Leotabel "Leota Lane" Mullican Day
Leota Lane led her sisters into show business. But she chose the footlights of the stage to the klieg lights of Hollywood.
Because she didn't brighten the silver screen, she is not as well remembered today as her younger sisters Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla, who were movie stars collectively and separately in the 1930s and the 1940s.
All of the five girls (Martha, Dorothy "Lola", Rosemary, Priscilla) were loaded with musical talent - and good looks.
Leota, the shortest of the sisters, was blond, dimpled and inclined to chubbiness. Like her siblings, she was charming and self-assured, although more reserved.
Leota, born Oct. 25, 1903, in Macy, Ind., (although the 1910 census indicates Iowa as her birth) was the eldest daughter of Indianola dentist - and later postmaster - Dr. L.A. Mullican and his wife, Cora, who settled in Indianola in 1907.
At age 4, Leota was showing off her singing talent in Sunday school programs at the Indianola Methodist Church. At 12, she won a first-place prize in a state music festival.
After graduating from Indianola High School, she enrolled at nearby Simpson College, receiving her bachelor of music degree in 1925.
A Des Moines Tribune article published Sept. 6, 1928, tells how a Tribune reporter encountered Edwards and the two starry-eyed Mullican sisters at Ninth and Locust streets in spring 1925 and Edwards said: "I want you to meet the Mullican sisters. Remember the name. Someday they'll be famous."
Edwards gave them their new last name "Lane," which he thought would work better theatrically than Mullican.
Later, when Rosemary and Priscilla got their start as orchestra singers, they also took the name Lane, as did their mother when she and Dr. Mullican divorced.
Leota made a splash in Edwards' "Greenwich Village Follies" in 1926. She made her Broadway debut as Contrary Mary in a revival of "Babes in Toyland" in 1929.
As her career flourished, Lane sang in Broadway hits, comic opera and summer opera. In 1933, she returned to Iowa as a successful prima donna, headlining a roadshow production of the Broadway revue "Strike Me Pink" at Des Moines' Orpheum Theater.
In 1934, the press reported that Lane was singing in a series of summer productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Co.
Like her sisters, Lane had a spotty marital record. On Dec. 9, 1928, she was married to C. Mischel Picard, a wealthy New York manufacturer. But she returned to Iowa to divorce him in Adel in 1930, claiming his jealousy was threatening her career.
On Jan. 4, 1940, she married Edward J. Pitts, described as an official with the Capitol Theater in New York City who later was an executive of the Lockheed Aircraft Co. She wishfully gave her age as 26 and he gave his as 43, and both said they had been married and divorced twice previously.
Her last marriage was to Jerome Day, another Lockheed executive.
A high point of Lane's career came in early 1939 when she made her New York City opera debut, singing the lead in Maurice Ravel's "L'heure Espagnole," a production of the Juilliard School of Music, from which Lane had received a bachelor's degree in 1937.
She followed that debut with a national singing tour and also sang with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1937 and 1939.
World War II had a big impact on patriotic Lane, who toured for the USO, performing at Army bases across the nation.
In August 1943, she returned to the Des Moines area to sing for the troops at both Camp Dodge and Fort Des Moines.
In 1944, Lane joined the Women's Army Corps, training as a WAC at Fort Des Moines.
In later years, she and her husband Jerome spent their time on their San Fernando Valley ranch. Lane sang only with her church choir.
On July 25, 1963, nearing 60, Lane died at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., following open heart surgery.
The Fresno Bee Republican
July 28, 1963
page one
100 ATTEND FUNERAL OF LEOTA LANE
Glendale - Services for Leota Lane Day - one of the four harmonizing Lane sisters of vaudeville - were held yesterday in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. More than 100 mourners attended.
Three of Mrs. Day's sisters, Lola and Rosemary Lane and Mrs. Martha Edwards, were among the mourners. A fourth sister, Priscilla Lane, was in Massachusetts.
