Feb. 13, 2025

Episode 166: HELEN MORGAN, part 2.

Episode 166: HELEN MORGAN, part 2.

With author Christopher S. Connelly

My guest again this week is Christopher S. Connelly, author of the fascinating new book

HELEN MORGAN — THE ORIGINAL TORCH SINGER AND ZIEGFELD'S LAST STAR.


 The topics discussed in this episode include:

  • Morgan's follow up to Show Boat, the 1929 hit musical Sweet Adeline a star vehicle created especially for her by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.
  • The 1932 revival of Show Boat and subsequent tour.
  • Morgan's career as a nightclub hostess and entertainer at a series of night spots named for her including Chez Morgan, Helen Morgan's Summer House, and The House of Morgan.
  • The Ziegfeld Follies of 1931.
  • And Helen Morgan as a Gay Icon and the "Pansy Craze" stars who imitated her.


Christopher S. Connelly is a film and theater historian. His work has appeared in Etcetera magazine and the Kino Lorber DVD release of Mamoulian's Applause. He is also an actor, Roman Catholic cantor, and chorister for the Atlanta Opera. When he is not writing or performing, he works IT for the Georgia Institute of Technology.


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