Samuels was born in Youngstown, Ohio, one of ten children, and began performing on stage as a child, winning an amateur talent contest at the age of 13.

[1] She was billed as "The Blue Streak of Vaudeville", the phrase suggesting a liking for "racy" songs as well as highlighting her ability to change styles between one part of her act to another - such as changing from elegant evening wear to rustic character costumes, and "performing zippy character routines, including songs, for each one.

She was described as "a peppy performer... who packed a mixture of dialect songs, novelty numbers and comical anecdotes into a fast-paced act that kept her audience in stitches.

[4][5] In 1932 she appeared in publicity photographs shortly before the repeal of Prohibition, holding the last bottle of Schlitz beer that had been produced before the legislation came into force.

[2] The following year, she appeared in her only movie, The Big Benefit, which starred Bill Robinson and in which Samuels sang one song, "Poppa’s Back With Momma Now".