Friday, February 21, 2014

Jane Froman

     Jane Froman?  Who's that?  --You might remember her as a singer from the 1930s through '50s.  You might not.  You might know she did a lot of USO work during World War Two.

     You might even know it nearly killed her:
     On her USO flight to Europe in February of 1943, her plane crashed in the Tagus River outside Portugal. One of the few passengers to survive, although severely injured, she was rescued by the co-pilot of the plane...
     She was back touring nearly as soon as she was up on crutches, despite having nearly lost her right leg; she had numerous operations on it and eventually recovered function after years of surgery and rehabilitation.  She never lost her voice and she never stopped singing.   Pictures from the war years show her on crutches, in a lace-up leg brace, in various war zones, smiling.

      Could she sing?  Well...  "The famous composer and producer, Billy Rose, when asked to name the top ten female singers, is reported to have replied, 'Jane Froman and nine others.'"  That's Wikipedia, but it does come with a cite.

     A lot of people talk; Jane Froman went and did. When bad fortune struck, she kept right on.  Remember that the next time you're feeling pessimistic about humanity.
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4 comments:

  1. New Jovian ThunderboltFebruary 21, 2014 at 8:07 AM

    Jane Froman? The sausage queen of Chicago?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Roberta XFebruary 21, 2014 at 8:53 AM

    ...O Dear Ghu, let none of that be a euphemism.

    The one about whom I wrote was outta Missouri -- born there, retired there, died there. I don't know who is the sausage queen of Chicago and I doubt any truly *nice* people ever would. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. New Jovian ThunderboltFebruary 21, 2014 at 2:52 PM

    Not a euphemism. Her name conjured up images of Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago.

    ReplyDelete
  4. EarlFebruary 22, 2014 at 12:57 AM

    Thank you for the story, now I will look for her singing somewhere on Youtube.

    ReplyDelete

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