Lulu Blanche Slocum (August 30, 1885 – August 8, 1960) was an American contralto singer based in Chicago.

Early life and education

Slocum was born in Hesperia, Michigan, and raised in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

, the daughter of Eugene Blakesly Slocum and Elizabeth Jane Ferguson Slocum. She was a protegée of Scottish singer

Mary Garden Mary Garden (20 February 1874 – 3 January 1967) was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzo-soprano, with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her chil ...

, who arranged for her to study voice in Paris.

Career

Slocum taught singing at her older sister Nellie Slocum's Imperial College of Music and Dramatic Art in Chicago in 1903. She taught in Wisconsin in 1908 and 1909, gave a recital in

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Wisconsin River and had a population of 39,994 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the core city of the Wausau ...

, in 1909. She was a chorus girl with the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company when she caught the attention of Mary Garden. She painted a watercolor portrait of Garden in 1913, in appreciation. Slocum was studying and performing in Berlin when the United States entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After her passport was seized, she had to remain in Germany. The American consulate in Zürich eventually resolved her dilemma, and she was allowed to return to the United States in spring 1918. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' and many other newspapers across the United States carried her "sensational" inside accounts of life in wartime Germany. "Here I am," she wrote, "The last American out of Germany." Slocum was a dramatic contralto. She gave her first Chicago recital in October 1918. "Miss Slocum's voice is a contralto, inclining toward the mezzo, and is of ample compass and volume," ''The Musical Monitor'' reported afterward. "There is much in it that is beautiful and sympathetic." In the 1920s, Slocum continued performing, taught at the Chicago Music School, and painted and exhibited landscapes.

Personal life

Slocum married Adolph I. Ferner Jr. in 1906. He left her three months later, and they divorced in 1907. She married Anthony V. Pasquale in 1932. She died in 1960, at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slocum, Blanche 1885 births 1960 deaths American contraltos Musicians from Oak Park, Illinois American women in World War I