Ada Turner Kurtz Explained

Ada Turner Kurtz
Birth Name:Ada Birdsall Turner
Birth Date:January 2, 1878
Birth Place:Stanningley, Yorkshire, U.K.
Death Date:January 3, 1947 (aged 69)
Death Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation:Singer, voice teacher

Ada Birdsall Turner Kurtz (January 2, 1878 – January 3, 1947) was an English-born American singer and voice teacher from Philadelphia. She entertained American troops in France and Belgium during World War I, earning the nickname "The Sunshine Lady."

Early life and education

Turner was born in Stanningley, Yorkshire, the daughter of Jotham Harrison Turner and Mary Hannah Birdsall Turner. She moved to Philadelphia as a young child.[1]

Career

Kurtz was a concert soloist and voice teacher in Philadelphia and New York.[2] [3] Kurtz was head of the vocal department at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.[4] [5] In 1911, Kurtz sang a YMCA event in Atlantic City.[6] Later that year, she was aboard a hot air balloon, attempting to achieve a women's distance record, when it was tugged by boat up the Delaware River.[7]

During World War I, Kurtz spent a year in France and Belgium[8] with the YMCA, entertaining American troops and acting as an informal chaplain, billed as "the Sunshine Lady".[9] [10] [11] "Probably no woman in France is better known to the soldiers than Mrs. Ada Turner Kurtz," reported Musical America in early 1919.[12] She taught at a summer training school for church song leaders in Indiana in 1920 and 1921.[13] [14] She gave a concert in Indiana in 1922.[15] She taught voice students and gave performances at her own studio in Los Angeles in the 1930s.[16] [17] [18]

Kurtz's students included Kathryn Meisle[19] [20] and gospel singer Homer Rodeheaver.[21] [22]

Personal life

Ada Turner married American manufacturer Frederick Gross Kurtz in 1900; they had sons Robert and Allen, and they divorced in the 1910s. She died in 1947, in Los Angeles, at the age of 69.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Birthplace and father's name confirmed in passport applications dated August 14, 1918 and July 14, 1924, via Ancestry.
  2. News: 1907-04-06 . Prof. Caveny at the Broadway M.E.. Newspapers.com. 2024-06-05 . Courier-Post . 5.
  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=I4hVHu-Fv10C&dq=Ada+Turner+Kurtz&pg=RA20-PA27 "Ada Turner Kurtz Moves Philadelphia Studio"
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=j1RJAQAAMAAJ&q=Ada+Turner+Kurtz%22Philadelphia&pg=PA800 Conservatory of Music" (advertisement)
  5. Book: Philadelphia Conservatory of Music . School catalog, 1917-1918 . 1917 . Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Conservatory of Music . University Libraries University of the Arts (Philadelphia) . 15.
  6. News: 1911-01-03 . Grand Affair at Y.M.C.A.; Annual New Year's Reception of Association Proves to be a Great Success . 2024-06-05 . Press of Atlantic City . 2 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: Times . Special to The New York . 1911-05-10 . Tug Tows Balloon Adrift; Rope Thrown to Boat When Philadelphia II. Is Becalmed Over the Delaware . 2024-06-05 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  8. News: 1936-12-08 . Hollywood Singer Speaks in Church . 2024-06-06 . The Register . 13 . Newspapers.com.
  9. Book: The Musical Blue Book of America . 1919 . Musical Blue Book Corporation . 304 . en.
  10. News: 1919-07-25 . Woman in Tribute to Doughboys . 2024-06-05 . Los Angeles Evening Express . 19 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1923-11-16 . Coming Coming The Sunshine Lady Madame Ada Turner Kurtz . 2024-06-05 . The Press Herald . 1 . Newspapers.com.
  12. February 1, 1919 . Ada Turner Kurtz, a Favorite of Boys in France . Musical America . 29 . 41 . Newspapers.com.
  13. https://books.google.com/books?id=J_gLmD4Y6HwC&dq=Ada+Turner+Kurtz&pg=PA86 "Ministerial Summer School"
  14. https://books.google.com/books?id=6sMpAAAAYAAJ&dq=Ada+Turner+Kurtz+singer&pg=PA334 "Bigger and Better"
  15. News: 1922-01-03 . Madame Ada Kurtz to Appear Here in Recital Tomorrow . 2024-06-06 . Anderson Herald . 2 . Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1931-11-14 . Icelandic Songs Revived Friday. 2024-06-05 . Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Evening Express . 3.
  17. News: 1931-09-13 . Performance to Open Series . 2024-06-06 . The Los Angeles Times . 45 . Newspapers.com.
  18. News: 1933-07-18 . Benefit Music Program Staged . 2024-06-06 . The Register . 7 . Newspapers.com.
  19. https://books.google.com/books?id=Qug6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Ada+Turner+Kurtz&pg=PA26 "Winners in National Musical Contest"
  20. https://books.google.com/books?id=-QAtAAAAYAAJ&dq=Ada+Turner+Kurtz&pg=PA421 "Miss Kathryn Meisle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
  21. Book: Mungons . Kevin . Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry . Yeo . Douglas . 2021-06-15 . University of Illinois Press . 978-0-252-05274-3 . en.
  22. News: 1931-07-04 . Meisle's Voice Teacher Here; Ada Turner Kurtz in Demand for Technic and Repertoire . 2024-06-05 . Los Angeles Evening Express . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  23. Ada Turner Kurtz in the 1910 U.S. Census, and Ada Kurtz in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997; via Ancestry.

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