Leota Lane led her sisters into show business. But she chose the footlights of the stage to the klieg lights of Hollywood.
Because she didn't brighten the silver screen, she is not as well remembered today as her younger sisters Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla, who were movie stars collectively and separately in the 1930s and the 1940s.
All of the five girls (Martha, Dorothy "Lola", Rosemary, Priscilla) were loaded with musical talent - and good looks.
Leota, the shortest of the sisters, was blond, dimpled and inclined to chubbiness. Like her siblings, she was charming and self-assured, although more reserved.
Leota, born Oct. 25, 1903, in Macy, Ind., (although the 1910 census indicates Iowa as her birth) was the eldest daughter of Indianola dentist - and later postmaster - Dr. L.A. Mullican and his wife, Cora, who settled in Indianola in 1907.
At age 4, Leota was showing off her singing talent in Sunday school programs at the Indianola Methodist Church. At 12, she won a first-place prize in a state music festival.
After graduating from Indianola High School, she enrolled at nearby Simpson College, receiving her bachelor of music degree in 1925.
A Des Moines Tribune article published Sept. 6, 1928, tells how a Tribune reporter encountered Edwards and the two starry-eyed Mullican sisters at Ninth and Locust streets in spring 1925 and Edwards said: "I want you to meet the Mullican sisters. Remember the name. Someday they'll be famous."
Edwards gave them their new last name "Lane," which he thought would work better theatrically than Mullican.
Later, when Rosemary and Priscilla got their start as orchestra singers, they also took the name Lane, as did their mother when she and Dr. Mullican divorced.
Leota made a splash in Edwards' "Greenwich Village Follies" in 1926. She made her Broadway debut as Contrary Mary in a revival of "Babes in Toyland" in 1929.
As her career flourished, Lane sang in Broadway hits, comic opera and summer opera. In 1933, she returned to Iowa as a successful prima donna, headlining a roadshow production of the Broadway revue "Strike Me Pink" at Des Moines' Orpheum Theater.
In 1934, the press reported that Lane was singing in a series of summer productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Co.
Like her sisters, Lane had a spotty marital record. On Dec. 9, 1928, she was married to C. Mischel Picard, a wealthy New York manufacturer. But she returned to Iowa to divorce him in Adel in 1930, claiming his jealousy was threatening her career.
On Jan. 4, 1940, she married Edward J. Pitts, described as an official with the Capitol Theater in New York City who later was an executive of the Lockheed Aircraft Co. She wishfully gave her age as 26 and he gave his as 43, and both said they had been married and divorced twice previously.
Her last marriage was to Jerome Day, another Lockheed executive.
A high point of Lane's career came in early 1939 when she made her New York City opera debut, singing the lead in Maurice Ravel's "L'heure Espagnole," a production of the Juilliard School of Music, from which Lane had received a bachelor's degree in 1937.
She followed that debut with a national singing tour and also sang with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1937 and 1939.
World War II had a big impact on patriotic Lane, who toured for the USO, performing at Army bases across the nation.
In August 1943, she returned to the Des Moines area to sing for the troops at both Camp Dodge and Fort Des Moines.
In 1944, Lane joined the Women's Army Corps, training as a WAC at Fort Des Moines.
In later years, she and her husband Jerome spent their time on their San Fernando Valley ranch. Lane sang only with her church choir.
On July 25, 1963, nearing 60, Lane died at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., following open heart surgery.
The Fresno Bee Republican
July 28, 1963
page one
100 ATTEND FUNERAL OF LEOTA LANE
Glendale - Services for Leota Lane Day - one of the four harmonizing Lane sisters of vaudeville - were held yesterday in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. More than 100 mourners attended.
Three of Mrs. Day's sisters, Lola and Rosemary Lane and Mrs. Martha Edwards, were among the mourners. A fourth sister, Priscilla Lane, was in Massachusetts.
