Babe Egan

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Babe Egan
Born
Mary Florence Cecilia Egan

(1897-05-01)May 1, 1897
Seattle, Washington, United States
DiedFebruary 7, 1966(1966-02-07) (aged 68)
Glendale, California, United States
GenresJazz
OccupationBandleader
InstrumentViolin
Formerly ofBabe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads

Mary Florence Cecilia Egan (May 1, 1897 – February 7, 1966), who performed as Babe Egan, was an American jazz musician. She was a ragtime violinist and the band leader of the all-female vaudeville ensemble Babe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads.

Biography

Egan was born on May 1, 1897, in Seattle, Washington,[1][2] the youngest of seven children.[3] She was the granddaughter of Irish immigrants to America.[4]

In 1919, Egan moved to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,[1] with her widowed mother and a brother.[3] She began her career in movie theater pit orchestras for silent films during the 1920s.[5]

In 1924, Egan formed the all-female vaudeville ensemble Babe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads. Members of the ensemble were to be unmarried redheads as well as "collegiate, glamourous, and a little sexy, but "proper enough for family entertainment in America's heartland."[1] They included Californian drummer, xylophonist and tap dancer Estelle Mae Dilthey,[6] banjoist and guitarist Billie Farley and clarinettist Juanita Klein.[2] Babe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads gave their first performance at Sacramento Fair and their first booking outside of Los Angeles was for three months in Honolulu, Hawaii.[6] The ensemble were reviewed as "a whirlwind of mirth and rhythm."[7]

Babe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads toured the vaudeville theater circuit across the United States and Canada from 1926, which included a performance with Ginger Rogers, meeting President Calvin Coolidge, and an encounter with a Ku Klux Klan rally, before performing in Europe in 1929 and 1930.[1][3][6][8] They also performed on Broadway with Thelma White, the leader of another all-woman band,[9] and on the RadioKeith-Orpheum (RKO) Pictures circuit.[1] In 1929, Egan earned $50,000.[4]

In 1933, Egan and her ensemble toured Europe again for a year, accompanied by a 16 piece band which included pianist Dorothy Sauter (known as Dot) and saxophonist Geraldine Stanley.[5] A performance by Babe Egan and The Hollywood Redheads in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, inspired Dutch pianist Annie van 't Zelfde to take saxophone lessons and pursue a career performing jazz.[10] Another performance was held at the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris, France.[11]

Egan was bisexual and had a relationship with an actress who she met touring Europe.[1]

Egan retired from professional life in the 1940s, but later reformed her band and toured in Australia for eight years, visiting Geelong, Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Warrnambool, Horsham, and Melbourne.[1][12]

Egan lived her final years in the Rockhaven Sanitarium in Glendale, California, where she died of a stroke on February 7, 1966, aged 68.[5][13] She was buried at Resurrection Cemetery in South San Gabriel, California.[3][14]

Egan is the subject of the 2022 book Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads by Jeannie G. Pool.[15][16][17]

References

  1. Pool, Jeannie Gayle (2022). Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads: Women Musicians in the Jazz Age. Jaygayle Music Books. ISBN 979-8-4328-3133-0.
  2. Pool, Jeannie Gayle (February 8, 2008). Peggy Gilbert & Her All-Girl Band. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. pp. 15–18. ISBN 978-1-4617-3734-6.
  3. Spitzzeri, Paul R. (January 11, 2017). "Striking a Chord: Babe Egan and Her Hollywood Redheads, 1925". The Homestead Museum. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  4. "AFM 47 Women in History: 'Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads'". American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 47. January 5, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  5. "Musician Bios". Some Liked It Hot – Jazz Women in Film and Television. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  6. Smith, Angela (April 10, 2014). Women Drummers: A History from Rock and Jazz to Blues and Country. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8108-8835-7.
  7. Zietz, Karyl Lynn; Lynn, Karyl Charna (October 14, 1996). The National Trust Guide to Great Opera Houses in America. Wiley. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-471-14421-2.
  8. Hadden, Briton; Luce, Henry Robinson (1929). Time. Time Incorporated. p. 50.
  9. Placksin, Sally (1982). American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present : Their Words, Lives, and Music. Wideview Books. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-87223-760-5.
  10. de Haas, Anna (March 25, 2024). "Zelfde, Janna Johanna van 't (1913-2002)". Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (in Dutch). Archived from the original on March 24, 2025. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  11. Schulz, Klaus (2003). Jazz in Österreich 1920-1960 (in German). Album. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-85164-136-3.
  12. Bisset, Andrew (1987). Black Roots, White Flowers: A History of Jazz in Australia. ABC Enterprises for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-642-53067-7.
  13. Jordan, Elisa (October 22, 2018). Rockhaven Sanitarium: The Legacy of Agnes Richards. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6558-9.
  14. "Founder of Girls' Orchestra Dies". Pasadena Star-News. February 8, 1966.
  15. NACUSA-LA (October 25, 2020). BABE EGAN AND THE HOLLYWOOD REDHEADS: Pioneer Bandleader. Retrieved April 14, 2026 – via YouTube.
  16. Mirchandani, Sharon (2023). "Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads: Women Musicians in the Jazz Age by Jeannie Gayle Pool (review)". Notes. 80 (1): 168–170. doi:10.1353/not.2023.a905336. ISSN 1534-150X. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  17. Tomita, Fumi (2023). "Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads: Women Musicians in the Jazz Age". Association for Recorded Sound Journal. 54 (2): 343–346. Retrieved April 14, 2026.