"Whispering" Jack Smith (music)

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For other persons named Jack Smith, see Jack Smith (disambiguation).

Jack Smith (31 May 1898 in New York, New York - 13 May 1950 in New York, New York) was known as "Whispering" Jack Smith and was a popular singer in the 1920s and 1930s who occasionally appeared in films. He was born John Schmidt. He is buried next to his mother Anna Schmidt at St.Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, NYC. His grave is unmarked.

He had a very distinctive style which was a combination of singing and talking in a very "intimate" way using the microphone very effectively as opposed to "belting" the song out. The microphone was a relatively new invention and singers like "Whispering" Jack Smith and the early "crooners" developed this new "modern" use of the technology.

In 1927, Jack Smith was performing with the 'Blue Skies Theater Company'in England. Songs encompasing this program included tunes by Rogers & Hart, Gershwin, and possibly others. "Whispering" Jack Smith was replaced in the program by a new all girl singing trio, the Hamilton Sisters & Fordyce (replacing Jack Smith in the London Palladium revues); they traveled with the Savoy Orpheans Syncopation and Jazz music Orchestra from NYC. This trio was fronted by Pearl Hamilton, a 10 year veteran vaudevillan (and Burlesque girl) who had once shared the stage with Milton Berle, and Helen Kane. Jack Smith returned to America to eventually take the microphone for NBC Radio.