An Introduction to Helen Falconer Buck

This one goes out to my good buddy Kevin Fitzpatrick, who made me more aware than I might otherwise be of Helen Falconer Buck (1890-1968), and who enhanced her Find a Grave entry substantially.

Falconer was one of three daughters raised by a single mom in Milwaukee. She had the benefit of singing, dancing, and dramatics classes in her childhood. She was only 17 when she signed with Charles Dillingham, who launched her Broadway career with a chorus part in the hit Three Twins (1908-09). I’ve not yet learned how she came to his attention. If I were to conjecture, to my mind the most plausible route was that she had entered vaudeville and had perhaps been caught by a scout or Dillingham himself in Chicago, which at the time was the second most significant theatre town after New York. They’d have been much less likely to have seen her in Milwaukee. It’s also possible they caught her in New York, though it’s less likely she made it that far so early in her career.

However it came to be, Falconer spent around a decade on the Broadway boards, almost all of in shows that starred Fred Stone (usually with his old vaudeville partner Dave Montgomery). These shows included The Old Town (1910), The Slim Princess (1911), The Lady of the Slipper (1912), Chin Chin (1914), and Jack O’Lantern (1917-18). By the last couple of shows she had graduated from the chorus to ingenue roles, after replacing Elsie Janis in Chin Chin.

In 1919 Falconer married Broadway scribe and songsmith Gene Buck, retired to raise their family, and became part of the social scene in Great Neck, Long Island. She died in North Shore Hospital, Manhasset nearly a half century later.

For more about vaudevilleand classic show bizconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.