Ethel Shutta

Who was Ethel Shutta?

Ethel Shutta was an American actress and singer, who came to prominence through her performances on Jack Benny's radio show, her role in the early Eddie Cantor musical Whoopee!, and her Broadway comeback in Follies at the age of 74.

By age 7, she was known as "the little girl with the big voice". Together with her mother, Augusta, and her brother, Jack, she and her family toured as the Pee Wee Minstrels. Their family name was originally Schutte. The father, Charles, was the manager. They also played in vaudeville as The Three Shuttas. She debuted on Broadway in The Passing Show of 1922, and then in a series of Florenz Ziegfeld productions including Louie the 14th and Whoopee!.

In 1926 she married band-leader George Olsen, with whom she had two children. The couple appeared in clubs across the country, and were regulars on Jack Benny Canada Dry Radio Show. She signed off with the song Rock-a-Bye Moon. They divorced in 1936. She continued to work on her own as a singer, while her ex-husband opened a restaurant in New Jersey that used his own recordings as background music.