Mabel was the daughter of John & Frances Ann (Duncan) Fallis, of Dighton, Kansas.
Mabel graduated from Lane County High School in Dighton, Kansas in 1916 and attended Kansas University one year (1916-17) where she met her future husband Wendell P. Wesley. She then took a year off and returned to KU for the 1918-19 class while Wendell was serving in the Army overseas. She received many letters relating to the death and destruction Wendell was witnessing.
In the Spring of 1919, after winning one of the leads in a song and dance number of the KU Follies, and a scholarship for freshmen in piano, she turned to what she thought was her first love: drums. Drum teachers were scarce, but Joseph C. McCanles, director of the KU band, said there was one good drummer, Gola Roberts, but doubted if he would be available to teach as he was busy as a band member and performed in the theater pit in downtown Lawrence. Mr. Roberts found the time and tutored Mabel in drums and xylophone as well.
A girl drummer was wanted by the Campbell Garman Three Day Chatauqua, then forming in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Mr. Roberts called them. Mabel was sent to Hutchinson and met the rest of the group, all distinguished artists: 1) Mr. Rudecil, a famous harpist (people came far and wide for lessons from him); 2) Zora Layman, violinist, pianist, vocal soloist and guitarist; 3) Roy Campbell, tenor singer and chorus director, who later went to New York and became quite famous teaching and making records, and later was music director at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas; 4) other assorted members including a comic make-up artist and a crayon artist. Mabel joined the group as a drummer, xylophone player, pianist, guitarist and solo vocalist.
At the end of the season Mabel and Zora Layman were chosen to go on the Lyceum circuit for the winter season. They toured Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska and performed in Dighton, Kansas, Mabel's hometown, and Ulysses, Kansas her future home after marriage.
When she got home in the Spring of 1921 from that tour, she received a call from Ottumwa, Iowa with an invitation to join the Acme Chatauqua Company for the summer tour and at the end of that tour she was so close to Chicago, that she went there and met with talent scouts for a tryout on the Redpath out of Chicago. She was accepted and joined the group in their tour through Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
They returned to Chicago and did a program for, and from, radio station WDAP of Midwest Radio Central, Inc. in the Wrigley Building in Chicago on Aug. 24, 1922. It was the very first program ever broadcast from there and she had a xylophone solo. She wrote in 1974:
"I well remember THAT program. I played the 'Fanfare' from 'William Tell'. In those days - 52 years ago - radio was so new. There were blankets covering all walls, presumably to catch the sounds and push them out on the air. When I hit that xylophone, there was simply NO tone. It was like playing on a piece of wood. It almost threw me, but I got through it, still going like the wind, as that number does and it was amazing the compliments I got. The sound WAS pushed out, but it was sort of hard on a performer".
From there she joined a group called The Seven Brown Girls and spent nine months in training. Before leaving Mabel married Wendell on November 6, 1922 at Kansas City, Missouri. The marriage was kept secret because the tour group would allow only single women on the tour. After the wedding Wendell was hospitalized to overcome TB.
Mabel went to New York and joined the Keith Circuit in Vaudeville and was on tour during 1922 and 1923. The tour took her to such places as The Majestic in Springfield, Illinois (Oct. 1922), The Lafayette in Buffalo, New York (Dec. 1922), The Victoria in Wheeling, West Virginia (Dec. 1922), The Harris in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Apr. 1923 and The Majestic in Paterson, New Jersey (Apr. 1923). She was earning money which was going into savings for later use when Wendell recovered.
In mid 1923 she quit the tour and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to join Wendell who was finally released from the hospital, and lived with him on their homestead.
After Wendell became a lawyer and moved to Ulysses, Kansas, Mabel taught music in the elementary school and taught dancing at home. In her declining years, she lived in Room 324 at Wesley Towers, a retirement complex in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Mabel graduated from Lane County High School in Dighton, Kansas in 1916 and attended Kansas University one year (1916-17) where she met her future husband Wendell P. Wesley. She then took a year off and returned to KU for the 1918-19 class while Wendell was serving in the Army overseas. She received many letters relating to the death and destruction Wendell was witnessing.
In the Spring of 1919, after winning one of the leads in a song and dance number of the KU Follies, and a scholarship for freshmen in piano, she turned to what she thought was her first love: drums. Drum teachers were scarce, but Joseph C. McCanles, director of the KU band, said there was one good drummer, Gola Roberts, but doubted if he would be available to teach as he was busy as a band member and performed in the theater pit in downtown Lawrence. Mr. Roberts found the time and tutored Mabel in drums and xylophone as well.
A girl drummer was wanted by the Campbell Garman Three Day Chatauqua, then forming in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Mr. Roberts called them. Mabel was sent to Hutchinson and met the rest of the group, all distinguished artists: 1) Mr. Rudecil, a famous harpist (people came far and wide for lessons from him); 2) Zora Layman, violinist, pianist, vocal soloist and guitarist; 3) Roy Campbell, tenor singer and chorus director, who later went to New York and became quite famous teaching and making records, and later was music director at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas; 4) other assorted members including a comic make-up artist and a crayon artist. Mabel joined the group as a drummer, xylophone player, pianist, guitarist and solo vocalist.
