Lancton and Lucier
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Paul Sarconi (aka Paul Lucier) Born: 1879 or 1880 Italy Died: January 18, 1916 Chicago, IL |
Iva Lancton Born: Unknown Died: Unknown |
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Dorothy (Lucier) Sarconi Born: 1899 Died: Unknown |
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Little is known about the
lives of Iva Lancton and Denver resident, Paul Sarconi, who
performed under the stage name Paul Lucier. Paul was born in
Italy, and came to America at age 10. He and his wife joined the
Orpheum circuit in 1906. The couple performed as the Lancton and Lucier Company with a performance entitled "Heaps of Hilarity" during the 1911-12 season. They also toured as Lucy and the Luciers, and performed separately, with Paul as part of the Hayes and Montgomery act, and Iva working in the vaudeville team Higgins, Melville and Higgins. (Iva's sister and wife of Edward M. Waterbury, Laura Lancton, also performed on the vaudeville circuit, as part of Waterbury Bros. and Tenny). The couple arrived in Muskegon in 1905 and again in 1907, playing the Lake Michigan Park Theater as "Lucy and the Luciers". Friends of the Keatons, Paul worked with Joe Keaton and Lew Earl to form the Actors' Colony in 1908. Lucier along with wife and daughter, Dorothy settled in Muskegon for the summers, in a cottage on Walnut Street. During the vaudeville season, Dorothy attended the Ursuline Academy in Muskegon and later, the Holy Name academy of Grand Rapids while her parents toured the vaudeville circuit. She resided with her grandmother, Mrs. Josephine Lancton in Muskegon. In 1916, Paul Lucier was found dead in his room at the Grand Hotel in Chicago the morning after a performance by the Montgomery and Hayes act. According to a Denver Rocky Mountain News report, He had been ill, for about a week. Death was due to heart disease. Following her husband's death, Iva, it appears, continued to perform. Newspapers from 1916-17 show Iva Lancton performing with Bonnie Gaylord, a member of the Muskegon Actors' Colony, on vaudeville stages across the United States and Canada. |