Sylvia Froos
{{Short description|American actress and singer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sylvia Froos
| image = Sylvia Froos.png
| alt = Press photo of Sylvia Froos (1924)
| caption = Sylvia Froos (1924)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|04|19}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|03|28|1914|04|19}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress, Vaudeville performer, Singer
| years_active = 1921–1934
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Sylvia Froos (April 19, 1914 – March 28, 2004), sometimes spelled as Sylvia Fross,{{cite news |author= |date=February 15, 1923 |title=In White House Play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93524132/in-white-house-play/ |work=The Shelby Sun |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} was an American actress and singer who appeared on stage, radio, recordings, television, and film during the 1920s through the 1940s.{{cite news |author= |date=April 2, 2004 |title=Sylvia Froos, 89; was vaudeville star |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2004/04/02/sylvia_froos_89_was_vaudeville_star/ |agency=Reuters |access-date=January 25, 2022}} She was a child star{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=April 3, 2004 |title=Sylvia Froos, 89, a Versatile Former Child Star |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/arts/sylvia-froos-89-a-versatile-former-child-star.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 25, 2022}} that was sometimes billed as Baby Sylvia and as the "Little Princess of Song" and in the UK as "America's Queen of Song".{{cite news |author= |date=November 27, 1937 |title=Radio Riddle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93515404/radio-riddle-sylvia-froos/ |work=The Wichita Beacon |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was also referred to as "The Miniature Belle Baker",{{cite news |author= |date=January 27, 1924 |title=At Loew's State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93527685/at-loews-state/ |work=Buffalo Courier |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} with her ability to mimic the vocal performances of celebrities being particularly noted by the media,{{cite news |author= |date=January 19, 1924 |title=Just a Little Girl But a Big Attraction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93527861/just-a-little-girl-but-a-big-attraction/ |work=The Ottawa Citizen |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} and was additionally likened to Sophie Tucker and Marion Harris.{{cite news |author= |date=July 1, 1925 |title=Lyric - Keith Vaudeville |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93531581/lyric-keith-vaudeville/ |work=The Birmingham News |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
=Child performer=
File:Photo of Silvia Froos (1914–2004) from The Shelby Sun, February 15, 1923.png
Born in New York City on April 19, 1914, Froos had wanted to be a singer since a young age. When she was four, she conducted a multi-song performance at the lodge owned by her father. Her mother forced her to leave, however, and was against her doing further performances. After three years of her repeatedly begging to be allowed to perform at her family's social parties with her mother only allowing her to do so rarely, she was noticed by a theatre booker at one of the social functions after singing accompaniment. Froos was able to convince her mother to, at the age of 7, allow her to act as a part of the Kiddie Cabaret group that performed vaudeville in Washington D.C.
She was confronted, however, by women of the Gerry Society backstage who were against child labor law violations. Because she didn't meet the minimum age requirements that the law required for dancing shows, she was forced to return home. When she was eight, she began appearing as "Baby Sylvia" in bookings across the country, including on the Keith Circuit,{{cite news |author= |date=October 9, 1922 |title=Alexander Carr Scores Big Hit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93519264/alexander-carr-scores-big-hit/ |work=The Wilkes-Barre Record |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} and was repeatedly confronted by members of the Gerry Society and she was taken to court after a performance in New Orleans. According to the law, dancing rather than singing was the violation, so the Gerry Society charged that she "wiggled while she sang", thus violating the law, but the judge had her sing several songs in the courtroom and requested she sing a "father song" for him someday before he dismissed the case.{{cite news |last=Gay |first=Chuck |date=May 19, 1934 |title=Radio Highlights |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93496478/radio-highlights-by-chuck-gay-sylvia/ |work=The Dayton Herald |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |author= |date=March 24, 1932 |title=Sylvia Froos |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93481407/sylvia-froos/ |work=Spring Lake Gazette |access-date=January 25, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} Froos claimed to have the record for number of child charges and arrests by the time she was 18 due to being actively pursued by child labor law advocates every time she performed.