Rosemary Lane

Rosemary Lane (born Rosemary Mullican; April 4, 1913 – November 25, 1974) was an American actress and singer. She is known for her performances with Lola and Priscilla as the Lane Sisters and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in the 1930s, and for her film career in the 1930s to 1940s. Early years Rosemary was born in Indianola, Iowa in 1913, to dentist Lorenzo Mullican and his wife, Cora Bell Hicks. She had four sisters (Leotabel (Leota), Dorothy (Lola), Martha and Priscilla, three of whom later had careers in entertainment. As children, Rosemary and her sister Priscilla traveled to Des Moines every weekend to study dancing with Rose Lorenz, a renowned dance teacher. The girls made their first professional appearance on September 30, 1930, at Des Moines' Paramount Theater. In 1930, Rosemary performed on stage as part of the entertainment accompanying the release of her sister Lola's Hollywood movie Good News. Rosemary, a member of the National Honor Society, graduated from Indianola High in 1931 and attended Simpson College for a while, playing on the freshman basketball team. In 1932 Rosemary moved with her mother to New York, where her older sisters Leota and Lola had already made their debuts on Broadway. Fred Waring, an orchestra leader, heard Rosemary and Priscilla singing, and contracted the Lane sisters to join his band, The Pennsylvanians. Film career Rosemary and Priscilla remained with Fred Waring for almost five years. In 1937, Waring was engaged by Warner Bros. in Hollywood to appear with his entire band in Varsity Show, a musical starring Dick Powell. Both Rosemary and Priscilla took feature roles in the film. Lane's next film was the musical Hollywood Hotel, in which she co-starred with sister Lola, and Powell, before starring in Gold Diggers in Paris, opposite Rudy Vallee.