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2 unusual facts about Helen Morgan


Julie Dozier

In the show's original production, Julie was played by Helen Morgan, who made the role her own until her untimely death and reprised it in the 1932 stage revival, the 1936 film version of the show, and a 1940 Los Angeles revival.

The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air

With Al Goodman leading the orchestra, the line-up of guests included Fanny Brice, Helen Morgan, Jack Pearl, Will Rogers, and Ziegfeld himself.


High, Wide, and Handsome

In a deliberate nod to Kern and Hammerstein's classic musical Show Boat, which had been filmed with Irene Dunne the year before, Dunne's lovable father Raymond Walburn is the owner of a traveling musical medicine show (much like Cap'n Andy), and Dunne is its star; in addition, Dorothy Lamour sings a torch song, much as Helen Morgan did in Show Boat.

Louis Alter

In 1929, Alter moved to Hollywood, where he wrote songs for films, beginning with The Hollywood Review of 1929, and he continued to provide piano accompaniment for various singers, including Beatrice Lillie and Helen Morgan.

The Coo-Coo Nut Grove

Musical entertainments are provided by Dame Edna May Oliver as "The Lady in Red", the Dionne quintuplets (who were in reality only two years old at the time) and Helen Morgan, sitting on the piano, turning on the tears with a torch song.


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