Vintage Stand-up Comedy: Belle Barth - I Don't Mean To Be Vulgar But It's Profitable 1961

Belle Barth	Annabelle Salzman	East Harlem, New York, USA
Apr 27 1911 - Feb 14 1971 age 59	Official Site	Wikipedia

Annabelle Salzman was born in 1911, the ninth child of a Manhattan merchant, and at a very early age started performing at Borscht belt hotels and small nightclubs. Her first husband was Peter Barth, whose surname she retained when they divorced. In 1950 she moved to Miami Beach, where she married executive D. Thorne in 1954. Belle worked small clubs throughout the area, occasionally travelling to New York and Chicago to perform. In 1953 Barth was arrested and fined 25 dollars for her act: several other cases against her were thrown out of court, including one lawsuit for 1.6 million dollars, brought by two schoolteachers who claimed that Barth's act had corrupted them morally and harmed their health. In spite of these charges Barth did not modify her act. While living in Miami Beach she opened Belle Barth's Pub in the Coronet Hotel on 21st Street and Collins Avenue.
During the 1960s she performed often in New York and Las Vegas. Her 1960 album, If I Embarrass You Tell Your Friends, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1961 she played both the Roundtable club in New York (where she recorded her second album), and a midnight show at Carnegie Hall on November 25, 1961. In Las Vegas she played at the Thunderbird, then Caesar's Palace in Nero's Lounge. She returned to Miami Beach to play at venues including Harry's American Showroom at The Eden Roc, the Red Room at the Saxony, the Hotel Plaza in Joe's Lounge for Lovers, and Sans Souci lounge. She was usually accompanied by Margie Sherwin on piano.
Barth was married five times; she and her last husband George B. Martin married twice, either side of a month-long divorce through March 1966. She had no children.