Dutch postcard.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5870.
5,000 fan letters a week
Connie Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in 1937 in Newark, New Jersey. She was the first child of George Franconero (1911–1996) and Ida Franconero née Ferrari-di Vito. Conny was originally supposed to be born in Brooklyn, where her family lived at the time. However, her mother was visiting relatives in Newark and attended an all-night dance when she went into labour.
Concetta was educated at Arts High School and was a music student of her father. At age 11, she appeared on Arthur Godfrey's 'Talent Scouts' (1948) as a singer and accordionist. During rehearsals, Godfrey advised the girl to change her stage name to Connie Francis for easier pronunciation. Between 1953 and 1955, she appeared on the TV variety show Startime Kids. George Franconero Sr. and Francis's manager, George Scheck raised money for a recording session of four songs, which they hoped to sell to a major record company.
MGM released 'Freddie' as Francis's first single, which turned out to be a commercial failure, just like her next eight solo singles. In the fall of 1957, Francis enjoyed her first modest success with a duet single she had recorded with Marvin Rainwater: 'The Majesty of Love'. With her first smash hit 'Who's Sorry Now' (1957), she became the most internationally successful Pop singer. She originally did not want to sing 'Who's Sorry Now', since it was originally written in 1923 by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Her father convinced her otherwise.
In 1957, Connie Francis earned her first million dollars, topped polls for Favourite Female Singer and received 5,000 fan letters a week. Her next hits were 'Stupid Cupid' (1958) and 'Lipstick On Your Collar' (1959). She toured the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe, and made many records.
Another number one hit was 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool' (1960). For a time, she had her television show and performed in nightclubs and concerts. She joined ASCAP in 1959. Her popular song compositions include 'Senza Mama' and 'Italian Lullaby'.
Dutch postcard by MUVA.
Vintage postcard. Caption: Connie Francis - Peter Kraus.
Viral on TikTok
Connie Francis was the star of four vehicles developed by MGM for her. Her first film was Where the Boys Are (Henry Levin, 1960) in which she was top-billed and also sang the title song. The film introduced the concept of spring break, as the once sleepy town of Fort Lauderdale became the hotspot for college students on their spring vacation in the wake of the film's success. She also starred in Follow the Boys (Richard Thorpe, 1963), Looking for Love (Don Weis, 1964) and When the Boys Meet the Girls (Alvin Ganzer, 1965). The latter was a remake of the Judy Garland musical Girl Crazy (Norman Taurog, Busby Berkeley, 1943).
Offscreen, she provided the singing voice for Tuesday Weld in Rock, Rock, Rock! (Will Price, 1956), Freda Holloway in Jamboree (Roy Lockwood, 1957) and Jayne Mansfield in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (Raoul Walsh, 1958). In the U.S., Connie Francis had a third number-one hit in 1962: 'Don't Break the Heart That Loves You'. Due to music trends in the early and mid-1960s, especially the British Invasion, Francis's chart success on Billboard's Hot 100 began to wane after 1963. She had her final top-ten hit, 'Vacation' (1962).
Francis's first autobiography, 'For Every Young Heart', was published in 1963. She had a tumultuous life, which included a relationship with singer Bobby Darin thwarted by her father, four divorces, a rape by a stranger in a motel in 1974, her brother, George Franconero Jr, an attorney to whom she was very close, murdered by Mafia hitmen in 1981, and partially revoked diagnoses of ADHD, bipolarity and PTSD.
Her life prompted a screenplay written by singer Gloria Estefan in 2009 for a biopic, which, however, never came to fruition. The screenplay was based on Francis' second autobiography, 'Who's Sorry Now?' (1984). A third autobiography, 'Among My Souvenirs', was published in 2017. Shortly before her death, a new generation discovered Francis after her relatively unknown song 'Pretty Little Baby '(1962) went viral on TikTok.
Her four husbands were Richard Eugene "Dick" Kanellis (1964-1964), Joseph Garzilli (1973-1978), Isadore John "Izzy" Dimaria (1971-1971) and Bob Parkinson (1985-1986). All her marriages ended in divorce. Her son is Joseph George Garzilli. Connie Francis remains one of the best-selling music artists in history, with estimated sales of over 100 million records.
Dutch collector card.
Dutch postcard. Photo: James J. Krugmann, New York.
Sources: Hans Beerekamp (Het Schimmenrijk - Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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