A documentary selection at this year’s Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival, The Outrageous Sophie Tucker is the story of the Vaudeville star sometimes described, because of her obstreperous flair and bawdy frankness, as a precursor to the Lady Gagas of nowadays. The film will screen at 1:30 p.m., Oct. 20 at the Marcus North Shore Cinema.
In a reversal of the usual pattern of Tucker’s time, a book was based on the movie—not the other way around. The film’s producers, Susan and Lloyd Ecker, recently published I Am Sophie Tucker: A Fictional Memoir. The authors, fans of their subject in the word’s original meaning as an abbreviation for “fanatic,” tracked down Tucker’s papers and scrapbooks, poured over the words she left behind and constructed the memoir she might have written (the autobiography published during her lifetime was censored). The first-person voice is consistent throughout the Fictional Memoir, telling of her ascent from impoverished beginnings as children of East Coast Jewish immigrants to the star that knew everyone, the Zelig of showbiz as the authors maintain.
The Outrageous Sophie Tucker. For more information, click here.