Leotabel "Leota Lane" Mullican Day
Leota Lane led her sisters into show business. But she chose the footlights of the stage to the klieg lights of Hollywood.
Because she didn't brighten the silver screen, she is not as well remembered today as her younger sisters Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla, who were movie stars collectively and separately in the 1930s and the 1940s.
All of the five girls (Martha, Dorothy "Lola", Rosemary, Priscilla) were loaded with musical talent - and good looks.
Leota, the shortest of the sisters, was blond, dimpled and inclined to chubbiness. Like her siblings, she was charming and self-assured, although more reserved.
Leota, born Oct. 25, 1903, in Macy, Ind., (although the 1910 census indicates Iowa as her birth) was the eldest daughter of Indianola dentist - and later postmaster - Dr. L.A. Mullican and his wife, Cora, who settled in Indianola in 1907.
At age 4, Leota was showing off her singing talent in Sunday school programs at the Indianola Methodist Church. At 12, she won a first-place prize in a state music festival.
After graduating from Indianola High School, she enrolled at nearby Simpson College, receiving her bachelor of music degree in 1925.
A Des Moines Tribune article published Sept. 6, 1928, tells how a Tribune reporter encountered Edwards and the two starry-eyed Mullican sisters at Ninth and Locust streets in spring 1925 and Edwards said: "I want you to meet the Mullican sisters. Remember the name. Someday they'll be famous."
Edwards gave them their new last name "Lane," which he thought would work better theatrically than Mullican.
Later, when Rosemary and Priscilla got their start as orchestra singers, they also took the name Lane, as did their mother when she and Dr. Mullican divorced.
Leota made a splash in Edwards' "Greenwich Village Follies" in 1926. She made her Broadway debut as Contrary Mary in a revival of "Babes in Toyland" in 1929.
As her career flourished, Lane sang in Broadway hits, comic opera and summer opera. In 1933, she returned to Iowa as a successful prima donna, headlining a roadshow production of the Broadway revue "Strike Me Pink" at Des Moines' Orpheum Theater.
In 1934, the press reported that Lane was singing in a series of summer productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Co.
Like her sisters, Lane had a spotty marital record. On Dec. 9, 1928, she was married to C. Mischel Picard, a wealthy New York manufacturer. But she returned to Iowa to divorce him in Adel in 1930, claiming his jealousy was threatening her career.
On Jan. 4, 1940, she married Edward J. Pitts, described as an official with the Capitol Theater in New York City who later was an executive of the Lockheed Aircraft Co. She wishfully gave her age as 26 and he gave his as 43, and both said they had been married and divorced twice previously.
Her last marriage was to Jerome Day, another Lockheed executive.
A high point of Lane's career came in early 1939 when she made her New York City opera debut, singing the lead in Maurice Ravel's "L'heure Espagnole," a production of the Juilliard School of Music, from which Lane had received a bachelor's degree in 1937.
She followed that debut with a national singing tour and also sang with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1937 and 1939.
World War II had a big impact on patriotic Lane, who toured for the USO, performing at Army bases across the nation.
In August 1943, she returned to the Des Moines area to sing for the troops at both Camp Dodge and Fort Des Moines.
In 1944, Lane joined the Women's Army Corps, training as a WAC at Fort Des Moines.
In later years, she and her husband Jerome spent their time on their San Fernando Valley ranch. Lane sang only with her church choir.
On July 25, 1963, nearing 60, Lane died at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., following open heart surgery.
The Fresno Bee Republican
July 28, 1963
page one
100 ATTEND FUNERAL OF LEOTA LANE
Glendale - Services for Leota Lane Day - one of the four harmonizing Lane sisters of vaudeville - were held yesterday in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. More than 100 mourners attended.
Three of Mrs. Day's sisters, Lola and Rosemary Lane and Mrs. Martha Edwards, were among the mourners. A fourth sister, Priscilla Lane, was in Massachusetts.
