| Ethel Shutta |
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| 1896 births | |
| shutta, ethel | |
| 1976 deaths | |
| american film actors | |
| american musical theatre actors | |
| american stage actors | |
| singers | |
| vaudeville performers | |
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By age 7 Ethel was being called ''the little girl with the big voice.'' Together with her mother, Augusta, and her brother, Jack, she and her family toured as the Pee Wee Minstrels. Their family name was originally Schutte. The father, Charles, was the manager. They also played in Vaudeville as The Three Shuttas. She debuted on Broadway in ''The Passing Show of 1922'', and then in a series of Florenz Ziegfeld productions including '' Louis The 14th '' and '' Whoopee! ''. In 1929 she married band-leader George Olsen , with whom she had two children (her son George attended school with Hal Prince , who was later to cast Ethel in ''Follies''). The couple appeared in clubs across the country, and were regulars on Jack Benny Canada Dry Radio Show. She signed off with the song ''Rock-a-Bye Moon.'' They divorced in 1936. She continued to work on her own as a singer, while her ex-husband opened a restaurant in New Jersey that used his own recordings as background music. Shutta came back to Broadway in 1963 with ''Jennie'', which starred Mary Martin . The show ran only 84 performances, and was generally considered unsuccessful. Subsequent work was difficult to find, and Shutta used alcohol to get herself through the rough spots. Her final comeback was in her rôle as veteran actress ''Hattie Walker'' in 1971-1972. Ethel brought down the house each evening with Sondheim 's "Broadway Baby" in the original production of '' Follies ''. ''Follies'' was staged at the Winter Garden Theater where she made her first Broadway appearance for the Shuberts in 1922. Ethel Shutta died in 1976 in New York City in St. Clare's Hospital at the age of 79. She resided in Greenwich Village . REFERENCE
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