June Knight

b. Margaret Valliquietto, 22 January 1913, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 16 June 1987, Los Angeles, California, USA. In 1932 Knight was on Broadway in Florenz Ziegfeld’s Hot-Cha! (featuring Eleanor Powell), and Take A Chance. This show, which ran at the Apollo Theatre for 243 performances, had music by Nacio Herb Brown and Richard Whiting, lyrics by Buddy De Sylva, and book by De Sylva and Laurence Schwab. The show featured Ethel Merman, who was also in the film version as were Knight, Jack Haley and Jack Whiting. In the 1933 film Knight and Whiting sang ‘Should I Be Sweet?’, ‘Oh, How I Long To Belong To You’ and ‘So Do I’, all by Vincent Youmans and De Sylva. Knight was in Jubilee (1935), at the Imperial Theatre where it ran for 169 performances. With book by Moss Hart, music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and choreography by Albertina Rausch with Tony De Marco, the cast included Mary Boland, Margaret Adams, Montgomery Clift and Jackie Kelk. Among the songs in the show sung by Knight was Porter’s immortal ‘Begin The Beguine’. She also sang ‘The Judgement Of Paris’ and, with Charles Walters, ‘Just One Of Those Things’. In 1947 Knight was in a moderately successful revival of Sweethearts. With music by Victor Herbert, lyrics by Robert B. Smith and the original book by Harry B. Smith and Fred De Gresac updated by John Cecil Holm, the show ran at the Shubert Theatre for 288 performances. Others in the cast included Bobby Clark, Marjorie Gateson, Paul Best and Mark Dawson. Among the songs in the show were ‘On Parade’, ‘Sweethearts’, ‘For Every Lover Must Meet His Fate’, ‘Game Of Love’, ‘Pretty As A Picture’, ‘Pilgrims Of Love’ and ‘I Might Be Your Once-in-a-While’, the latter sung by Knight and Robert Shackleton. Apart from Take A Chance, Knight was in other Hollywood films through the 30s, appearing as an extra in Madam Satan (1930), as Sally Eiler’s dance double in Dance Team (1932), and she had small roles in films such as Ladies Must Love (1933), Wake Up And Dream (1934), Broadway Melody Of 1936 (1935), and Break The News (1938). Also in 1938 she took the role of the band singer in Vacation From Love.