22 Facts About Belle Baker

Belle Baker performed in the Ziegfeld Follies and introduced a number of Irving Berlin's songs.

An early adapter to radio, Belle Baker hosted her own radio show during the 1930s.

Belle Baker was born Bella Becker in 1893 to a Russian Jewish family originally from Akmene, Lithuania on New York's Lower East Side.

Belle Baker was the third child of eight children born to Hyman Becker and Sarah Rabinowitz.

Belle Baker started performing at the Lower East Side's Cannon Street Music Hall at age 11, where she was discovered by the Yiddish Theatre manager Jacob Adler.

Belle Baker was managed in vaudeville by Lew Leslie, who would become Baker's first husband.

Belle Baker made her vaudeville debut in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the age of 15.

Belle Baker performed in Oscar Hammerstein I's Victoria Theatre in 1911, although her performance was panned, mainly for her song choices.

Belle Baker first introduced the song "Eli, Eli" to the American public.

However, Belle Baker later clarified this, and it became one of the most popular tunes of the time.

In 1926, Belle Baker became the lead in a play called Betsy.

Later that year, Belle Baker introduced the song My Yiddishe Momme to the American public.

Belle Baker had a brief film career as silent film gave way to lavish technicolor musical talkies.

Belle Baker made her film debut starring in the 1929 talkie Song of Love.

Song of Love features two songs performed by Belle Baker written by her husband, "I'm Walking with the Moonbeams " and "Take Everything But You".

Belle Baker made two more film appearances, in Charing Cross Road and Atlantic City.

In 1932, Belle Baker became a regular on Jack Denny's radio program on CBS.

Belle Baker was a guest performer on The Eveready Hour, broadcasting's first major variety show, which featured Broadway's top headliners.

Belle Baker continued performing through the 1930s, but limited her performances to radio shows.

The couple had one child, Herbert Joseph Abrahams, later known as Herbert Belle Baker, who became a screenwriter.

Belle Baker made one final television appearance in This Is Your Life in 1955, just two years before her death.

Belle Baker's brother, Irving Becker, married stage actress Vinnie Phillips and became a road manager for a production of Tobacco Road.