Francia White
Encyclopedia
Francia White was an American soprano who had an active career in concerts, operas, operettas, radio, television, and film during the late 1920s through the 1940s. She began her career as a vaudeville
performer in her late teens and then began singing in more serious classical music repertoire during the mid 1930s. She drew the attention of Hollywood and began working as a ghost singer for films in 1934. She soon broke into radio in 1935 and was highly active in that medium until 1941. On television she starred on the musical variety show, The Bell Telephone Hour
, from 1940-1942. In addition to her radio work, she is chiefly remembered for helping to launch Edwin Lester
's Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
in 1938 and was one of their main leading ladies up through 1942.
, White's family moved to the San Gabriel Valley
in California
when she was nine. She attended Covina High School
during which time she began studying voice under Louis Graveure. With Graveure's encouragement she became a vaudeville performer after high school. She eventually entered Occidental College
in 1930 where she was a voice major for a year, but then dropped out to work on vaudeville again in 1931.
After three years touring in vaudeville shows, White became the headlining performer at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
in 1934. Her work drew the attention of 20th Century Fox
and she was soon working as a ghost singer for Hollywood films during the 1930s. Her first film was The Mighty Barnum
, singing the role of Jenny Lind
for Virginia Bruce
. Her work as a ghost singer caught the ears of a radio executive at NBC Radio City Studios
(located at the radio station at the Radio City Music Hall
in New York City). She was offered a contract in 1935 and sang regularly for fifteen months on a few different radio programs with the company. She then became a regular performer with Nelson Eddy
on The Voice of Firestone
in 1936 and The Chase and Sanborn Hour
in 1938. She was also a regular featured performer on The Ford Sunday Evening Hour
. In 1939 she had her own musical variety program on WFAN
with James Melton
. She and Melton were later the first hosts/featured performers of the television program The Bell Telephone Hour
during the early 1940s.
White also sang in operas and more serious concert repertoire at the Hollywood Bowl
during the 1930s. She became a regular performer at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
during the late 1930s and early 1940s, notably starring in the company's very first production as Mitzi in Franz Schubert
's Blossom Time in 1938. Other LACLO roles included Marianne Beaunoir in Sigmund Romberg
's The New Moon
(1938), Princess Helene in Oscar Straus
's Waltz Dream (1939), the title heroine in Victor Herbert
's Naughty Marietta
(1941), and Nina in Rudolf Friml
's The Firefly
(1942).
White's career was tragically struck short in 1943 when she developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis
that forced her to retire. She battled the disease for the rest of the life. She died in 1984 in Los Angeles County, California.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer in her late teens and then began singing in more serious classical music repertoire during the mid 1930s. She drew the attention of Hollywood and began working as a ghost singer for films in 1934. She soon broke into radio in 1935 and was highly active in that medium until 1941. On television she starred on the musical variety show, The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
, from 1940-1942. In addition to her radio work, she is chiefly remembered for helping to launch Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester was an American theatre director, impresario, and producer. He was the longtime general director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, which he founded in 1938. He also co-founded the LACLO's affiliate organization, the San Francisco Civic Light Opera, with Homer Curran in 1939...
's Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seasons of theatre before closing due to financial reasons in...
in 1938 and was one of their main leading ladies up through 1942.
Biography
Born in Greenville, TexasGreenville, Texas
Greenville is the county seat, and the largest city, of Hunt County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,557....
, White's family moved to the San Gabriel Valley
San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, United States. It lies to the east of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
when she was nine. She attended Covina High School
Covina High School
Covina High School, commonly known as Covina High or CHS to the students, is a public high school located in Covina, California, United States. Covina High School is one of three comprehensive high schools within the Covina-Valley Unified School District. Established in 1897, Covina High is...
during which time she began studying voice under Louis Graveure. With Graveure's encouragement she became a vaudeville performer after high school. She eventually entered Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
in 1930 where she was a voice major for a year, but then dropped out to work on vaudeville again in 1931.
After three years touring in vaudeville shows, White became the headlining performer at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
in 1934. Her work drew the attention of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and she was soon working as a ghost singer for Hollywood films during the 1930s. Her first film was The Mighty Barnum
The Mighty Barnum
The Mighty Barnum is a 1934 film starring Wallace Beery as P.T. Barnum. The movie was written by Gene Fowler and Bess Meredyth, and directed by Walter Lang. Beery had played Barnum four years earlier in A Lady's Morals, a highly fictionalized biography of singer Jenny Lind.-Cast:*Wallace Beery as...
, singing the role of Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
for Virginia Bruce
Virginia Bruce
Virginia Bruce was an American actress and singer.-Career:Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she went with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That...
. Her work as a ghost singer caught the ears of a radio executive at NBC Radio City Studios
NBC Radio City Studios
NBC Radio City Studios is the name given to radio and television studio complexes in New York's Rockefeller Center, San Francisco, and the former radio-TV complex located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California....
(located at the radio station at the Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
in New York City). She was offered a contract in 1935 and sang regularly for fifteen months on a few different radio programs with the company. She then became a regular performer with Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
on The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone
The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...
in 1936 and The Chase and Sanborn Hour
The Chase and Sanborn Hour
The Chase and Sanborn Hour was the umbrella title for a series of US comedy and variety radio shows, sponsored by Standard Brands' Chase and Sanborn Coffee, usually airing Sundays on NBC from 8pm to 9pm during the years 1929 to 1948....
in 1938. She was also a regular featured performer on The Ford Sunday Evening Hour
The Ford Sunday Evening Hour
The Ford Sunday Evening Hour was an hour-long concert music radio series, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, which was broadcast from 1934 to 1946, with a hiatus from 1942 to 1945...
. In 1939 she had her own musical variety program on WFAN
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
with James Melton
James Melton
James Melton , a popular singer in the 1920s and early 1930s, later began a career as an operatic singer when tenor voices went out of style in popular music around 1932-35...
. She and Melton were later the first hosts/featured performers of the television program The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
during the early 1940s.
White also sang in operas and more serious concert repertoire at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
during the 1930s. She became a regular performer at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seasons of theatre before closing due to financial reasons in...
during the late 1930s and early 1940s, notably starring in the company's very first production as Mitzi in Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's Blossom Time in 1938. Other LACLO roles included Marianne Beaunoir in Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian-born American composer, best known for his operettas.-Biography:Romberg was born as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Gross-Kanizsa during the Austro-Hungarian kaiserlich und königlich monarchy period...
's The New Moon
The New Moon
The New Moon is the name of an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. The show was the third and last in a string of Broadway hits for Romberg written in the style of Viennese operetta...
(1938), Princess Helene in Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus (composer)
Oscar Nathan Straus was a Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works...
's Waltz Dream (1939), the title heroine in Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
's Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta
Naughty Marietta is a 1935 film based on the operetta of the same name by Victor Herbert: Jeanette MacDonald stars as a vivacious Princess who trades places with her maid Marietta in order to avoid an arranged marriage...
(1941), and Nina in Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
's The Firefly
The Firefly (operetta)
The Firefly is the first operetta written by composer Rudolf Friml, with a libretto by Otto Harbach. The story concerns a young girl, who is a street singer. She disguises herself and serves as a cabin boy on a ship to Bermuda, where she falls in love...
(1942).
White's career was tragically struck short in 1943 when she developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
that forced her to retire. She battled the disease for the rest of the life. She died in 1984 in Los Angeles County, California.