Arthur Tracy

During radio's golden age, Arthur Tracy was among the medium's brightest stars. Celebrated as the "Street Singer," his rich, romantic tenor established him as one of the Depression era's most popular vocalists. Widely assumed to be an American because of his clear diction and troubadour style, Tracy was in fact born Abba Tracovutsky in Kamenetz-Podolsk, Moldavia in 1899, emigrating with his family to the U.S. in 1906. The family settled in Philadelphia, and while Tracy originally studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, he later dropped out to pursue a musical career, and relocated to New York City in 1924. After making his presence known on the vaudeville circuit, he joined the touring company of Blossom Time, and also performed in various amateur revues at New York; it was there that William Paley heard him sing, and offered him a 15-minute CBS radio program. For fear of causing his family embarrassment if his radio career bombed, Tracy initially planned to bill himself as the Vagabond Singer before realizing that Rudy Vallee was already dubbed the Vagabond Lover. Upon reading about a Frederick Lonsdale play named The Street Singer, he decided to adopt the title as an alter ego; his 1931 broadcast debut proved immensely popular with audiences, and the true identity of the "Street Singer" became a matter of national speculation. Only after five months was Tracy's true identity revealed, and within the year he was in Hollywood to appear in the motion picture The Big Broadcast of 1932 with Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, the Boswell Sisters and other radio stars. He also continued his radio series, which was so successful that it often aired several times a week; even at the peak of the Depression, when record sales were at their lowest ebb, Tracy's recordings...