Former Paducahean Lolita Amiet was a soprano singer who traveled the United States performing in numerous vaudeville and concert groups. - Nathan Lynn, Local and Family History
Singer, Lolita Amiet was born April 7, 1900 in Henderson, KY to Louis Amite and Theressa Callender. She spent her youth singing and performing locally while attending Barrett Manual Training School and Central Presbyterian Church. In February of 1918 she married tobacco businessman, Claud Carroll, in Louisville, KY, but kept her stage name, Lolita Amiet. The couple lived for a short time in Owensboro, before relocating to Paducah in the early 1920s.1
By 1924 she was appearing in local productions and on local radio showcasing her soprano. She would soon move to Chicago to study voice under George Shapiro.2
From the fall of 1925 through 1926, Amiet began traveling in the production of “Bringing Up Father in Gay New York,” portraying Kitty Mahoney. The attraction toured the continental US receiving rave reviews and multiple notations of her beauty. Reporter Glenn Aumond noted, “The company has a ‘find’ in Miss Lolita Amiet, a young girl just out of a Western conservatory of music, who possesses a musical voice and a dainty personality. Miss Amiet’s singing is above the casual musical show in the quality of its interpretation.” With her featured song being “Moonlight.”3
By Summer of 1926 Amiet was back visiting Paducah broadcasting on WJAZ, but would spend the rest of her life calling Chicago home. 4
In December of 1927 she performed as “Rainbow Nightingale,” in Fed Mann’s “Rainbo Anniversary Topics,” at Mann’s Million Dollar Rainbow Room in Chicago, alongside Isham Jones Orchestra. She was featured on songs like “Son is Ended,” A Story of the Rainbo,: Across the Bridge of Dreams,” “The Fairy Mother,” and “Tomorrow.”5
She returned to Paducah in January 1928 to local applause. She picked up dates at the Columbia theatre singing in conjunction with Jack Adams and his Columbia Serenaders on songs, “Tomorrow,” and “My Blue Heaven.” She also appeared alongside Irvin S. Cobb at the Paducah Shriners banquet on February 10th of that year, “Among My Souvenirs.”6
In May of 1928 she was a featured performer at the Terrace Garden, Morrison Hotel and Oriental Room at the Davis Hotel, in Chicago.7
In October of 1928 the Paducah Evening Sun reported, “The winsome features of a Paducah girls, Miss Lolita Amiet, are smiling out from the front cover of a new song hit, copies of which have been received here. The song is entitled ‘How Could Anything So Good Be Bad?’ It is a Worth Weil song, by Haven Gillispie, Seymour Simons and Richard A. Whiting and is published by the Milton Weil Music company, Chicago. The song is a recent success and Miss Amiet has sun it on many occasions in Chicago, where she is in great demand as an entertainer.”8
By late October of 1928 she had moved to the Club Royale in Chicago, billed as, “The Aristocrat of Song.”9
By November Amiet had entered the vaudeville circuit appearing in single act theaters in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska and Canada through the beginning of 1929. She then joined the Publix Theatre Stage Show touring the continental US singing in the production of the “The Wild Party.” In April the troupe stopped in Henderson10
In 1929 Amiet also appeared on the cover of Hirch and Wilhite sheet music for, “I Promise.” 11
It is presumed that Claude and Lorita divorced in the late 1920s. On May 15, 1929, Lolita remarried Reginald Herbert Ball, Jr, a building manager for Strauss Bond and Banking in Chicago. The couple had met two years prior and were wed at Fullerton Avenue Presbyterian Church, honeymooning in French Lick, IN. At the time she was working with the Balaban and Katz Theater Company. She spent the rest of the year performing in St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and more. 12
In December of 1929, Amiet’s first husband Claude Carroll died in Shanghai while on business. 13
On August 19, 1932, Lolita and her husband Reginald were on vacation near Prudenville, Michigan, when the couple's rowboat capsized. Unfortunately, they both drowned. A funeral was held Wednesday, August 24, 1932, in Chicago, and the couple were buried in Evergreen Cemetery and Mausoleum, in Chicago.14
Footnotes:
1 Source Citation
Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Michigan, U.S., Death Records, 1867-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data:
Death Records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan.
Source Citation
"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Barrett Manual Training High School; Year: 1916
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.
Description
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Kentucky, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1783-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: Marriage Records. Kentucky Marriages. Madison County Courthouse, Richmond, Kentucky.
“Lolita Amiet to...,” The Henderson Morning Gleaner, Apr 14, 1929 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1082707923/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
2 “Mrs. Claude Carroll...,” The Henderson Morning Gleaner, Oct 18, 1924 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1083411741/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Lolita Amiet To..,” The Paducah Evening Sun, Jan 28, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1184637811/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Mrs. Reginald Herbert...,” The Paducah Sun, May 21, 1929 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1187755847/?match=1&clipping_id=new
3 “’Bringing Up Father’...,” The Kalamazoo Gazette, Aug 27, 1925 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1145088202/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“At the Theater...,” The Omaha World-Herals, Apr 3, 1926 https://www.newspapers.com/image/862792645/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
4 “Mrs. Lolita Carroll...,” The Paducah Sun, Jul 3, 1926 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1187796810/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
5“Former Paducahan on...,” The Paducah Evening Sun, Dec 20, 1927 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1184580623/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Lolita Amiet Wins...,” The Henderson Morning Gleaner, Jan 8, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1084531020/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
6 “Shriners Hold Dinner..,” The Paducah Sun, Feb 10, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1187920092/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Nobles Hear Cobb..,” The Paducah Evening Sun, Feb 11, 1928
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1184638164/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
7 “Miss Amiet Sings.” The Paducah Evening Sun, May 30, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1185063561/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
8 “Up and Down....” The Paducah Evening Sun, Oct 4, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1185022926/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
9 “Up and Down....” The Paducah Sun, Oct 17, 1928 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1187745556/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
10 “Round About Town....” The Paducah Sun, Jan 13, 1929 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1187909092/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Lolita Amiet to...”
11 “Miss Lolita Amiet...” The Henderson Morning Gleaner, May 26, 1929
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1082708209/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
12 “Claude Carroll is....” The Paducah Sun, Dec 12, 1930
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1082708209/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
13 “Former Henderson Woman....” The Henderson Morning Gleaner, Aug 21, 1932
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1082708209/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
“Services Held....” The Evansville Journal, Aug 25, 1932
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1082708209/?match=1&terms=%22Lolita%20Amiet%22
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: Find a Grave. Find a Grave®. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi.