100 years, 100 moments: How women shaped a century of music

To commemorate Women’s History Month, World Cafe is looking back on a century’s worth of music history. Every week in March, we’re pinpointing distinct moments of every year from the past 100 years, a quarter century at a time.

Today, we’ll explore 1925 to 1949. Next week, we’ll dig into 1950 to 1974 and so on.

As the decades have passed by, time has wiped out all but a few moments and artists from our collective memory, but the output from the beginning of the 20th century was truly pioneering. From country music and jazz to blues and rock and roll, music today just wouldn’t be the same without these early contributions.

Think of this timeline as a collection of random snapshots that, when taken in fully, may reveal through-lines in the history of music and the women who helped shape it. (Or, it might serve as the starting point to your next Wikipedia rabbit hole.)

Some of these women continue to be celebrated today, while others have faded into near obscurity. Their influence, however, persists.

Bessie Smith in 1936 | photo by Carl Van Vechten / The Carl Van Vechten Photographs collection at the Library of Congress

1925: Bessie Smith, the “Empress of Blues,” records her rendition of W.C. Handy‘s “St. Louis Blues.” Smith’s deeply affecting vocal performance, supported by a 24-year-old cornet player named Louis Armstrong, becomes a standard for blues music.

1926: Sophie Tucker records her million-selling version of Shelton Brooks’ jazz standard, “Some of These Days.” It’ll stay in the No. 1 spot on the charts for five weeks.

1927: Brooklyn-born jazz singer Adelaide Hall, a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, records “The Creole Love Call” with Duke Ellington. It’ll be her most-enduring hit.

On Sept. 5, 1928, a 25-year-old Helen Kane — with her distinctive kiss-curled black hairdo and coquettish inflection — took center stage at the Paramount Theatre in New York City for what would become her breakout moment. The crowd was delighted when, mid-performance, Kane began scatting the lines, “boop boop a doop.” She became a sensation, and soon after, Kane would record her signature song, “I Wanna Be Loved by You.”

A few years later, an animated character by the name of Betty Boop debuted in a Paramount cartoon called Dizzy Dishes. Kane believed Betty Boop sounded an awful lot like her: The cartoon even accentuated her songs with the same “boop boop a doop.” Kane promptly sued Paramount and Boop’s creator, Max Fleischer, for stealing her signature line.

But the defendants bit back. During the 1934 trial, evidence was brought forth claiming Kane herself had stolen the famous “boop boop a doop” line from a 7-year-old African American child entertainer named Baby Esther. The Chicago singer’s manager testified that Kane had come to see Baby Esther perform right before unveiling her signature scatting. The fact that Kane also shared a striking similarity to another 1920s icon, Clara Bow, did not help her case.

Ultimately, the case was dismissed for a lack of proof and the question of Betty Boop’s inspiration would remain unsettled. But history would name Paramount and Fleischer’s character the victor — Betty Boop went on the become one of the most enduring cartoons of all time. Kane also holds a significant, albeit smaller, place in the history books, but Baby Esther was all but erased from our collective memory.

The Betty Boop trial may be nearly 100 years old, but the issue it raised — of appreciation versus appropriation — remains relevant, reminding us that the roots of some of our most-cherished cultural touchstones run much deeper than recorded history would have us believe.

1929: Ethel Waters and the Harmony Four Quartette perform “Am I Blue?” in the film On with the Show! Waters is the first African American to star in her own TV show and the second African American artist to be nominated for an Oscar.

1930: Fine and Dandy premieres on Broadway, making Kay Swift the first woman to score a hit musical completely.

1931: Kate Smith, the “First Lady of Radio,” records her popular song, “When the Moon Comes over the Mountain.”

1932: The Carter Family releases a string of songs, including “Motherless Children,” as the music industry struggles to weather the Great Depression. “Mother” Maybelle Carter, the group’s guitarist, will revolutionize several genres of music with her unique style of playing.

1933: Florence Price‘s Symphony in E Minor premieres in Chicago, becoming the first composition by an African American woman to be played by a major orchestra.

1934: Child star Shirley Temple performs her signature song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” in the film Bright Eyes.

1935: The Three X Sisters, a popular trio, record a version of “Rex and His Sound Effects,” showcasing their impeccable three-part harmonies.

1936: Billie Holiday‘s recording of “Summertime” hits the U.S. pop charts.

1937: Adriana Caselotti is paid a total of $970 for voicing the main character in a new animated film from Walt Disney: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which will become one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time.

1938: Sister Rosetta Tharpe records for the first time

Sister Rosetta Tharpe in 1938 | by James J. Kriegsmann via Wikimedia Commons

On Oct. 8, 1938, a 23-year-old gospel singer, songwriter and guitarist named Rosetta Nubin records music for the first time. Those songs, including “Rock Me” and “The Lonesome Road,” become big hits. Sister Rosetta Tharpe‘s mix of spiritual lyrics with lively guitar music enflames conservative churchgoers, but she revolutionizes popular music in the process and inspires numerous future rock and roll acts.

More than a decade later, a young Elvis Presley will channel Tharpe in his early performances and become one of the biggest music stars of the 20th century.

1939: Marian Anderson sings a powerful rendition of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of 75,000 people. The Philadelphia native’s open-air concert was organized with support from the Roosevelt administration after Anderson had been denied permission to perform in a whites-only concert hall operated by the Daughters of the Revolution.

1940: Nancy Hamilton writes the lyrics for the jazz standard “How High the Moon.”

1941: The Andrews Sisters perform the jump blues classic “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” in the film Buck Privates. The song will become an emblem of the World War II era.

1942: Singer, actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne performs the title song in Stormy Weather, a film based on the life of Adelaide Hall (see 1927).

1943: The Ward Singers, led by Clara Ward, infuse a new energy into the gospel music scene after their bombastic performance at the 1943 National Baptist Convention in Chicago makes them a national sensation. Clara’s tremendous musical presence will influence a young Aretha Franklin, who will sing at Clara’s funeral in 1973.