The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. Learn more

Grace Kessler Overbeke

Grace Kessler Overbeke received her BA from Wesleyan University and her MA and PhD from Northwestern University and served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University. She is now an Assistant Professor at Columbia College Chicago, where she works primarily within the Comedy Writing & Performance Major.

Articles by this author

A newspaper ad with a headshot of Jean Carroll labeled "The Nation's #1 Comedienne!" with performance details

Jean Carroll

Born Sadie Zeigman, Jean Carroll was the first Jewish woman stand-up comedian. Famous throughout the United States and England in the 1950s and 1960s, she innovated a new style of anecdotal, conversational stand-up.

Bette Midler, 1990

Bette Midler

Bette Midler went from canning pineapples at a factory in Honolulu to starring in over 20 films, releasing two dozen records, and touring the world with record-breaking live concert performances. Midler got her start at a gay bathhouse in New York, where she developed the campy and confident persona “The Divine Miss M.” Her career in show business spans decades, old and new media, and musical genres.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Grace Kessler Overbeke." (Viewed on May 31, 2023) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/overbeke-grace>.

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