Actress, Singer. Originally known as “Baby Sylvia” she is best remembered as a child star who sang on radio broadcasts in the early 1920s. She was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York and was raised in the Bronx. When she was 7, her mother signed her up in a juvenile vaudeville troupe called Kid’s Cabaret. She began to appear on her own as a singing act as a vaudeville headliner at the Palace Theater in New York City, appearing with acts like the Marx Brothers and Bill Bojangles Robinson, and soon began appearing in vaudeville theaters around the country. In 1927 she appeared in two one-reel Vitaphone talking short movies that were filmed in the New York Opera House and released by Warner Brothers, one of which was “The Little Princess of Song,” which she became known as from that point on. In the 1930s she appeared in the films “Rambling ‘Round Radio Row” (1932), “Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra” (1933), “Stand Up And Cheer!” (1934, with Shirley Temple), “Soft Drinks And Sweet Music” (1934), “The Song Plugger” (1935), “All For One” (1935), “Transatlantic Love” (1936), and “School For Swing” (1937). Throughout the 1930s she also performed in vaudeville in London, England and Dublin, Ireland as its popularity began to wane in the US. In the 1940’s she appeared in about a half-dozen film soundies, forerunners of music videos that could be played for a dime on jukebox-like machines, including “Let’s Dream This One Out,” “Can’t Seem to Laugh Anymore,” and “The Wise Old Owl.” Up to about 1950 she made records, including one with the musician and humorist Allan Sherman called “A Satchel and a Seck,” a parody of the song “A Bushel & a Peck,” that was released before he gained national prominence. After that, her popularity slipped from recognition. She died from a stroke in Manhattan, New York City, New York at the age of 89. (bio by: William Bjornstad)