Looking Back With Lee – Remembering Lina Basquette

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Page 226 – November/December, 2012

By Lee Canalizo

This month I thought I’d bring you a little glamour wrapped in intrigue covered with drama, mystery, romance and a dose of good old razzamatazz! When one “looks back” to Lina Basquette’s life you get all that and a whole lot more!

Lina was born Lena Copeland Baskette in the early 1900s. She had an early start as a dancer in commercials and was discovered by Universal and signed to a contract at the age of nine. She would land her first role in the silent film “Shoes”. This caught the attention of none other than the great ballerina Anna Pavlova who the young Lina idolized. It seems like she was destined for stardom, but as we all know nothing comes easy and often not without some heartache along the way.

Her family started out in California but soon after the death of her father by his own hand, her mother remarried a gentleman in the entertainment industry and they relocated to New York. In New York, Lina would join the fledging “Ziegfeld Follies” and she soared to a dazzling career on Broadway. Her half-sister would also share her love of dance on an equally lofty level…she being the famous Marge Champion. That, in turn, caught the eye of one of the legendary Warner brothers… yes, those Warner Brothers! She became Mrs. Sam Warner in 1925 and in 1929 she would be the star of movies and productions directed by the likes of Frank Capra and Cecile B. DeMille. And a year later, she was a widow when Sam died suddenly.

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Page 226 – November/December, 2012

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