Kay Medford high school and working as a nightclub waitress. She was the original "Mama" in "Bye Bye Birdie" on Broadway, garnering excellent reviews, but lost the film role to Maureen Stapleton. Medford appeared in the Warner Bros. rock and roll film, "Jamboree" (1957). She made her Broadway debut in 1951 in the musical "Paint Your Wagon". She was cast in "Carousel" before she appeared onstage in "Funny Girl" as the mother of Fanny Brice (played by Barbra Streisand); for this performance she was nominated for a 1964 Tony Award for Featured Actress (Musical), and when she repeated the role in the
Chip Deffaa "The Seven Little Foys," "Theater Boys," "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue," "Irving Berlin: In Person," "Irving Berln & Co.," "Presenting Fanny Brice," and "The George M. Cohan Revue." Deffaa's most recent plays include "The Family that Sings Together..." (published by Drama Source), "Presenting Fanny Brice: The Original Funny Girl" (Eldridge Plays), "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (Leicester Bay Theatricals),"Song-and-Dance Kids" (Leicester Bay Theatricals), and "Irving Berlin: In Person" (Leicester Bay Theatricals). All of Deffaa's plays are available for licensing. He is represented by the Fifi Oscard Agency in New York City. Deffaa also produced, in 2002, "The Chip Deffaa Invitational Theater Festival,"