The child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Lee Krasner was a staunch supporter of the integrity of modern art and one of the only painters in New York to work in abstract style before World War II. Despite putting her career on hold for years to aid her famous husband, Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner achieved recognition in her own right as a gifted abstract painter.

Singing her way through popular standards and performing imitations of Sophie Tucker, Al Jolson, Harry Richman, and Gypsy Rose Lee kept Barth employed on the vaudeville circuit through the 1930s and 1940s. The character of her act changed in the 1950s, when she began to mix her two talents—music and comedy—and added a splash of “red hot mama” for good measure.