{{cite news |last=Doran |first=Dorothy |date=January 16, 1932 |title=Week-End Fare Brings Symphonies, Vocalists |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93495726/week-end-fare-brings-symphonies/ |work=The Akron Beacon Journal |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1923, she engaged in a stage tour with the Octavia White Home and conducted vaudeville features in locations including the Bijou Theatre{{cite news |author= |date=November 11, 1923 |title=Baby Sylvia Froos Will Head Bill At Loew's Bijou Monday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93523709/baby-sylvia-froos-will-head-bill-at/ |work=The Birmingham News |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} and a play performance at the New York Biltmore Hotel for Governor Al Smith{{cite news |author= |date=July 9, 1923 |title=Hopes "Al" Will Be Elected President |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93525353/hopes-al-will-be-elected-president/ |work=Star-Gazette |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} and at the White House for Florence Harding. Her first radio performance was in 1925 as a part of the "Free Milk and Ice" fund run by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.{{cite news |author= |date=May 26, 1925 |title='Baby' Sylvia Froos To Sing Over Radio For Ice Fund |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93531980/baby-sylvia-froos-to-sing-over-radio/ |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} She also began starring in short film productions using Vitaphone in 1927.{{cite news |author= |date=June 4, 1927 |title=Vincent Lopez Heads Vitaphone Program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93532490/vincent-lopez-heads-vitaphone-program/ |work=The Record |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
=Theatre=
Her official Broadway debut was years later when she performed solo singing acts at the Palace Theatre in New York City. Once she was old enough to perform with them, she started touring with vaudeville groups nationally alongside other later famous figures including the Marx Brothers, Buddy Rogers, and Bing Crosby. She was signed for a role in the 1929 production of Gay Paree of 1928 by Jacob J. Shubert after he saw her perform at the Shubert Theatre just after her 18th birthday.{{cite news |author= |date=February 24, 1929 |title=Beautiful Girls In Gay Paree |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93513777/beautiful-girls-in-gay-paree/ |work=The Lima News |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} In addition to doing shows on Broadway, she also spent the early part of 1930 doing performances in Florida before leaving to star in a singing role in a Fox Studios production{{cite news |author= |date=March 16, 1930 |title=Youth Proves Lure To Patrons Of Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93509455/youth-proves-lure-to-patrons-of-club/ |work=The Miami Herald |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} called the Fox Follies in Hollywood.{{cite news |author= |date=December 16, 1933 |title=Sylvia Froos Signs For the "Fox Follies" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93538672/sylvia-froos-signs-for-the-fox-follies/ |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} After completing the film production, she returned to being a radio host on the KHJ network in April 1934.{{cite news |author= |date=April 19, 1934 |title=Singer Rejoins Network Staff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93539557/singer-rejoins-network-staff/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
As vaudeville dropped in popularity in the United States during the 1930s, she expanded her tours to European venues.{{cite news |author= |date=April 6, 2004 |title=Sylvia Froos, 89; Child Star in Radio and Vaudeville |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-06-me-passings6.1-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 25, 2022}} Froos had her first cabaret debut in 1936 at the Chez Paree in Chicago.{{cite news |author= |date=February 16, 1936 |title=New Revue at Royale Stars Blues Singer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93547516/new-revue-at-royale-stars-blues-singer/ |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
=Music=
The end of the 1920s saw Froos picked for a radio show for NBC and several years later in 1932 she moved to a show on WADC alongside Victor Moore, both focusing on her musical capabilities.{{cite news |last=Doran |first=Dorothy |date=March 8, 1932 |title=Sylvia Froos Makes Columbia Network Debut In Song |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93495956/sylvia-froos-makes-columbia-network/ |work=The Akron Beacon Journal |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1931, she was signed with Victor Records and produced a number of novelty songs, including Who's Your Little Who-Zis?
