Vanita Smythe

Vannie Smith, known professionally as Vanita Smythe (January 13, 1925 – January 18, 1994) was an American blues and jazz singer and actress. She was professionally active between 1945 and 1950, making eight soundies, two motion pictures and releasing a couple of singles. who produced and directed soundies through Filmcraft Productions in New York. Between January and May 1946, Smythe was filmed in eight of them. Several of the soundies also featured the pianist and songwriter Dan Burley or fellow songwriter Claude Demetrius. Smythe's roles varied, incorporating some acting and singing, and several of the songs within the soundies were written by notables such as Louis Jordan, Hot Lips Page, Burley and Demetrius. and "You Got Me Crying Again". "Lonesome For You" / "I Want My Baby Back" was issued as a single early in 1950, while "Until I Fell For You" / "You Got Me Crying Again" was released later the same year. Neither record was a commercial success. The sum total of her stage performances did not run into double figures, and all of them took place around New York City. Smythe married in 1951 and her professional career came to a close.

Family life On March 23, 1951, Smythe married Clarence Otto Pauling in Springfield, Tennessee. The groom was the brother of Lowman "Pete" Pauling Jr. of the "5" Royales. Clarence and Vanita were later divorced, on a date probably between 1960 and 1966. There is no definitive record of any children of the union.