{{short description|American singer}} {{Other people|Jack Smith}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Jack Smith | image = Publicity_Photo_of_Whispering_Jack_Smith.jpg | caption = Publicity Photo of Whispering Jack Smith | birth_name = Jacob Schmidt | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|5|30}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|5|13|1896|5|30}} | death_place = | occupation = | years_active = | spouse = | website = }}
[[File:HMVEG962.jpg|thumb|The label of a British record issue of Whispering Jack Smith's recording of ''Ich küsse ihre Hand, Madame'' (In Dreams I Kiss Your Hand, Madame) from 1928.]]
'''Jack Smith''' (born '''Jacob Schmidt''', May 30, 1896<ref>New York Department of Health. Births reported in the city of New York, 1891-1902</ref> – May 13, 1950), known as '''"Whispering" Jack Smith''', was an American baritone singer who was a popular radio and recording artist. He was at his most popular during the 1920s and 1930s, making a brief comeback in the late 1940s.<ref name="PPCD">Liner notes ''Charleston: Great Stars of the 1920s'' CD:PPCD 78132</ref> He made occasional film appearances.
==Life== Smith was born in [[the Bronx, New York]], the youngest son of Charles Henry Schmidt and Anna Staab.<ref>Births Manhattan, New York, New York, United States. New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1322335</ref> On his [[World War I]] Draft Registration Card (dated June 5, 1917, at a precinct in the Bronx, NYC) he gave his name as "Jacob J Schmidt", his date of birth as May 30, 1896, and his age as 21 years. He was a "Theatrical singer" employed by "McLaughlin Agency, Pgh, Pa"; and for Where Employed wrote "Traveling in Theatres" [sic]. His mother was his only dependent. He was single and Caucasian. The Registrar recorded him as "Tall" of "Medium" (build) with "Blue" (eyes) and "Brown" (hair), but "No" (to Visible Scars?). He had no disability. He signed the Card "Jack Schmidt".{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
Smith began his professional career in 1915, when he sang with a quartet at a theater in the Bronx. He was forced to develop his half-singing, half-talking style due to an injury sustained during WW1 when a gas shell exploded near him, damaging his lungs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wyastone|url=https://www.wyastone.co.uk/whispering-jack-smith-me-and-my-shadow-his-27-finest-1925-1940.html |website=Wyastone |access-date=April 23, 2025}}</ref> After service in World War I, he got a job in 1918 as a "[[song plugger]]" for the Irving Berlin Music Publishing Company. He was a pianist at a radio station when he got his singing break substituting for a singer who failed to show up. Smith was exclusively on the radio, but beginning in 1925, he began making records. He enjoyed great success in 1926 and 1927 with the songs "Gimme a Lil' Kiss, Will Ya, Huh?" and "[[Me and My Shadow]]" which topped the charts of the day. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitburn |first1=Joel |title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 |date=1986 |publisher=Record Research Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-083-0 |page=399}}</ref> He also started performing on-stage on the [[vaudeville]] circuit. In 1927, Smith toured England, performing with the ''Blue Skies Theater Company'' singing tunes such as "[[Manhattan (song)|Manhattan]]" by [[Rodgers and Hart]] and songs by [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]], when he was suddenly replaced by a new all-girl singing trio, the [[Three X Sisters|Hamilton Sisters & Fordyce]]. Smith returned to New York and eventually went to work for NBC Radio.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
He died in New York City after suffering a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]]<ref>Staff (May 13, 1950) ""Whispering Jack Smith" is Dead" ''Dunkirk Evening Observer'' p.11, col. 2</ref> at the age of 53 and is buried next to his mother Anna Schmidt at [[Saint Raymond's Cemetery (Bronx)|St. Raymond's Cemetery]] in the Bronx, New York City. His grave is unmarked. He was outlived by his wife, Marie.<ref>"Jack Smith Dies at 53; Whispering Baritone", ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 14, 1950, p. 106.</ref> A biography entitled ''Whispering Jack & Peggy 'O''' (also about actress [[Peggy O'Neil]]) was released by Tate Publishing in February 2014. The timeline of the narrative is from just before the end of [[World War I]] until Smith's death. The book consists of 488 pages and includes pictures from Smith's home movies.
==Reviews== Smith's "disarmingly intimate, polite, and velvety smooth delivery ... distinguished him from everyone else."<ref>[http://www.spun.com/music/product-detail.jsp?id=1536631 Review of the 2000 ''Me and My Shadow'' CD AJA 5372, ''Spun.com'']</ref> One reviewer in describing his "whispering" style said that, "His art was the epitome of understatement."<ref name="PPCD"/> Another indicated, "With a pleasing stage presence, and a genial manner, Whispering Jack Smith establishes contact with his audience just as soon as he sits at his grand piano, and he wins more applause with every song."<ref>Staff (April 7, 1929) "Whisperer Pleases Martini Audience", ''[[The Galveston Daily News]]'', pg. 17, col. 4</ref>
==Republications== His performances can be found on a number of compilations of recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. In 1995 Pavilion Records released a retrospective CD entitled ''Whispering Jack Smith''.<ref>''Whispering Jack Smith'' PAST CD 7074, Flapper, Pavilion Records, Wadhurst, E. Sussex, England, 1995. [https://worldcat.org/oclc/43543276 OCLC 43543276]</ref> In 2000, ASV released the album ''Me and My Shadow'',<ref>''Me and My Shadow'' CD AJA 5372, ASV, London [https://worldcat.org/oclc/50909934 OCLC 50909934]</ref> a compilation of his later songs, taking its title from the 1927 hit song "[[Me and My Shadow]]".
==See also== * [[Chester Gaylord]] ''The Whispering Serenader''<ref>{{cite news|date=9 May 1929|title=Dance.|volume=XLIV|page=6|newspaper=[[Western Mail (Western Australia)|Western Mail]]|issue=2,256|location=Western Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38883577|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=16 September 2021}}; ''...Chester Gaylord, "the whispering serenader," began as an imitator of Jack Smith, "the whispering baritone," rivalled him for public favour in a few months, and finally dethroned him. He has been heard on some good discs, but none so attractive in melody, treatment and contrast as "Here's. That Party Now in Person" and "You're in Love and I'm in Love." (Brunswick.-Í072.)...''</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite web|title=Internet Archive Search: Whispering Jack Smith - archive.org (multimedia content in the public domain)|url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22whispering%20jack%20smith%22|accessdate=April 30, 2012}} * {{IMDb name|0807184|'Whispering' Jack Smith}} * [https://archive.org/download/WhisperingJackSmith/WhisperingJackSmith-MeandMyShadow.mp3 Listen to "Me and My Shadow"] from Internet Archives * {{YouTube|BwEvNOi_c3g|Watch Whispering Jack Smith sing Happy Days – From 1929}}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Whispering Jack}} [[Category:American baritones]] [[Category:American pop pianists]] [[Category:American vaudeville performers]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:20th-century American pianists]] [[Category:1896 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:Burials at Saint Raymond's Cemetery (Bronx)]] [[Category:20th-century American male singers]] [[Category:20th-century American male pianists]]