At the Yiddish Wedding Jubilee

Jack Glogau

Joe McCarthy

Al Piantadosi

1914

Image

Page with English title and photograph of woman in dress, next to drawings of three baby-like figures, one in dress, one in suit, and one with beard and hat. — Sheet music for “At the Yiddish Wedding Jubilee,” a song popularized by Sophie Tucker (ca. 1884–1966). Born Sophia Kalish in Tulchyn (today in Ukraine), Sophie Tucker immigrated to the United States as an infant. Settling in Hartford, Connecticut, the family opened a kosher diner, at which Sophie made her start as a performer by singing for the restaurant’s clientele. At a young age, she married Louis Tuck; although she was divorced from him after a few years, she adopted the surname Tucker. Moving to New York City, Tucker began her career in vaudeville, performing “blackface” and other minstrelsy routines. After performing briefly with the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway in 1909, Tucker continued her vaudeville career, playing to sold-out audiences across America and Europe. She debuted perhaps her most famous act in 1925, singing Jack Yellen’s “My Yiddishe Momme,” a ballad with English and Yiddish verses. Through the 1930s and 1940s, Tucker appeared in several films, and she continued performing on stage until shortly before her death in New York City.

Credits

Al Piantadosi and Jack Glogau (composers) and Joe McCarthy (lyrics), At the Yiddish Wedding Jubilee (New York: Leo Feist, Inc., 1914). Courtesy Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, The Lilly Library, Indiana University.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

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Creator Bio

Jack Glogau

1886–1953

Jack Glogau was an American songwriter active ca. 1912–1928.

Creator Bio

Joe McCarthy

1885–1943

Joe McCarthy, born Thomas Joseph McCarthy in Somerville, Massachusetts, was an American lyricist, perhaps best known for his score with Harry Austin Tierny for the Broadway play Irene (1919).

Creator Bio

Al Piantadosi

1882–1955

Al Piantadosi, born John Alberto Joseph Piantadosi in New York City, was an American composer of popular music. He started out as a pianist in saloons and vaudeville shows and then became a successful songwriter, particularly known for “Italian and Jewish character songs.” His 1915 anti-war song, “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier,” written with Alfred Bryan, became an anthem for pacifists and isolationists who wanted the U.S. to stay out of World War I and brought him notoriety.