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CONNIE FRANCIS
An empty hotel room can be a terribly
lonely place for a girl singer on the road but before very long Connie is
Chasing the blues away
By HELEN BOLSTAD
^ONGSTRESS CONNIE FRANCIS is, without doubt, one of the most popular girls in America today. Just turned 21, she's a petite, dark-eyed beauty whose vivacity and charm would make her the belle of any social setting even if she never sang a note.
But Connie does sing. On records, radio, television. Ballads and rock 'n' roll; old songs, pop favorites and tunes written just for her. She's the new darling of the night club set and the continuing femme favorite of the teenagers. Schools play her recording of '"God Bless America" in assemblies, and kindergarteners dance to her new album of children's games. She's the girl that boys would most like to date and the star to whom other girls write asking advice on personal problems. She receives hundreds of letters a week which begin, "Connie, you'll understand . . ."
Can such a girl ever get lonely? Can she sit right down in the middle of a room and feel that an ocean of nothingness separates her from those she loves? Dashing through a daily schedule where every minute is booked, can she feel that she is all alone in a crowd and that no one cares?
'It's impossible.'" is the obvious answer. But ask Connie and she gives you a level gaze from those eloquent brown eyes and says, ''Are you kidding?" And then, "Just look at the collection of stuffed animals that I have ..."
That bright-colored cloth menagerie crowds Connie's own room in her new house in New Jersey. "I started that collection on a day when I felt so lonely I could die."
She was just 16!/£ years old, she explains. She had been graduated from Belleville, New Jersey. High School that June, and during graduation week had won both her first MGM recording contract and a scholarship to New York University. During the middle of the Fall term, her recording, "Freddie", gained popularity around New York and the company sent her out on a weekend promotional tour which stretched to three full weeks.
"It was my first time on a train, my first time away from my family. I was excited, of course, but underneath, I started getting homesick as soon as I kissed my folks goodbye."
Her companion on the road was Janie Gibbs. Janie had formerly lived in Chicago and when they reached there, it was old home week. "She knew everyone, so we made our rounds quickly and had an afternoon free of appointments," Connie explains.
Janie chose to spend it with Fran Allison. Connie declined the invitation to go along. "I was a fan of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie' and I thought Fran's Aunt Fannie on 'The Breakfast Club" was terrific, but I knew she and Janie would have lots to talk about and I didn't want to get in the way."
continued on page 41
i LONELY 21st birthday faced Connie in her hotel room in Philadelphia but that all changed later.