Ophelia Mulch (1912–unknown)
Born in Rockford, Illinois, Ophelia Mulch was a small-town girl with a big-city voice. After performing in church choirs and local radio programs, she moved to Chicago in 1935, finding her way into the smoky nightclubs of State Street and the speakeasies that survived Prohibition. Known for her haunting mezzo-soprano and her signature song “The Fast Lane” which she recorded as a 78 rpm single for the short-lived Lakefront Records in 1938. The record never charted, and within a year, Ophelia vanished from public life.

Some say she married a steelworker and settled quietly in Gary, Indiana. Others claim she disappeared en route to a booking in St. Louis, leaving her gown hanging in a hotel wardrobe. Her lone recording, long out of print, resurfaced in a collector’s archive in the late 1990s—its label cracked but her voice still luminous, as if she were singing from behind a veil of time.

Head 'em Up, Move 'em Out

Randall Carver

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