Page Morton

Page Morton was an American performer and cabaret singer born Page L. Mergentheim on October 15, 1912, in Winnetka, Illinois. She died on July 21, 2013. Her father, Morton Adolf Mergentheim, practiced law and taught in the Chicago area, at one point as a partner in the firm of Sigmund Zeisler. Her mother, Rose Heymann, was a classically trained pianist who had studied under Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, Sigmund's wife. Morton had one sibling, Morton Alexander Mergentheim, approximately three years her senior. Both attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, where Morton completed her fourth year.

After her father suffered financial losses, Morton relocated to New York City with her mother. By 1940 she was living with her mother on East 43rd Street, having adopted the stage name Morton in place of Mergentheim. The 1940 census listed her occupation as model, and contemporary newspaper accounts connect her to the John Robert Powers modeling agency. When her father died in 1943, his obituary identified her as an actress working under the name Page Morton. That same year she appeared on Broadway, with her credits including the musical The Student Prince.

Morton pursued vocal training in New York with Merle Alcock, a contralto associated with the Metropolitan Opera. Through the 1940s and 1950s she performed as a singer and pianist at venues including the Warwick Hotel's Raleigh Room, Café Pierre, the Vanderbilt, and the Sherry-Netherland. Bandleader Guy Lombardo, having seen her perform at the Pierre, recommended her to William Black, founder of the Chock full o'Nuts catering and coffee business, as a candidate to sing the company's advertising jingle.

In the 1960s Morton expanded into radio and television work. She appeared on Guy Lombardo's New Year's Eve special, which Chock full o'Nuts sponsored, and on two additional New Year's Eve broadcasts, one hosted by Lombardo and one by Xavier Cugat. In 1961 she hosted her own radio programs. She released an album for MGM titled May You Always and recorded a duet with Jimmy Durante promoting the Chock full o'Nuts brand.

Black married Morton in Connecticut on March 27, 1962. Following the marriage, Morton appeared for several years in the company's television advertisements, singing the "Heavenly Coffee" jingle, and became a director of Chock full o'Nuts. She also participated in her husband's philanthropic activities. Black had contributed $100,000 in 1957 to establish the Parkinson's Disease Foundation following the death of a friend and colleague, and subsequently donated several million dollars to medical research connected to the organization. Morton served as the Foundation's unpaid secretary during her husband's lifetime.

The couple lived at Bon Repos, a 29-room waterfront mansion in Premium Point, New Rochelle, New York, which Black had purchased in 1955 from Tommy Manville. Morton's mother Rose and her brother Alexander also resided in New Rochelle; Rose died in 1971 and Alexander in 1979.

William Black died in March 1983 while still serving as chairman of Chock full o'Nuts. Following his death, Morton assumed his role as chairperson of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, a position she held until 2012, nearly 30 years in total. The William Black Medical Research Building at Columbia University Medical Center, as well as the Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders, were made possible in part through the philanthropy of William Black and Morton. A celebration of Morton's life was held at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on September 12, 2013, following a private interment.