- published: 31 Jan 2011
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Julia Frances Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and entertainer who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and also made film appearances over two decades.
Born Julia Frances Langford in Hernando, Florida, a small town in Citrus County, Florida, she was the daughter of Vasco Cleveland Langford and his wife, Anna Rhea Newbern. The Langford family later moved to Lakeland, Florida, where Frances grew up. She graduated from Lakeland High School and studied music at Florida Southern College, also in Lakeland.
Frances grew up in the Mulberry, Florida area, a tiny community near Lakeland. She attended Lakeland High School. Langford originally trained as an opera singer. While a young girl she required a tonsillectomy that changed her soprano range to a contralto. As a result, she was forced to change her vocal style to a more contemporary big band, popular music style. At age 17, she was singing for local dances. Cigar manufacturer Eli Witt heard her sing at an American Legion party and hired her to sing on his local radio show. After a brief stint in the Broadway musical "Here Goes the Bride" in 1931, she moved to Hollywood appearing on the Louella Parsons' radio show "'Hollywood Hotel' while starting a movie career. While singing for radio during the early 1930s, she was heard by Rudy Vallee, who invited her to become a regular on his radio show. From 1935 until 1938 she was a regular performer on Dick Powell's radio show. From 1946 to 1951, she performed with Don Ameche as the insufferable wife, Blanche, on The Bickersons.
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope, KBE, KC*SG, KSS (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003), was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts, including a series of "Road" movies also starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards fourteen times (more than any other host), he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of fourteen books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" is widely regarded as Hope's signature tune.
Born in London, England, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially on stage, and began appearing on the radio and in films in 1934. He was praised for his comedy timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes—which were often self-deprecating, with Hope building himself up and then tearing himself down. Celebrated for his long career performing United Service Organizations (USO) shows to entertain active service American military personnel—he made 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991—Hope was declared an honorary veteran of the United States Armed Forces in 1997 by act of the U.S. Congress. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, and was one of the first users of cue cards.
Frances Langford "I'll Be Seeing You" #2
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Frances Langford
Bob Hope and Frances Langford in U.S.O. tour, entertain U.S. troops on Bougainvi...HD Stock Footage
Career Girl (1944) FRANCES LANGFORD
Frances Langford - You Are My Lucky Star (Broadway Melody of 1936)
Frances Langford sings Over There
Frances Langford & Kenny Baker: Who Am I 1940
All-American Co-Ed (1941) FRANCES LANGFORD
Tommy Dorsey Frances Langford - As Time Goes By 1943
At Last (1942) - Frances Langford
Actors: Sig Ruman (actor), Thurl Ravenscroft (actor), Harry Morgan (actor), Damian O'Flynn (actor), Barton MacLane (actor), Irving Bacon (actor), Steve Pendleton (actor), Hal K. Dawson (actor), William Challee (actor), Charles Drake (actor), James Bell (actor), Louis Armstrong (actor), Dayton Lummis (actor), Dick Ryan (actor), Harry Harvey (actor),
Plot: The biography of the Bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944, with a lot of his arangements, partly in an authentic cast.
Keywords: airplane-crash, band, bandleader, big-band, campus, car-trouble, character-name-in-title, christmas, dancer, dancingActors: Henry Batista (editor), William Bryant (actor), George Offerman Jr. (actor), Steve Pendleton (actor), Marshall Reed (actor), Lyle Talbot (actor), Frances Langford (actress), Sam Katzman (producer), Frances Langford (writer), William Sackheim (writer), George Duning (composer), Richard Quine (director), Harry Guardino (actor), Selmer Jackson (actor), Al Jolson (actor),
Genres: Drama,Actors: Winston Hibler (writer), Karl Farr (actor), Walt Disney (producer), Homer Brightman (writer), Hugh Farr (actor), Trigger (actor), Frances Langford (actress), Pat Brady (actor), Dal McKennon (actor), Bob Nolan (actor), Sons of the Pioneers (actor), Roy Rogers (actor), Tim Spencer (actor), Paul J. Smith (composer), Pinto Colvig (actor),
Plot: Segments: "Once Upon a Wintertime," two lovers rescued from an icy river by friendly animals; "Bumble Boogie," bee beset by musical instruments and symbols come to life; "Johnny Appleseed," story of the legendary pioneer tree-planter; "Trees," mood piece set to musical treatment of Joyce Kilmer's poem; "Little Toot," story of a heroic little tugboat who saves an ocean liner; "Blame it on the Samba," Donald Duck and Jose Carioca have the blues blown away at a Latin cafe; "Pecos Bill," story of the legendary cowpoke, his trusty mount Widowmaker and his sweetheart Slue Foot Sue.
