Before Joan Rivers and Beyoncé, iconic vaudeville star Sophie Tucker was America’s most popular and beloved comedienne, singer and entertainer. 

 

Over her sixty-year career, Tucker, a Polish Jewish immigrant, ruled the worlds of vaudeville, Broadway, radio, television, and Hollywood. Deemed “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” Tucker was big, bold, brassy, and unlike anyone else. She was also friends with everyone – from the Kennedys and Eleanor Roosevelt to J. Edgar Hoover and Al Capone.

 

This new documentary from Oscar-nominated director William Gazecki focuses on Tucker’s tumultuous early days. Based on 400 of Tucker’s recently unearthed personal scrapbooks and early recordings, it also featuring interviews with Barbara Walters, Tony Bennett, Michael Feinstein, Carol Channing, and more. 

 

A documentary filmmaker and former sound mixer and record producer, William Gazecki is best known for his Academy Award^®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning film WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (1997). His other films include RECKLESS INDIFFERENCE (2000) and INVISIBLE BALLOTS (2004). He won an Emmy for sound mixing on the TV series ST. ELSEWHERE. 

 

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