Abbe Lane was born Abigail Francine Lassman on December 14, 1932, in Brooklyn. She was raised in Manhattan. Her show business career began when she was only four years old, and a child she appeared on both radio and in the 1938 Vitaphone short "Toyland Casino." She also did some modelling. She attended the High School of Music and Art. In 1947, billed as Abbe Marshal, she appeared on Broadway in Barefoot Boy with Cheek. The following year she appeared on Broadway in As the Girls Do, still billed as Abbe Marshall. In 1949, she was signed as a vocalist on bandleader Vincent Lopez's television show.
Xavier Cugat was looking for a new vocalist when he saw Abbe Lane performing on stage. The following day he was a guest on Vincent Lopez's show, where he met Abbe Lane in person. He then hired her as his new vocalist. Abbe Lane's mother accompanied her for a year as she toured with Xavier Cugat. Abbe Lane and Xavier Cugat married in 1952. The two recorded four albums together, and Abbe Lane appeared on Xavier Cugat's 1957 television show.. The two divorced in 1964.
While Xavier Cugat once told her words to the effect that she would not be a success without him, Abbe Lane proved to have even more success on her own. She recorded albums with Tito Puente and Sid Ramin, as well as her own solo albums. She proved to be a popular act at nightclubs around the country and toured both the United States and Europe. She proved popular on television the 1950s, and appeared on such variety shows and talk shows as House Party, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Steve Allen Show, The Tonight Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, Laugh-In, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Mike Douglas Show. She also appeared on game shows such as Password, The Match Game, To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, and Hollywood Squares.
In addition, Abbe Lane also acted in both films and on television.She made her movie debut in 1949 in the Italian film Al diavolo la celebrità. In the Fifties, she appeared in the films Wings of the Hawk (1953), Ride Clear of Diablo (1954), The Americano (1955), Chicago Syndicate (1955), Lo scapolo (1955), Quando tramonta il sole (1956), Donatella (1956), Tempo di villeggiatura (1956), Parola di ladro (1957), Susana y yo (1957), Totò, Vittorio e la dottoressa (1957), A sud niente di nuovo (1957), Maracaibo (1958), Totò, Eva e il pennello proibito (1959), Mariniai, donna e guai (1959), Roulotte e roulette (1959), I baccanali di Tiberio (1960), and My Friend, Dr. Jekyll (1960). She appeared on Broadway in Oh, Captain! in 1958.
In the Sixties, Abbe Lane continued to appear in films in Europe. During the decade, she appeared in Giulio Cesare contro i pirati (1962), Das Feuerschiff (1963), and Risate all'italiana (1964). She also made guest appearances on television on the shows Naked City, Burke's Law, F Troop, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Flying Nun, and The Brady Bunch. She was a voice in the animated television special Cricket on the Hearth. In the Seventies, she guest starred on Love, American Style and Vega$. In the Eighties, she guest starred on Hart to Hart and Amazing Stories. She appeared in the film Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).
It's no longer on YouTube, but there on the video service there was a clip from The Dean Martin Show in which Dean Martin performed "Real Live Girl" with Abbe Lane and Sid Caesar. Ever since I first saw it, I can't help but think of the song when I think of Abbe Lane, as it certainly fit her. The song certainly fit her. Abbe Lane was gorgeous, talented, intelligent, and blessed with a beautiful voice. She could speak four different languages fluently (English, French, Italian, and Spanish). She could sing. She could dance. She could act. She had a gift for comedy.
Performers are sometimes described as triple threats. Abbe Lane was even more than that. While I was very young, I do have fond memories of Abbe Lane's appearances on variety shows and talk shows. She was a great singer and all-around performer.. In interviews, she displayed a great sense of humour and an enormous amount of wit. I better remember her guest appearances on scripted television shows, which I have seen in reruns. In the F-Troop episode "Spy, Counterspy, Counter Counterspy," she played Lorelai Duval, a glamorous spy show charms the men of Fort Courage, particularly Captain Parameter (Ken Berry). On Naked City, she played model Estelle Reeves, who is having an affair with Maxwell Ronan (Keenan Wynn), who masterminds a fur heist. On The Brady Bunch, Abbe Lane played a snobbish, picky perfume heiress. Throughout her career a lot of attention was paid to Abbe Lane's looks, and there can be no doubt she was gorgeous, but she was also a gifted singer, a skilled dancer, a brilliant comedian, and a talented actress. She was a consummate performer.
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