Keywords: 1800s, 1940s, 19th-century, american-folklore, anthology, apple-core-game, aracuan-bird, coyote, disney-animated-feature, feral-childActors: Rudy Vallee (actor), Jack Haley (actor), Maxwell Shane (writer), Clara Blandick (actress), William C. Thomas (producer), Frances Langford (actress), William H. Pine (producer), Wheaton Chambers (actor), Art Linkletter (actor), William 'Billy' Benedict (actor), Byron Foulger (actor), Phillip Reed (actor), Billy Bletcher (actor), Roy Atwell (actor), Sam White (producer),
Plot: A comedy based on NBC's "People Are Funny" radio (and later television) program with Art Linkletter with a fictional story of how the program came to be on a national network from its humble beginning at a Nevada radio station. Jack Haley is a producer with only half-rights to the program while Ozzie Nelson and Helen Walker are the radio writers and supply the romance. Rudy Vallee, always able to burlesque himself intentional and, quite often, unintentional, is the owner of the sought-after sponsoring company. Frances Langford, as herself, sings "I'm in the Mood for Love" while the Vagabonds quartet (billed 12th and last) chimes in on "Angeline" and "The Old Square Dance is Back Again."
Keywords: producer, radioActors: Eddie Quillan (actor), Robert Mitchum (actor), Frank Mitchell (actor), Paul Dubov (actor), Joseph E. Bernard (actor), Samuel S. Hinds (actor), Leo Carrillo (actor), Robert Dudley (actor), Frank Coghlan Jr. (actor), Benny Bartlett (actor), Leon Errol (actor), Frank Faylen (actor), Irving Bacon (actor), Russell Hicks (actor), Charles Sherlock (actor),
Genres: Musical,Actors: Alan Hale (actor), Richard Farnsworth (actor), Martin Faust (actor), Jimmy Conlin (actor), Herbert Anderson (actor), Richard Crane (actor), Ross Elliott (actor), Dan Dailey (actor), Murray Alper (actor), John Daheim (actor), Irving Bacon (actor), Charles Butterworth (actor), Frank Coghlan Jr. (actor), Richard Irving (actor), Eddie Hall (actor),
Plot: In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank. Wounded in the War, he becomes a producer. In WW II his son Johnny Jones, who was before his fathers assistant, gets the order to stage a knew all-soldier show, called THIS IS THE ARMY. But in his pesonal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over.
Keywords: based-on-stage-musical, basic-training, blackface, famous-song, man-dressed-as-woman, military, minstrel-show, orchestral-music-score, patriotism, showActors: Frances Langford (actress), Dave Gould (miscellaneous crew), Joan Abbott (actress), Frank Hazard (actor), Charles Bennington (actor),
Plot: New York City's subway has added a new feature to its service. A subway ride now includes musical performances by various New Yorker entertainers on the platforms and the wagons.
Genres: Music, Short,WAS IT RAIN
Frances Langford
Skies were gray that rainy day
We parted in the lane;
Was it tears that fell or was it rain?
There we stood as lovers would;
Did parting bring you pain?
Was it tears that fell or was it rain?
I couldn't tell if your eyes were misty,
Or if you felt regret,
I noticed when you kissed me
That both your cheeks were wet.
Till we meet again, my sweet,
That mem'ry will remain.