Lee Morse

Renowned as a torch song interpreter whose range and adaptability stood out, Lee Morse never reached the stature her abilities suggested, largely because of struggles with alcohol. Born Lena Taylor in 1897, she spent her childhood in a musical household in Kooskia, Idaho. Following her marriage and the birth of a son, she abandoned domestic life around 1920 to join the West Coast vaudeville circuit, where producer Will King gave her an early break. The next year she appeared in musical revues produced by Kolb & Dill. By 1922 she had moved to the Pantages circuit and earned enthusiastic notices. Observers often expressed astonishment that such a small woman could generate so resonant a voice; a Variety reporter attributed the unusually low register to her childhood habit of singing along with her brothers.

Morse entered the recording studio for Pathe-Perfect in 1924, committing to disc several originals including “Telling Eyes,” “Those Daisy Days,” and “An Old Fashioned Romance.” The sessions featured her regular backing unit, Lee Morse & Her Blue Grass Boys, whose personnel included trumpeter Manny Klein, guitarist Eddie Lang, and clarinetist and trombonist Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. She switched to Columbia in 1927 yet continued stage work, securing a part in Ziegfeld’s Simple Simon that might have secured her reputation. A drinking episode, however, kept her from the opening performance, allowing Ruth Etting to assume the role. Etting’s rendition of the show’s hit “Ten Cents a Dance” propelled her own career, while Morse’s prospects on Broadway collapsed.

She nevertheless appeared in several musical short films during the 1930s—A Million Me’s, Lee Morse in the Music Racket, and Song Service among them. With live theater work dwindling in the Depression, she turned to club engagements and, with pianist Rob Downey, opened a venue in Texas that operated until fire destroyed it in 1939. Her marriage to Downey subsequently failed, deepening her reliance on alcohol. She relocated to Rochester, New York, and in 1946 wed Ray Farese, who arranged radio broadcasts and club bookings for her. In 1951 she attempted a return with the single “Don’t Even Change a Picture on the Wall.” Morse died in 1954 at the age of 57.