CHICAGO

  Ruth had a talent for clothing design, and after graduating from David City High School in 1916 she traveled to Chicago and attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Her work as a costume designer helped her to get a job as a chorus girl at the Marigold Gardens, a famous "Windy City" nightclub.   
Ruth wearing a costume she designed for the chorus line at the Marigold Gardens in Chicago, 1918
The whole chorus line (Ruth is the third from the left)
Another chorus line from the Marigold Gardens with costumes Ruth designed (Ruth is the second from the top on the left)
   It was in Chicago that Ruth discovered a new lower pitched singing voice that she was unaware of while growing up in David City. In time, she was given solo opportunities which developed into her being billed as "Chicago's Sweetheart" and as a headliner in the Marigold Gardens, the Rainbo Gardens, and the Terrace room of the Hotel Morrison. Performances on Chicago radio stations led to a test recording for Columbia. Her first record paired the songs "Let's Talk about My Sweetie" and "Nothing Else to Do," and was released in March of 1926.
Program from the Rainbo Gardens featuring Ruth as singer
Sheet music highlighting Ruth as "Chicago's Sweetheart"
   In Chicago Ruth also met her future husband, Martin Snyder, nicknamed "the gimp" because of a lame left leg. A somewhat shady character, Moe helped Ruth in the early part of her career, throwing his weight around by using tactics learned from a life on the streets in Chicago's underworld.
Ruth with her husband-to-be, Martin Snyder, in Chicago, 1921-22
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