=Film=
By 1934 at the age of 20, Froos moved onto film roles and starred alongside Shirley Temple in Stand Up and Cheer! as the primary vocalist in addition to John Boles.{{cite news |author= |date=May 27, 1934 |title=Fox Musical Show Is At The Wilma |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93510101/fox-musical-show-is-at-the-wilma/ |work=The Missoulian |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
While most moviemaking was based in Hollywood, some of the major film companies maintained studios on the east coast in the 1930s, largely for the production of short subjects. In 1934 Sylvia Froos joined the ranks of many New York-based performers who took jobs at the Vitaphone and Educational studios. Educational usually co-starred her with singer Warren Hull in its "Young Romance" musical comedies, with such titles as All For One and Love in a Hurry.
Later career
Sylvia Froos remained a popular singer and continued to work in New York. In 1938, she conducted another series of theatre tours in Europe and South America, before returning in January 1939 and starring at the Loew's Theatre in Montreal, Canada.{{cite news |author= |date=January 11, 1939 |title=Sylvia Froos To Star At Loew's |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93548411/sylvia-froos-to-star-at-loews/ |work=The Montreal Star |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1941 she appeared in seven three-minute musical films for the Soundies movie jukeboxes.Scott MacGillivray and Ted Okuda, The Soundies Book, iUniverse, 2007, pp. 98-99. {{ISBN|978-0-595-42060-5}}.
In 1944 she undertook a series of performances at military bases and hospitals across the United States.{{cite news |author= |date=May 2, 1944 |title=Sylvia Froos To Sing Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93550267/sylvia-froos-to-sing-today/ |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1951 she recorded a dialect novelty song, "A Satchel and a Seck," with then-novice comedian Allan Sherman for Jubilee Records. When Sherman became a major recording star with song parodies in 1962, Jubilee reissued the Froos-Sherman record.
Theatre performances
=Vaudeville=
- Crazy With the Heat (1941){{cite news |author= |date=June 28, 1941 |title=Old Broadway Smash On Stanley's Screen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93549594/old-broadway-smash-on-stanleys-screen/ |work=The Pittsburgh Press |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- Tons o' Fun (1945){{cite news |last=Shaw |first=Len G. |date=January 28, 1945 |title='Tons o' Fun' New Bidder for Favor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93550549/tons-o-fun-new-bidder-for-favor/ |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Filmography
- The Little Princess of Song (1927), short{{cite news |author= |date=April 7, 2004 |title=Obituaries: Sylvia Froos |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sylvia-froos-38269.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sylvia-froos-38269.html |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Independent |access-date=January 25, 2022}}
- A film clip of her singing "The Sun's in My Heart" is posted on YouTube. It is labelled as from 1932.
- Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
- Soft Drinks and Sweet Music (1934), Vitaphone film{{cite news |author= |date=March 16, 1935 |title="Soft Drinks & Sweet Music" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93551442/soft-drinks-sweet-music/ |work=The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- All For One (1935){{cite news |author= |date=October 6, 1935 |title='Little Colonel' Coming To Tivoli |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93540354/little-colonel-coming-to-tivoli/ |work=The Montgomery Advertiser |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- Love in a Hurry (1935),{{cite news |author= |date=May 23, 1935 |title=Idaho Feature Is Big Comedy Tale |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93540532/idaho-feature-is-big-comedy-tale/ |work=Idaho Evening Times |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} short
- School for Swing (1937), short{{cite news |author= |date=March 18, 1937 |title=Hershey To Show Latest Lee Tracy Picture Tonight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93547880/hershey-to-show-latest-lee-tracy/ |work=Harrisburg Telegraph |access-date=January 26, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}
- Eddie Duchin & Orchestra with Sylvia Froos, a Vitaphone short
Discography
- Who's Your Little Who-Zis? (1931) with the Victor Arden-Phil Ohman Orchestra
- Snuggled on Your Shoulder (1932)
- A Satchel and a Seck (1951) with Allan Sherman
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0296436}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Froos, Sylvia}}
Category:20th-century American women singers
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:Actresses from New York City
Category:American child actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:Singers from New York City
Category:American vaudeville performers