Helen Morgan

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For the beauty pageant winner, see Helen Morgan (Miss World).

Helen Morgan photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1935

Helen Morgan (August 2, 1900 - October 9, 1941) was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. She was born on 2 August 1900 in rural Danville, Illinois. She was born 'Helen Riggins' to a farmer and schoolteacher but became 'Morgan' when her mother remarried. By 20 she had taken voice lessons and was singing in speakeasies in Chicago.

Helen Morgan's high, thin, and somewhat wobbly voice was not fashionable during the '20s for the kind of songs that she specialized in, but nevertheless she became a wildly popular torch singer. Her heart bled about hard living and heartbreak onto her accompanist's piano. This draped-over-the-piano look became her signature look while performing at Billy Rose's Backstage Club in 1925. Morgan drank too much and was often drunk during these performances, despite the National Prohibition Enforcement Act passed in 1919. 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 her attempts failed.

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.

In 1927 Helen Morgan appeared as Julie LaVerne in the original cast of Show Boat, one of her best-known roles. She sang "Bill" (lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse and Oscar Hammerstein) and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" in two stage runs and two film productions over a span of 11 years. (In the first film version of Show Boat, 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.)

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.

In the late '30s Morgan was signed up for a show at Chicago's Loop Theater. However, her alcoholism began to affect her work and she died at 41 of cirrhosis of the liver on 8 October 1941 in Chicago, Illinois.

Morgan was played by Ann Blyth in the 1957 film The Helen Morgan Story, also known as Why Was I Born? (USA) and Both Ends Of The Candle (UK).

1 Filmography
2 Stage
3 Bibliography
4 External links

[edit] Filmography

Six-Cylinder Love, 1923
The Heart Raider, 1923
Scandals, 1925
Show Boat, 1929 (in the prologue only, she appeared as Julie La Verne and sang "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill")
Applause, 1929 (sang "What Wouldn't I Do For that Man" and "Give Your Little Baby Lots of Lovin'")
Glorifying the American Girl, 1930 (sang "What Wouldn't I Do For that Man")
Roadhouse Nights, 1930 (sang "It Can't Go On Like This")
The Gigolo Racket, 1931 (sang "Nobody Breaks My Heart" and "I Know He's Mine")
Manhattan Lullaby, 1933 (sang "The Stork Song")
The Doctor, 1934 (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 Dance, 1935 (sang "The Little Things You Used to Do")
Show Boat, 1936 (as Julie La Verne she sang "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill")
The Coo Coo Nut Grove, 1936 (Warner Brothers cartoon, caricature singing "The Little Things You Used to Do" )

[edit] Stage

Sally, 1923 (chorus)
Scandals,1925-1926 (first principal role)
Americana, 1926
American Grand Guignol, 1927 (sang "Nobody Wants Me")
Show Boat, 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 Follies, 1931 (sang "Half-Caste Woman", lyrics by Noel Coward)
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)