Helen Morgan
Encyclopedia
Helen Morgan was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer
, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein
and Kern
's musical
Show Boat
in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929
(prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936
, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline
(1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen
in the Playhouse 90
drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth
in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama
.
. Her father Frank Riggin, was a farmer
in Davis Township of Fountain County, just outside Attica, Indiana. After her mother, Lulu Lang Riggin divorced and remarried, she changed the last name to 'Morgan'. Her mother's second marriage ended in divorce, and she moved to Chicago with her daughter. Helen never finished school beyond the eighth grade, and worked a variety of jobs just to get by. In 1923 she entered the Miss Montreal contest, even going to New York to meet Miss America
Katherine Campbell, but when she returned, her American citizenship was discovered and she was disqualified. She also worked as an extra
in films. By the age of twenty Morgan had taken voice lessons and started singing in speakeasies
in Chicago
.
Helen Morgan's high, thin, and somewhat wobbly voice was not fashionable during the 1920s for the kind of songs that she specialized in, but nevertheless she became a wildly popular torch singer
. A draped-over-the-piano look became her signature while performing at Billy Rose's Backstage Club in 1925. In spite of the National Prohibition Act of 1919
outlawing alcohol in the United States, Morgan became a heavy drinker and was often reportedly drunk during these performances. It is even remarked that her trademark of performing while perched on top of a piano was because she was often too drunk to stand up. During this period several Chicago gangsters tried to help fund her various attempts to open her own nightclub. However, Prohibition agents kept too strict an eye on her and these attempts failed.
In 1927 Helen Morgan appeared as Julie LaVerne in the original cast of Show Boat
, her best-known role. She sang "Bill
" (lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, music by Jerome Kern
) and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
" in two stage runs and two film productions of Show Boat over a span of 11 years. (In the first film version, a part-talkie
made in 1929, Morgan appeared only in the song prologue; Alma Rubens
played Julie in the film proper, which was mostly silent. However, Morgan did play the role in the 1936 film version of the musical.)
Morgan took the main role of burlesque
star Kitty Darling in Rouben Mamoulian's 1929 classic feature film Applause
, with fine acting that included stage act portrayals as well as a capella singing in private scenes.
After appearing in the 1929 film version of Show Boat, Morgan went on to star in Kern and Hammerstein's Broadway
musical, Sweet Adeline. The title was a pun on the famous barbershop quartet song. In the musical, Morgan introduced the songs "Why Was I Born" and "Don't Ever Leave Me". Oddly enough, when Sweet Adeline was filmed in 1934, Morgan's role went to her future Show Boat co-star, Irene Dunne
, who possessed a lovely soprano, but was certainly not a torch singer.
Morgan was noticed by Florenz Ziegfeld
while dancing in the chorus of his production of Sally in 1923 and she went on to perform with the Ziegfeld Follies
in 1931, the Follies' last active year. During this period she studied music at the Metropolitan Opera
in her free time.
Her last motion picture appearance was in the 1936 film version of Show Boat, often considered to be the better of the two film versions of the stage musical (it was remade in Technicolor in 1951
, but the 1929 film version was actually based on Edna Ferber's novel of the same name
, from which the musical was adapted, rather than on the actual show).
In the late 1930s Morgan was signed up for a show at Chicago's Loop Theater. She also spent time at her farm in High Point, New York. Alcoholism plagued her and she was hospitalized in late 1940, after playing Julie La Verne one last time in a 1940 Los Angeles stage revival of Show Boat. Her career underwent something of a comeback in 1941, thanks to the help of manager Lloyd Johnson. However, the years of alcohol abuse had taken their toll. She collapsed onstage during a performance of George White's Scandals of 1942 and died in Chicago of cirrhosis of the liver on October 9, 1941.
Morgan was married three times, first, to a fan (Lowell Army) whom she met at a stage door while she was performing in Sally, then to Maurice "Buddy" Maschke (they married on May 15, 1933 and divorced several years later), and finally to Lloyd Johnson, whom she married on July 27, 1941. On June 25, 1926, in Springfield, IL Morgan had a baby girl (Elaine Danglo) whom she gave up for adoption.
