Format:
416 Seiten.
ISBN:
9781985900592
,
9781985900585
Series Statement:
Screen classics
Content:
"Helen Morgan (1902-1941) was more than an American actress and singer. Draped over a piano performing sentimental melodies about lost or unrequited loves, better known as "torch songs," in Chicago's clubs and speakeasies, Morgan was as potent an icon of 1920s America as the gangsters who employed her. Morgan was not the first performer billed as a torch singer, but she was the first woman to obtain that title. After her, only women would be labeled as torch singers. Morgan starred on Broadway, in film, and on radio. As part of the original cast, she played Julie LaVerne in Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical Showboat (1927) and reprised the role in the 1929 film production. She also starred in Kern and Hammerstein's Broadway musical Sweet Adeline (1929). That same year, Morgan appeared in Rouben Mamoulian's classic film Applause. Additionally, Morgan worked in radio on the CBS program Broadway Melodies and pioneered working in the television industry during a time when the Great Depression made theatre roles scarce. Helen Morgan's life was one of extremes. She earned a million dollars throughout her career but remained in constant debt. She was one of the most universally beloved people in her profession, yet a stable romantic relationship eluded her until the very end of her life. She was a proto-feminist who came to the aid of women facing unplanned pregnancies, while at the same time, she sought respite in a man whose financial support would allow her to retire from the stage. During it all, she battled alcoholism, which would eventually extinguish her own flame in 1941. In Helen Morgan: Torch Singer and Ziegfeld's Last Star, author Christopher Connelly uses interviews, newspapers, and Helen Morgan's mother's scrapbook series to unveil the many paradoxes of Morgan's life. Connelly's meticulous research reveals Morgan's outstanding accomplishments, noble actions, and public popularity. [...]"
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Online-Ausgabe ISBN 9781985900615
Language:
English
Keywords:
Biografie
;
Biographies
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