Mary Small (May , â€" February , ) was a prominent singing
personality during the Golden Age of Radio and hosted her own
broadcasts for consecutive years across all major networks. She
headlined or opened at "presentation houses" from the s through the s
including the Paramount Theater, Madison Square Garden, the London
Palladium, the Copacabana with Sammy Davis, Jr., and the Palace
Theater in Chicago.In addition to being an established recording
artist, she was a published author and performed on film, television
and Broadway during her career. She was the first singer to be widely
promoted as The Little Girl With The Big Voice, a moniker likely
adopted by her first manager Ed Wolfe that was marketed in the
Fleischer Brothers' Love Thy Neighbor, distributed by Paramount
Pictures in . The moniker "Little Girl With The Big Voice" was
subsequently used to promote female singing prodigies from Judy
Garland to Jackie Evancho. She was married for a time to the composer
Vic Mizzy with whom she had a widely publicized divorce. Her life is
the subject of a documentary by Rafael Moscatel.Small was born in
Baltimore, Maryland to Jack and Fannie Small. Her father was a local
vaudevillian and her mother a homemaker. She first performed on
Baltimore radio station WBAL at the age of six or seven and at nine
won a radio contest hosted by Gus Edwards. She had a younger sister
named Gloria. The story of how she was discovered was widely reported
in newspapers, cartoon strips and interviews well into her later years
She was interviewed by Joe Franklin in .
personality during the Golden Age of Radio and hosted her own
broadcasts for consecutive years across all major networks. She
headlined or opened at "presentation houses" from the s through the s
including the Paramount Theater, Madison Square Garden, the London
Palladium, the Copacabana with Sammy Davis, Jr., and the Palace
Theater in Chicago.In addition to being an established recording
artist, she was a published author and performed on film, television
and Broadway during her career. She was the first singer to be widely
promoted as The Little Girl With The Big Voice, a moniker likely
adopted by her first manager Ed Wolfe that was marketed in the
Fleischer Brothers' Love Thy Neighbor, distributed by Paramount
Pictures in . The moniker "Little Girl With The Big Voice" was
subsequently used to promote female singing prodigies from Judy
Garland to Jackie Evancho. She was married for a time to the composer
Vic Mizzy with whom she had a widely publicized divorce. Her life is
the subject of a documentary by Rafael Moscatel.Small was born in
Baltimore, Maryland to Jack and Fannie Small. Her father was a local
vaudevillian and her mother a homemaker. She first performed on
Baltimore radio station WBAL at the age of six or seven and at nine
won a radio contest hosted by Gus Edwards. She had a younger sister
named Gloria. The story of how she was discovered was widely reported
in newspapers, cartoon strips and interviews well into her later years
She was interviewed by Joe Franklin in .
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