Mary Small (May 10, 1922 – February 27, 2007) was a singing personality during the Golden Age of Radio[1] and hosted her own broadcasts for 14 consecutive years across all major networks.
In addition to being an established recording artist,[7] she was a published author[8] and performed on film, television[citation needed] and Broadway[9] during her career.
[10] She was the first singer to be widely promoted as The Little Girl With The Big Voice, a moniker likely adopted by her first manager Ed Wolfe that was marketed in the Fleischer Brothers' Love Thy Neighbor, distributed by Paramount Pictures in 1934.
[11][12] The moniker "Little Girl With The Big Voice" was subsequently used to promote female singing prodigies from Judy Garland to Jackie Evancho.
The trio arranged for her an audition with their manager Ed Wolfe who then booked her on the Rudy Vallee Hour on NBC affiliate WEAF New York where she received her first big break singing Louisville Lady.
She worked with the biggest bands and orchestras of the day including Tommy Dorsey, Ray Bloch, Glenn Miller and with stars like Roy Rogers, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Gleason and Frank Sinatra.
Mary's ballads were swapped out for patriotic songs and she worked with the Treasury Department participating in US bond rallies where she shared the stage doing spots with actors like Jimmy Stewart.
[22] In 1942, at the March of Dimes event celebrating Franklin Roosevelt's 60th birthday, Mary performed her own song, "Thank you, Mr. President," backed by the Glenn Miller orchestra and broadcast live from the Waldorf Astoria.
[27][28] In 1934, Max Fleischer hired Mary to appear in one of his community-sing "Bouncing Ball" cartoons, Love Thy Neighbor, filmed at his New York studio.