Today is the birthday of Hariette Lake, who was born in 1909 in Valley City. Her mother was an opera singer and her father was a “traveling thespian." When Hariette was 6, her father deserted them, and her mother, Annette, moved the family to Minneapolis, then to southern California, where she was hired as a diction coach during the early days of “talking pictures.” Annette also prepared daughter Hariette for life in show business, training her as a lyric soprano and teaching her piano.