Nearly 80 years ago, this Jewish singer hoped to be the next Judy Garland - at 95, she's getting recognized

(JTA) - Madeline Millman was just 17 when she took center stage at the Adams Theatre in downtown Newark, New Jersey, stepping into the same spotlight where the Andrews Sisters, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and many of her other heroes had performed for sold-out houses.

"I closed my eyes, focused in, and said to myself, '5,000 people or one person, it doesn't matter - I'm singing,'" she recalled. "And I felt really good about it."

And why not? Madeline had skipped school with friends to take part in a talent contest - and she won. The emcee, the Borscht Belt comic Joey Adams, stopped her on...