Leota Lane led her sisters into show business. But she chose the footlights of the stage to the klieg lights of Hollywood.
Because she didn't brighten the silver screen, she is not as well remembered today as her younger sisters Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla, who were movie stars collectively and separately in the 1930s and the 1940s.
All of the five girls (Martha, Dorothy "Lola", Rosemary, Priscilla) were loaded with musical talent - and good looks.
Leota, the shortest of the sisters, was blond, dimpled and inclined to chubbiness. Like her siblings, she was charming and self-assured, although more reserved.
Leota, born Oct. 25, 1903, in Macy, Ind., (although the 1910 census indicates Iowa as her birth) was the eldest daughter of Indianola dentist - and later postmaster - Dr. L.A. Mullican and his wife, Cora, who settled in Indianola in 1907.
At age 4, Leota was showing off her singing talent in Sunday school programs at the Indianola Methodist Church. At 12, she won a first-place prize in a state music festival.
After graduating from Indianola High School, she enrolled at nearby Simpson College, receiving her bachelor of music degree in 1925.
A Des Moines Tribune article published Sept. 6, 1928, tells how a Tribune reporter encountered Edwards and the two starry-eyed Mullican sisters at Ninth and Locust streets in spring 1925 and Edwards said: "I want you to meet the Mullican sisters. Remember the name. Someday they'll be famous."
Edwards gave them their new last name "Lane," which he thought would work better theatrically than Mullican.
Later, when Rosemary and Priscilla got their start as orchestra singers, they also took the name Lane, as did their mother when she and Dr. Mullican divorced.
Leota made a splash in Edwards' "Greenwich Village Follies" in 1926. She made her Broadway debut as Contrary Mary in a revival of "Babes in Toyland" in 1929.
As her career flourished, Lane sang in Broadway hits, comic opera and summer opera. In 1933, she returned to Iowa as a successful prima donna, headlining a roadshow production of the Broadway revue "Strike Me Pink" at Des Moines' Orpheum Theater.
In 1934, the press reported that Lane was singing in a series of summer productions of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Co.
Like her sisters, Lane had a spotty marital record. On Dec. 9, 1928, she was married to C. Mischel Picard, a wealthy New York manufacturer. But she returned to Iowa to divorce him in Adel in 1930, claiming his jealousy was threatening her career.
On Jan. 4, 1940, she married Edward J. Pitts, described as an official with the Capitol Theater in New York City who later was an executive of the Lockheed Aircraft Co. She wishfully gave her age as 26 and he gave his as 43, and both said they had been married and divorced twice previously.
Her last marriage was to Jerome Day, another Lockheed executive.
A high point of Lane's career came in early 1939 when she made her New York City opera debut, singing the lead in Maurice Ravel's "L'heure Espagnole," a production of the Juilliard School of Music, from which Lane had received a bachelor's degree in 1937.
She followed that debut with a national singing tour and also sang with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1937 and 1939.
World War II had a big impact on patriotic Lane, who toured for the USO, performing at Army bases across the nation.
In August 1943, she returned to the Des Moines area to sing for the troops at both Camp Dodge and Fort Des Moines.
In 1944, Lane joined the Women's Army Corps, training as a WAC at Fort Des Moines.
In later years, she and her husband Jerome spent their time on their San Fernando Valley ranch. Lane sang only with her church choir.
On July 25, 1963, nearing 60, Lane died at a hospital in Glendale, Calif., following open heart surgery.
The Fresno Bee Republican
July 28, 1963
page one
100 ATTEND FUNERAL OF LEOTA LANE
Glendale - Services for Leota Lane Day - one of the four harmonizing Lane sisters of vaudeville - were held yesterday in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. More than 100 mourners attended.
Three of Mrs. Day's sisters, Lola and Rosemary Lane and Mrs. Martha Edwards, were among the mourners. A fourth sister, Priscilla Lane, was in Massachusetts.
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