The Helen Morgan Page

Happy heavenly birthday to Helen Morgan, who was born 123 years ago today!

Yes, on August 2, 1902, not 1900. For more on this, see last year’s birthday post.

August 2, 1902 was not a happy natal day.

Her parents, Lulu Lang and Frank Riggin, married on September 3, 1899, under an unlucky star. Lulu Lang came from hardy farmer stock, but Frank took ill while serving in the Spanish-American War. Not during any battle, but while at boot camp. He was discharged long before his unit went to the front lines. He battled multiple medical issues throughout the remainder of his life.

Disaster struck on June 21, 1901, when Lulu gave birth, prematurely, to a stillborn son.

Ten months later, while Lulu was pregnant a second time, the couple separated, on April 14, 1902.

The birth of a daughter, Helen, did not foster a reconciliation between the estranged couple. Instead, on September 16, 1902, Frank sued Lulu for divorce.

Despite his protracted military service, Frank benefited from a military pension and medical (financial) assistance for his various illnesses. He divorced not so much to deny any survivor’s benefits to his estranged wife, but to do likewise to his infant daughter.

To do so, he denied paternity by accusing Lulu of multiple accounts of adultery.

In his complaint, he accused Lulu of adultery nine months prior to the birth of her stillborn sun. Curiously, the incident is crossed out on the document, presumably because the death certificate of the infant clearly states that birth was premature.

Other alleged incidents remained in the complaint, including one dated November 4, 1901.

Maybe these alleged events occurred as documented, but one fact is not included in the complaint: Helen was also born premature.

This site serves as a companion to the book Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star.