Morgan was portrayed by Polly Bergen
in a 1957 Playhouse 90
drama, The Helen Morgan Story, directed by George Roy Hill
. Bergen won an Emmy Award
for her performance. That same year, the feature film
The Helen Morgan Story
, based directly on the Playhouse 90 drama, starred Ann Blyth
as Morgan. However, the feature film was not as well received, partly because critics felt that Blyth's real singing voice sounded more like Morgan's than the voice the studio supplied for her - that of Gogi Grant
.
Leckrone, Michael. Legendary Performers' @ The University of Wisconsin—Madison on March 22, 2010.
Torch song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship...
, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
and Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
's musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929
Show Boat (1929 film)
Show Boat is a film based on the novel by Edna Ferber. This version was released by Universal in two editions, one a silent film for movie theatres still not equipped for sound, and one a part-talkie with a sound prologue...
(prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936
Show Boat (1936 film)
Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II , which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber....
, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline
Sweet Adeline (musical)
Sweet Adeline is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and original Orchestration by Robert Russell Bennett. It premiered on Broadway in 1929...
(1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen is an American actress, singer, and entrepreneur.-Career:Bergen appeared in many film roles, most notably in the original Cape Fear opposite Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum...
in the Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth
Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama
The Helen Morgan Story
The Helen Morgan Story is a 1957 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman.The screenplay by Oscar Saul, Dean Riesner, Stephen Longstreet, and Nelson Gidding is based on the life and career of torch singer/actress Helen Morgan, with fictional touches...
.
Life and career
She was born as Helen Riggin in 1900 in rural Danville, IllinoisDanville, Illinois
Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is the principal city of the'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Danville and Vermilion County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,467. It is the county seat of...
. Her father Frank Riggin, was a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
in Davis Township of Fountain County, just outside Attica, Indiana. After her mother, Lulu Lang Riggin divorced and remarried, she changed the last name to 'Morgan'. Her mother's second marriage ended in divorce, and she moved to Chicago with her daughter. Helen never finished school beyond the eighth grade, and worked a variety of jobs just to get by. In 1923 she entered the Miss Montreal contest, even going to New York to meet Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Katherine Campbell, but when she returned, her American citizenship was discovered and she was disqualified. She also worked as an extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in films. By the age of twenty Morgan had taken voice lessons and started singing in speakeasies
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Helen Morgan's high, thin, and somewhat wobbly voice was not fashionable during the 1920s for the kind of songs that she specialized in, but nevertheless she became a wildly popular torch singer
Torch Singer
Torch Singer is a 1933 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, and starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.The screenplay was written by Lenore J...
. A draped-over-the-piano look became her signature while performing at Billy Rose's Backstage Club in 1925. In spite of the National Prohibition Act of 1919
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
outlawing alcohol in the United States, Morgan became a heavy drinker and was often reportedly drunk during these performances. It is even remarked that her trademark of performing while perched on top of a piano was because she was often too drunk to stand up. During this period several Chicago gangsters tried to help fund her various attempts to open her own nightclub. However, Prohibition agents kept too strict an eye on her and these attempts failed.
In 1927 Helen Morgan appeared as Julie LaVerne in the original cast of Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, her best-known role. She sang "Bill
Bill (Show Boat)
"Bill" is a song heard in Act II of Kern and Hammerstein's classic 1927 musical Show Boat. The song was written for Kern and P.G. Wodehouse's 1917 musical Oh, Lady! Lady!! for Vivienne Segal to perform, but withdrawn because it was considered too melancholy for that show...
" (lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, music by Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
) and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, is one of the most famous songs from their classic 1927 musical play Show Boat, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel.-Context:...
