Helen Kane
| Helen Kane | |
|---|---|
(Helen Kane in 1929)
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| Born |
Helen Clare Schroeder August 4, 1904 The Bronx, New York City, USA |
| Died | September 26, 1966 (aged 62) Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City |
| Cause of death | breast cancer |
| Resting place | Long Island National Cemetery, Suffolk County, New York |
| Years active | 1921–1950s |
| Spouse(s) | Joseph Kane (1924–28; divorced) Max Hoffman, Jr. (1933–35; divorced) Daniel Healy (1939–66; her death) |
Helen Kane born Helen Clare Schroeder (August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966) was an American popular singer; her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved by You". Kane's voice and appearance were a likely source for Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick when creating Betty Boop, itself a style originating from Baby Esther.
Born as Helen Clare Schroeder, Kane attended St. Anselm's Parochial School in the Bronx. She was the youngest of three children. Her father, Louis Schroeder, the son of a German immigrant, was employed intermittently; her Irish immigrant mother, Ellen (born Dixon) Schroeder, worked in a laundry.
Kane's mother reluctantly paid $3 for her daughter's costume as a queen in Kane's first theatrical role at school. By the time she was 15 years old, Kane was onstage professionally, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers in On the Balcony.
She spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the "All Jazz Revue". She played the New York Palace for the first time in 1921. Her Broadway days started there as well with the Stars of the Future (1922–24, and a brief revival in early 1927). She also sang onstage with an early singing trio, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, later known as The Three X Sisters.
Kane's roommate in the early 1920s was Jessie Fordyce. The singing trio act might have become the Hamilton Sisters and Schroeder; however, Pearl Hamilton chose Fordyce to tour as a trio act "just to see what happens" at the end of the theatrical season.
Kane's career break came in 1927, when she appeared in a musical called A Night in Spain. It ran from May 3, 1927, through Nov 12, 1927, for a total of 174 performances, at the 44th Street Theatre in NYC. Subsequently, Paul Ash, a band conductor, put Kane's name forward for a performance at New York's Paramount Theater.
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