Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waterswas an American blues, jazz and gospel singer and actress...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth31 October 1896
CityChester, PA
CountryUnited States of America
sweat able feels
I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.
yesterday joy looks
It has been an ache and a joy both to look over this big shoulder of mine at all my yesterdays.
mom drinking childhood
Mom was the greatest influence of my childhood. She wanted to save me from the vice, lust, and drinking that was all about me.
mom husband hard-life
In her whole life Mom never earned more than five or six dollars a week. Being without a husband, it was hard for her to find any place at all for us to live.
hurt shy reason
I have reason to be shy. I've been hurt plenty.
black-history black depends
I could depend a lot on my shaking, though I never shimmied vulgarly and only to express myself.
long agents today
Today I blame only certain agents for my long eclipse as a public entertainer.
moving beer air
The big compliment came from the beer drinkers who didn't know me. They wouldn't drink or move when I sang. If they had their glasses in mid-air, the glasses wouldn't come down.
mom regret business
Mom never quit on me. My only regret is that she didn't live long enough to share some of the money and comforts my work in show business has brought me.
fog treatment frightened
I had always loved John Ford's pictures. And I came to love him, too, but I was frightened to death working for him. He used the shock treatment while directing me.
new-york cities philadelphia
New York is only 97 miles from Philadelphia but was the Big Time as no other American city has ever been.
play acting technique
I have no acting technique I act instinctively. That's why I can't play any role that isn't based on something in my life.
asking want pay
Asking what I considered an impossible salary when I didn't want to work for someone has boosted my pay again and again.
people wealthy
All my life I've been prejudiced against wealthy people.