" in two stage runs and two film productions of Show Boat over a span of 11 years. (In the first film version, a part-talkie
Part-talkie
A part-talkie is a partly, and most often primarily, silent film which includes one or more synchronous sound sequences with audible dialog or singing. During the silent portions lines of dialog are presented as "titles" -- printed text briefly filling the screen -- and the soundtrack is used only...
made in 1929, Morgan appeared only in the song prologue; Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens was an American silent film actress and stage performer.-Early life:Born to John B. and Theresa Hayes Rueben in San Francisco, California, she performed since youth and became a star at the age of 19. She was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in San Francisco...
played Julie in the film proper, which was mostly silent. However, Morgan did play the role in the 1936 film version of the musical.)
Morgan took the main role of burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
star Kitty Darling in Rouben Mamoulian's 1929 classic feature film Applause
Applause (film)
Applause is a 1929 black-and-white backstage musical film, shot during the early years of sound films. It is very notable as one of the few films of its time to break free from the restrictions of sound technology. Based on a novel by Beth Brown, the film was staged and directed by Rouben...
, with fine acting that included stage act portrayals as well as a capella singing in private scenes.
After appearing in the 1929 film version of Show Boat, Morgan went on to star in Kern and Hammerstein's Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical, Sweet Adeline. The title was a pun on the famous barbershop quartet song. In the musical, Morgan introduced the songs "Why Was I Born" and "Don't Ever Leave Me". Oddly enough, when Sweet Adeline was filmed in 1934, Morgan's role went to her future Show Boat co-star, Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
, who possessed a lovely soprano, but was certainly not a torch singer.
Morgan was noticed by Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
while dancing in the chorus of his production of Sally in 1923 and she went on to perform with the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
in 1931, the Follies' last active year. During this period she studied music at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in her free time.
Her last motion picture appearance was in the 1936 film version of Show Boat, often considered to be the better of the two film versions of the stage musical (it was remade in Technicolor in 1951
Show Boat (1951 film)
Show Boat is a 1951 Technicolor film based on the musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and the novel by Edna Ferber....
, but the 1929 film version was actually based on Edna Ferber's novel of the same name
Show Boat (novel)
Show Boat is a 1926 novel by American author and dramatist Edna Ferber. It chronicles the lives of three generations of performers on the Cotton Blossom, a floating theater that travels between small towns on the banks of the Mississippi, from the 1880s to the 1920s...
, from which the musical was adapted, rather than on the actual show).
In the late 1930s Morgan was signed up for a show at Chicago's Loop Theater. She also spent time at her farm in High Point, New York. Alcoholism plagued her and she was hospitalized in late 1940, after playing Julie La Verne one last time in a 1940 Los Angeles stage revival of Show Boat. Her career underwent something of a comeback in 1941, thanks to the help of manager Lloyd Johnson. However, the years of alcohol abuse had taken their toll. She collapsed onstage during a performance of George White's Scandals of 1942 and died in Chicago of cirrhosis of the liver on October 9, 1941.
Morgan was married three times, first, to a fan (Lowell Army) whom she met at a stage door while she was performing in Sally, then to Maurice "Buddy" Maschke (they married on May 15, 1933 and divorced several years later), and finally to Lloyd Johnson, whom she married on July 27, 1941. On June 25, 1926, in Springfield, IL Morgan had a baby girl (Elaine Danglo) whom she gave up for adoption.
Morgan was portrayed by Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen is an American actress, singer, and entrepreneur.-Career:Bergen appeared in many film roles, most notably in the original Cape Fear opposite Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum...
in a 1957 Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
drama, The Helen Morgan Story, directed by George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...
. Bergen won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for her performance. That same year, the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
The Helen Morgan Story
The Helen Morgan Story
The Helen Morgan Story is a 1957 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman.The screenplay by Oscar Saul, Dean Riesner, Stephen Longstreet, and Nelson Gidding is based on the life and career of torch singer/actress Helen Morgan, with fictional touches...
, based directly on the Playhouse 90 drama, starred Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth
Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
as Morgan. However, the feature film was not as well received, partly because critics felt that Blyth's real singing voice sounded more like Morgan's than the voice the studio supplied for her - that of Gogi Grant
Gogi Grant
Gogi Grant is an American popular singer.-Life and career:Grant was born Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television...
