Viola Smith

Viola Clara Smith (née Schmitz; November 29, 1912 – October 21, 2020) was an American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers, and was the world's longest-lived female drummer, dying in October 2020 at the age of 107. She played five times on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as in two films and the Broadway musical Cabaret.

Early life Schmitz was born in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, on November 29, 1912. She grew up there with seven sisters and two brothers. All learned piano first, but only the girls were to be in an "all-girl" orchestra conceived by their father.

Career In the 1920s and 1930s, Smith played in the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra — later, Smith Sisters Orchestra — that her father founded in Wisconsin. Irene (Schmitz) Abler played trombone, Erma Schmitz on vibraphone, Edwina Schmitz on trumpet, Viola Schmitz on drums, Lila Schmitz on saxophone, Mildred (Schmitz) Bartash on bass violin, Loretta (Schmitz) Loehr on piano, and Sally (Schmitz) Ellenback on bass saxophone. They toured the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) circuit of vaudeville and movie theaters on weekends and summer vacation while some of the sisters were still in school. According to her nephew, Dennis Bartash, playing with her sisters on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show in the 1930s was her big break. Mildred Bartash played the clarinet and the saxophone. She argued, "In these times of national emergency, many of the star instrumentalists of the big name bands are being drafted. Instead of replacing them with what may be mediocre talent, why not let some of the great girl musicians of the country take their place? and even performed with Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb. Smith performed at president Harry Truman's inauguration in 1949.

Personal life Smith never married. She had been engaged to be married, but the man was drafted into World War II, and the engagement was cancelled. as one of the oldest living mainstream musicians.

Smith died on October 21, 2020, at her home in Costa Mesa, California, at the age of 107.

Film appearances When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS) – five occasions

Broadway musicals Cabaret