
, Pearl Williams
and Betty Walker
, Totie Fields
, and Barth herself.
Comedy career
Annabelle Salzman was born in 1911, the ninth child of a ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
merchant, and at a very early age started performing at Borscht belt
Borscht Belt
Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties in upstate New York that were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s.-Name:The name comes from...
hotels and small nightclubs. Her first husband was Peter Barth, whose surname she retained when they divorced. In 1950 she moved to Miami Beach, where she married executive D. Thorne in 1954. Belle worked small clubs throughout the area, occasionally travelling to New York and Chicago to perform. In 1953 Barth was arrested and fined 25 dollars for her act: several other cases against her were thrown out of court, including one lawsuit for 1.6 million dollars, brought by two schoolteachers who claimed that Barth's act had corrupted them morally and harmed their health. In spite of these charges Barth did not modify her act. While living in Miami Beach she opened Belle Barth's Pub in the Coronet Hotel on 21st Street and Collins Avenue.
During the 1960s she performed often in New York and Las Vegas. Her 1960 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, If I Embarrass You Tell Your Friends, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. In 1961 she played both the Roundtable club in New York (where she recorded her second album), and a midnight show at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on November 25, 1961. In Las Vegas she played at the Thunderbird, then Caesar's Palace in Nero's Lounge. She returned to Miami Beach to play at venues including Harry's American Showroom at The Eden Roc, the Red Room at the Saxony, the Hotel Plaza in Joe's Lounge for Lovers, and Sans Souci lounge. She was usually accompanied by Margie Sherwin on piano.
Recording history
Barth released various "adult party albums", nine with original material, which were recorded live at her club gigs:- If I Embarrass You Tell Your Friends (recorded live, Miami Beach, 1960)
- My Next Story Is a Little Risque (recorded at The Roundtable, 1961)
- In Person (recorded at the Roundtable, 1961)
- For Adults Only (recorded at the El Morocco, Montreal)
- I Don't Mean to be Vulgar, but it's Profitable (Side 1 recorded live at the Roundtable, 1961; Side 2 is the original Side 2 of her 1st album)
- Belle Barth's Wild, Wild, Wild, Wild World! (1963)
- If I Embarrassed You, Forget It
- The Book of Knowledge (recorded live, Basin Street East, New York City, April 1966)
- Hell's Belle (compilation of other album material)
- The Customer Comes First
- Battle of the Mothers! (with Pearl Williams, compilation)
- Return Battle of the Mother!
- Party Snatches – the Best of... (compilation; Barth features)
Personal life
Barth was married five times; she and her last husband George B. Martin married twice, either side of a month-long divorce through March 1966. She had no children, but her family included many siblings, nieces and nephews.Death
Barth became ill in Las VegasLas Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
in May 1970, after her final performance in Miami Beach, at Joe's Lounge at the Hotel Plaza, during March 1970. She performed at the Flamingo once more in September 1970. She died at 10 p.m. on February 14, 1971, aged 59, at her Miami Beach home.
Posthumous
Her influence can be seen the careers of Madeline Kahn, Bette Middler, Gilda Radner and Joan Rivers. Barth's distinctive style - her grandmotherly appearance and foul mouth - was referenced by Bette MidlerBette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, who quoted her line "Shut your hole, mine's makin money!"
In 2000, “Sophie, Totie & Belle: a fictional meeting of Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields and Belle Barth,” written by Joanne Koch and Sarah Blacher Cohen, with some original music by Mark Elliott, lyrics by Mark Elliott and Joanne Koch, appeared for a limited engagement off Broadway at Theatre Four, opening March 15- April 10, 2000 featuring Joann Cunningham as Belle. The show had numerous productions before and after 2000, from 1990-2003, in Philadelphia, New Hope, PA, North Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Sarasota and New Port Ritchie, Florida featuring Joann Bradley as Belle. The April 28, 1996 New York Times review by Alvin Klein of the Forum Theatre –Queens Theatre in the Park New York and New Jersey production singled out the Belle Barth section of the show as outstanding:
“If Belle—‘Miami’s answer to Lenny Bruce’—is the star of this occasion, blame her defiantly funny, audience winning material. And blame Vicky Tripodo [as Belle] who is having the smash hit of her career.”
Joanne Koch and Sarah Blacher Cohen, seeing the great potential in the Belle character, started to discuss a possible new show focusing only on Belle, but Sarah Cohen’s fatal illness left Joanne to develop the new show: “Belle Barth: If I Embarrass You, Tell Your Friends.” This time Koch collaborated with composer Ilya Levinson and lyricist Owen Kalt (her collaborators on a previous musical “American Klezmer”) to create a completely original score for a two-person musical devoted to Belle. “Embarrass” workshopped in 2007 with Honey West as Belle directed by Alexandra Billings at the Acorn Theatre in Michigan, then at the Chicago Writers’ Bloc at the Theatre Building Chicago, (funded by the Dramatists Guild Fund, Inc.) then at the Stages 2008 Festival of New Musicals at Theatre Building Chicago, where it was picked up by Theo Ubique Theatre for a premiere November 9 –December 21, 2008 production at the No Exit in Chicago featuring Bethany Thomas as Belle directed by Fred Anzevino.
In 2007, Barth was featured in the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
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, Jean Carroll
Jean Carroll
Jean Carroll was an American actress and comedienne during the 1950s and 1960s.Carroll was born as Celine Zeigman on January 7, 1911 in Paris, France She began her career as part of the comedy dance team Carroll and Howe, with her husband, vaudevillian Buddy Howe, who later became her manager...
, Pearl Williams
Pearl Williams
Pearl Williams was an American entertainer.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...
and Betty Walker
Betty Walker
Betty Walker was a Jewish-American comic who performed primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. She was born Edith Seeman in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Latvian immigrants.-Life and career:...
, Totie Fields
Totie Fields
Totie Fields was an American comedienne.-Life and career:Fields was born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut. She started singing in Boston clubs while still in high school, taking the stage name of Totie Fields...
, and Barth herself.
Sources
- Klein, Alvin. "Three Funny Women, Joking Through Pain.” The New York Times, April 28, 1996.
External links
- Princesses of Comedy official website
- Theatre Building Chicago Press Release Theatre Building Chicago Website