.
Filmography
- Six Cylinder LoveSix Cylinder LoveSix Cylinder Love is a 1923 silent film comedy produced and distributed by Fox Film and directed by Elmer Clifton. It is based on a popular 1921 Broadway play and stars Ernest Truex from the play. Also appearing in the film from the Broadway play were Donald Meek and Ralph Sipperly...
, 1923 - The Heart Raider, 1923
- Show BoatShow Boat (1929 film)Show Boat is a film based on the novel by Edna Ferber. This version was released by Universal in two editions, one a silent film for movie theatres still not equipped for sound, and one a part-talkie with a sound prologue...
, 1929 (in the prologue only, she appeared as Julie La Verne and sang "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill") - ApplauseApplause (film)Applause is a 1929 black-and-white backstage musical film, shot during the early years of sound films. It is very notable as one of the few films of its time to break free from the restrictions of sound technology. Based on a novel by Beth Brown, the film was staged and directed by Rouben...
, 1929 (sang "What Wouldn't I Do For that Man" and "Give Your Little Baby Lots of Lovin'") - Glorifying the American GirlGlorifying the American GirlGlorifying the American Girl is a 1929 musical comedy film produced by Florenz Ziegfeld that highlights Ziegfeld Follies performers. The last third of the film is basically a Follies production, with cameo appearances by Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan and Eddie Cantor.The script for the film was...
, 1930 (sang "What Wouldn't I Do For that Man") - Roadhouse NightsRoadhouse NightsRoadhouse Nights is a 1930 gangster film very loosely based on the novel Red Harvest written by Dashiell Hammett , but the screenplay differs sharply from the novel, with the storyline almost entirely rewritten by screenwriter Ben Hecht...
, 1930 (sang "It Can't Go On Like This") - The Gigolo Racket, 1931 short subject (sang "Nobody Breaks My Heart" and "I Know He's Mine")
- Manhattan Lullaby, 1933 short subject (sang "The Stork Song")
- The Doctor, 1934 short subject (sang "One Little Smile")
- Frankie and Johnnie, 1934 (sang "Give Me a Heart to Sing To" and "If You Want My Heart")
- You Belong to Me, 1934 (sang "When He Comes Home to Me")
- Marie Galante, 1934 (sang "Song of a Dreamer" and "Serves Me Right for Treating You Wrong")
- Sweet Music, 1935 (sang "I See Two Lovers")
- Go Into Your DanceGo Into Your DanceGo Into Your Dance is a 1935 musical film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Glenda Farrell, and Helen Morgan.-Plot:...
, 1935 (sang "The Little Things You Used to Do") - Show BoatShow Boat (1936 film)Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II , which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber....
, 1936 (as Julie La Verne she sang "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill") - The Coo-Coo Nut GroveThe Coo-Coo Nut GroveThe Coo-Coo Nut Grove is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies short animated film, set in the famed Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles...
, 1936 (Warner Brothers cartoon, caricature singing "The Little Things You Used to Do" )
Stage
- Sally, 1923 (chorus)
- Scandals,1925-1926 (first principal role)
- Americana, 1926
- American Grand Guignol, 1927 (sang "Nobody Wants Me")
- Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, 1927-1929 (as Julie La Verne she sang "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill") - Sweet Adeline, 1929-1931 (starring role singing "T'was Not So Long Ago", "Here am I", "Why Was I Born?", "The Sun About to Rise" and "Don't Ever Leave Me!")
- Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
, 1931 (sang "Half-Caste Woman", lyrics by Noel CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
) - Show Boat, 1932–1933
- Memory, 1934 (starring role singing "A Fool There Was")
- A Night at the Moulin Rouge, 1939
- Show Boat, 1940 (as Julie La Verne she sang Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man and Bill)
External links
- Original 1927 Show Boat on Broadway at Internet Broadway Database
- Campbell Playhouse Radio Broadcast Show Boat (March 31, 1939) on The Mercury Theatre on the Air
- Review of The Helen Morgan Story at Filmbug