Helen Morgan

Helen Morgan was an born 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. Neither her large bosom, nor her deep voice were fashionable during the '20s, 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.

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)