At the end of the season Mabel and Zora Layman were chosen to go on the Lyceum circuit for the winter season. They toured Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska and performed in Dighton, Kansas, Mabel's hometown, and Ulysses, Kansas her future home after marriage.
When she got home in the Spring of 1921 from that tour, she received a call from Ottumwa, Iowa with an invitation to join the Acme Chatauqua Company for the summer tour and at the end of that tour she was so close to Chicago, that she went there and met with talent scouts for a tryout on the Redpath out of Chicago. She was accepted and joined the group in their tour through Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
They returned to Chicago and did a program for, and from, radio station WDAP of Midwest Radio Central, Inc. in the Wrigley Building in Chicago on Aug. 24, 1922. It was the very first program ever broadcast from there and she had a xylophone solo. She wrote in 1974:
"I well remember THAT program. I played the 'Fanfare' from 'William Tell'. In those days - 52 years ago - radio was so new. There were blankets covering all walls, presumably to catch the sounds and push them out on the air. When I hit that xylophone, there was simply NO tone. It was like playing on a piece of wood. It almost threw me, but I got through it, still going like the wind, as that number does and it was amazing the compliments I got. The sound WAS pushed out, but it was sort of hard on a performer".
From there she joined a group called The Seven Brown Girls and spent nine months in training. Before leaving Mabel married Wendell on November 6, 1922 at Kansas City, Missouri. The marriage was kept secret because the tour group would allow only single women on the tour. After the wedding Wendell was hospitalized to overcome TB.
Mabel went to New York and joined the Keith Circuit in Vaudeville and was on tour during 1922 and 1923. The tour took her to such places as The Majestic in Springfield, Illinois (Oct. 1922), The Lafayette in Buffalo, New York (Dec. 1922), The Victoria in Wheeling, West Virginia (Dec. 1922), The Harris in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Apr. 1923 and The Majestic in Paterson, New Jersey (Apr. 1923). She was earning money which was going into savings for later use when Wendell recovered.
In mid 1923 she quit the tour and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to join Wendell who was finally released from the hospital, and lived with him on their homestead.
After Wendell became a lawyer and moved to Ulysses, Kansas, Mabel taught music in the elementary school and taught dancing at home. In her declining years, she lived in Room 324 at Wesley Towers, a retirement complex in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Mabel was the daughter of John & Frances Ann (Duncan) Fallis, of Dighton, Kansas.
Mabel graduated from Lane County High School in Dighton, Kansas in 1916 and attended Kansas University one year (1916-17) where she met her future husband Wendell P. Wesley. She then took a year off and returned to KU for the 1918-19 class while Wendell was serving in the Army overseas. She received many letters relating to the death and destruction Wendell was witnessing.
In the Spring of 1919, after winning one of the leads in a song and dance number of the KU Follies, and a scholarship for freshmen in piano, she turned to what she thought was her first love: drums. Drum teachers were scarce, but Joseph C. McCanles, director of the KU band, said there was one good drummer, Gola Roberts, but doubted if he would be available to teach as he was busy as a band member and performed in the theater pit in downtown Lawrence. Mr. Roberts found the time and tutored Mabel in drums and xylophone as well.
A girl drummer was wanted by the Campbell Garman Three Day Chatauqua, then forming in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Mr. Roberts called them. Mabel was sent to Hutchinson and met the rest of the group, all distinguished artists: 1) Mr. Rudecil, a famous harpist (people came far and wide for lessons from him); 2) Zora Layman, violinist, pianist, vocal soloist and guitarist; 3) Roy Campbell, tenor singer and chorus director, who later went to New York and became quite famous teaching and making records, and later was music director at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas; 4) other assorted members including a comic make-up artist and a crayon artist. Mabel joined the group as a drummer, xylophone player, pianist, guitarist and solo vocalist.
At the end of the season Mabel and Zora Layman were chosen to go on the Lyceum circuit for the winter season. They toured Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska and performed in Dighton, Kansas, Mabel's hometown, and Ulysses, Kansas her future home after marriage.
When she got home in the Spring of 1921 from that tour, she received a call from Ottumwa, Iowa with an invitation to join the Acme Chatauqua Company for the summer tour and at the end of that tour she was so close to Chicago, that she went there and met with talent scouts for a tryout on the Redpath out of Chicago. She was accepted and joined the group in their tour through Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
They returned to Chicago and did a program for, and from, radio station WDAP of Midwest Radio Central, Inc. in the Wrigley Building in Chicago on Aug. 24, 1922. It was the very first program ever broadcast from there and she had a xylophone solo. She wrote in 1974:
"I well remember THAT program. I played the 'Fanfare' from 'William Tell'. In those days - 52 years ago - radio was so new. There were blankets covering all walls, presumably to catch the sounds and push them out on the air. When I hit that xylophone, there was simply NO tone. It was like playing on a piece of wood. It almost threw me, but I got through it, still going like the wind, as that number does and it was amazing the compliments I got. The sound WAS pushed out, but it was sort of hard on a performer".
