Ruth Sato
| Ruth Sato | |
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Ruth in Sweet and Low, 1930
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| Native name | Kaiku Sato |
| Born | December 12, 1904 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 9, 1992 (aged 87) San Diego, California |
| Occupation | Chorus and Specialty dancer, Gossip columnist, Musician promoter and Nightclub manager. |
| Years active | 1922-1972 |
| Spouse(s) | Bill Reinhardt (June 1942 – December 1992; her death) |
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Ruth Sato (1904–1992) was a Broadway chorus dancer, gossip columnist, musician promoter and nightclub manager. She was known as the first Japanese chorus girl on Broadway, where she worked for 20 years. She worked for about ten years as a gossip columnist and musician promoter and for 25 years managing Jazz, Ltd., a Chicago Dixieland jazz nightclub, with her husband, Bill Reinhardt.
Ruth was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York to a Japanese father, Masazo Sato, and an Irish mother, Grace Bedeliah McIntyre. She said in the press that she inherited her Japanese father’s stoicism and her Irish mother’s volatility. Her father was a successful art importer, florist and antique dealer in Manhattan. Ruth is related to the 39th Prime Minister of Japan, Eisaku Satō. Ruth’s grand-nephew, Alastar McNeil, is a performer with the Beatles tribute band, RAIN. While Ruth lived with her parents in Manhattan, her father took her on many trips to Japan for her to learn her cultural heritage. In high school Ruth’s ambition was to be a school teacher (she studied education for less than a year at Barnard College in New York). Her vocational guide enlightened Ruth that her status as a Japanese teacher in a white country may not be taken seriously. The guide inquired: "What school do you think might hire you?" On the advice of this guide and her father, Ruth became a dancer. Ruth liked French and Russian literature and she read James Joyce, Marcel Proust and the Goncourt brothers. In her youth she was fascinated with American entertainment but dismissive of Japanese artifacts.
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