Earl Carroll As a pilot during World War I, c. 1918. Courtesy of the National Archives (NWDNS-165-WW-432[P1524]).
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Carroll, Earl (1893-1948)
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Carroll, Earl (1893-1948), theatrical producer and songwriter
James Ross Moore
Carroll, Earl (16 September 1893–17 June 1948), theatrical producer and songwriter, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of James Carroll and Elizabeth Wills, hotelkeepers. At thirteen, Carroll became a program boy at a Pittsburgh theater. At seventeen, having graduated from Allegheny High School, he was assistant treasurer and box-office manager at another theater. He worked his passage around the world doing odd jobs, wrote for an English-language newspaper in the Orient, and, after visiting New York, became treasurer at Pittsburgh’s Nixon Theater....
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Golden, John (1874-1955), theatrical producer, songwriter, and playwright
Weldon B. Durham
Golden, John (27 June 1874–17 June 1955), theatrical producer, songwriter, and playwright, was born in New York City, the son of Joel Golden, a teacher and proprietor of a summer hotel, and Amelia Tyreler. Raised in Wauseon, Ohio, he went to New York at age fourteen to pursue a career as an actor. For seven years he struggled, accepting odd jobs and selling comic verses, the latter written after the manner of W. S. Gilbert, to the weekly humor magazines ...
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Lee, Canada (1907-1952)
Maker: Carl Van Vechten
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Canada Lee Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1941. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LOT 12735, no. 687 P&P).
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Lee, Canada (1907-1952), actor, theater producer, bandleader, and boxer
Christopher Caines
Lee, Canada (03 May 1907–09 May 1952), actor, theater producer, bandleader, and boxer, was born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata in New York City, the son of James Cornelius Canegata, a clerk, and Lydia Whaley. Lee’s father came from a wealthy and politically prominent family in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, whose ancestors had adopted a Danish surname. Lee’s grandfather owned a fleet of merchant ships; the family also raced horses. James Canegata shipped out as a cabin boy at eighteen, settled in Manhattan, married, and worked for National Fuel and Gas for thirty-one years. Lee grew up in the San Juan Hill section of Manhattan’s West Sixties and attended P.S. 5 in Harlem. An indifferent student, he devoted more energy to fisticuffs than to schoolwork. Lee studied violin from age seven with composer J. Rosamund Johnson, and at age eleven he was favorably reviewed at a student concert in Aeolian Hall; his parents hoped he would become a concert violinist....
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Lombardo, Guy (1902-1977), danceband leader and producer of musical extravaganzas
Elaine Keillor
Lombardo, Guy (19 June 1902–05 November 1977), danceband leader and producer of musical extravaganzas, was born Gaetano Alberto Lombardo in London, Ontario, Canada, the son of Gaetano Lombardo, a tailor, and Angelina Paladino, a secretary. All of the Lombardo children were required to study a musical instrument and singing. At the age of nine Guy, the eldest, began violin lessons. Around 1915 the musical family appeared as the Lombardo Brothers Concert Company with Guy as the violinist; Carmen as the flutist, saxophonist, and singer; Lebert as the trumpeter and drummer; and Freddie Kreitzer as the pianist. This group played for church socials and other occasions in London, Ontario, and surrounding areas. Because the local communities had many Scottish descendents their repertoire included, among other songs, ...
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Sosenko, Anna (13 June 1909–09 June 2000), producer, songwriter, manager, and archivist
Deborah Grace Winer
Sosenko, Anna (13 June 1909–09 June 2000), producer, songwriter, manager, and archivist, was born in Camden, New Jersey, one of three children of Rebecca Sosenko (maiden name unknown) and Simon Sosenko. The family was not one of means; Anna's mother ran a restaurant and a sometime boarding house, occasionally renting out rooms in the family home. Sosenko's formal education came to an end when she graduated from Camden High School. Her life would change, however, in her early adulthood when the family let a room to a struggling girl-pianist who toiled in a “five-a-day” (five shows a day) vaudeville theater across the street. The struggling pianist was Hildegarde Sell, the Milwaukee-born daughter of German immigrants. The two girls struck up an instant friendship and eventually a partnership that would make both their fortunes....
