Viola Smith was born in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin ( 1912 - 2020) and is known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers.

In the 1920s and 1930s she and her seven sisters formed an "all-girl" orchestra that her father decided to make called the "Schmitz Sister Family Orchestra" (later called the "Smith Sisters Orchestra). She decided to play the drums because all the instruments she liked were already taken. They toured the Radio-Keith (RKO) circuit of vaudeville and movie theaters on weekends and summer vacation while some of the members were still in school.

In the 1930s they played on the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" radio show. In 1938 Viola and Mildred (one of the Schmitz sisters who played tenor sax and clarinet) started "the Coquettes", an all female orchestra, which lasted until 1942.

Mildred got married and viola moved to New York and took lessons from Billy Gladstone, received a summer scholarship to Juilliard, and joined "Phil Spitalny's Hour of Charm Orchestra" She also played with Ella fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. She was considered "the female Gene Krupa" and "the fastest girl drummer". She was with the Hour of Charm Orchestra until 1954.

After that she started her own band called "Viola and Her Seventeen Drums" from 1966 to 1970. Next she played with the "Kit Kat Band" which was part of the 1960s Broadway production of Cabaret.

She appeared in the films: When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) and Here Come the Co-Eds (1945). She was on the Ed Sullivan Show five times and in the Broadway muiscl "Cabaret".

Viola lived for 107 years and was still playing the drums. The song is "Snake Charmer".

This is Viola playing with the Coquettes in 1939. The song is "Snake Charmer".