From there she joined a group called The Seven Brown Girls and spent nine months in training. Before leaving Mabel married Wendell on November 6, 1922 at Kansas City, Missouri. The marriage was kept secret because the tour group would allow only single women on the tour. After the wedding Wendell was hospitalized to overcome TB.
Mabel went to New York and joined the Keith Circuit in Vaudeville and was on tour during 1922 and 1923. The tour took her to such places as The Majestic in Springfield, Illinois (Oct. 1922), The Lafayette in Buffalo, New York (Dec. 1922), The Victoria in Wheeling, West Virginia (Dec. 1922), The Harris in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Apr. 1923 and The Majestic in Paterson, New Jersey (Apr. 1923). She was earning money which was going into savings for later use when Wendell recovered.
In mid 1923 she quit the tour and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to join Wendell who was finally released from the hospital, and lived with him on their homestead.
After Wendell became a lawyer and moved to Ulysses, Kansas, Mabel taught music in the elementary school and taught dancing at home. In her declining years, she lived in Room 324 at Wesley Towers, a retirement complex in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Mabel graduated from Lane County High School in Dighton, Kansas in 1916 and attended Kansas University one year (1916-17) where she met her future husband Wendell P. Wesley. She then took a year off and returned to KU for the 1918-19 class while Wendell was serving in the Army overseas. She received many letters relating to the death and destruction Wendell was witnessing.
In the Spring of 1919, after winning one of the leads in a song and dance number of the KU Follies, and a scholarship for freshmen in piano, she turned to what she thought was her first love: drums. Drum teachers were scarce, but Joseph C. McCanles, director of the KU band, said there was one good drummer, Gola Roberts, but doubted if he would be available to teach as he was busy as a band member and performed in the theater pit in downtown Lawrence. Mr. Roberts found the time and tutored Mabel in drums and xylophone as well.
A girl drummer was wanted by the Campbell Garman Three Day Chatauqua, then forming in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Mr. Roberts called them. Mabel was sent to Hutchinson and met the rest of the group, all distinguished artists: 1) Mr. Rudecil, a famous harpist (people came far and wide for lessons from him); 2) Zora Layman, violinist, pianist, vocal soloist and guitarist; 3) Roy Campbell, tenor singer and chorus director, who later went to New York and became quite famous teaching and making records, and later was music director at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas; 4) other assorted members including a comic make-up artist and a crayon artist. Mabel joined the group as a drummer, xylophone player, pianist, guitarist and solo vocalist.
At the end of the season Mabel and Zora Layman were chosen to go on the Lyceum circuit for the winter season. They toured Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska and performed in Dighton, Kansas, Mabel's hometown, and Ulysses, Kansas her future home after marriage.
When she got home in the Spring of 1921 from that tour, she received a call from Ottumwa, Iowa with an invitation to join the Acme Chatauqua Company for the summer tour and at the end of that tour she was so close to Chicago, that she went there and met with talent scouts for a tryout on the Redpath out of Chicago. She was accepted and joined the group in their tour through Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
They returned to Chicago and did a program for, and from, radio station WDAP of Midwest Radio Central, Inc. in the Wrigley Building in Chicago on Aug. 24, 1922. It was the very first program ever broadcast from there and she had a xylophone solo. She wrote in 1974:
"I well remember THAT program. I played the 'Fanfare' from 'William Tell'. In those days - 52 years ago - radio was so new. There were blankets covering all walls, presumably to catch the sounds and push them out on the air. When I hit that xylophone, there was simply NO tone. It was like playing on a piece of wood. It almost threw me, but I got through it, still going like the wind, as that number does and it was amazing the compliments I got. The sound WAS pushed out, but it was sort of hard on a performer".
From there she joined a group called The Seven Brown Girls and spent nine months in training. Before leaving Mabel married Wendell on November 6, 1922 at Kansas City, Missouri. The marriage was kept secret because the tour group would allow only single women on the tour. After the wedding Wendell was hospitalized to overcome TB.
Mabel went to New York and joined the Keith Circuit in Vaudeville and was on tour during 1922 and 1923. The tour took her to such places as The Majestic in Springfield, Illinois (Oct. 1922), The Lafayette in Buffalo, New York (Dec. 1922), The Victoria in Wheeling, West Virginia (Dec. 1922), The Harris in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Apr. 1923 and The Majestic in Paterson, New Jersey (Apr. 1923). She was earning money which was going into savings for later use when Wendell recovered.
In mid 1923 she quit the tour and traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to join Wendell who was finally released from the hospital, and lived with him on their homestead.
After Wendell became a lawyer and moved to Ulysses, Kansas, Mabel taught music in the elementary school and taught dancing at home. In her declining years, she lived in Room 324 at Wesley Towers, a retirement complex in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
