| Top Page | | | Concerts | | | Concert Reviews | | | References | | | Songs | | | CD Discography | | | New CDs |
| Album Discography | | | Videos | | | Photos | | | Forum | | | Internet | | | Editors Column | | | More on Connie |
Contents (entry date)
The Making of the Movie "Looking For Love" (1/26/99)
(from Screen Stories, October 1964)
The world's number-one girl singer finally met the world's number-one boy singer (as record sales go) when Connie Francis literally collided with Elvis Presley in the studio commissary. They were working on the MGM lot at the same time, but in separate pictures. "I hear you're using a lot of guest stars in your new musical." Elvis kidded. "How about a job for a hungry folk singer?" Elvis was referring to the fact that this romatic comedy with music, which was written especially for the versatile vocalist Miss Francis, boasted one of the most star-studded sets in town.
Appearing in her third film, Connie shared acting honors with Jim Hutton, Susan Oliver, Joby Baker and Barbara Nichols. To gild the lily, producer Joe Pasternak persuaded a galaxy of famous names and faces to appear as themselves in cameo spots. No one turned him down. Johnny Carson flew out of New York, and both he and Danny Thomas figured prominently in individual show-within-show sequences. Paula Prentiss jetted in from Miami and acted up a one-woman storm. Then she jetted back where her husband was appearing in a play. Both George Hamilton and Yvette Mimieux postponed scheduled vacations to do their camera stuff.
A target for critics where her night-club wardrobe is concerned, Connie Francis had nothing to fear in this film. The studio signed Don Loper to create costumes for both Connie and Susan Oliver. The world-famous couturier ran the fashion gamut, at a cost of $40,000. He used men's suitings, which are woven to hold a press and which tailor beautifully, for one-piece dresses and jumpers. He introducted Shetland stoles as a welcome change from ever-present sweaters. Don tried and succeeded in giving Connie sports clothes, at-home formals and streetwear that the average girl would appear in. Director Don Weis predicted, "Mothers all over the country will breathe a thankful amen for Don Loper's dedicated swing back toward what he terms 'the new well-behaved look.'" With teenagers in mind, Loper himself declared: "It's high time for a radical change and a needed turn toward conservatism and controlled taste. As the past has proven, if a youngster looks like a slob, she will act like a slob. If she looks like a lady, she unconsciously acts like one." Producer Pasternak presented Don's creations to Connie at the end of the picture, and she was doubly thrilled.
Currently living the life of a much sought-after bachelor, Jim Hutton disclosed: "My one ambition has nothing to do with acting. I hope to establish a kennel near the ocean and raise prize Silver German Shepherd dogs. You see, I'm used to having a house to myself and can't adjust to apartment dwelling and the closeness of well-meaning neighbors. Everyone worries about a man living alone. When I return from work, I find pies, cakes and pots of spagetti cooked by those who are convinced I'll starve to death."
The script of this frothy film afforded a starring role to a "lady" who positively has no future. Called a "Lady Valet," the handy gadget was a unique feminine version of a gent's wooden clotheshorse. As invented in the picture by Connie, the contingent parts include a broom handle, a coat hanger, a TV dinner tray, a shoe-shine box and a salad basket. When Jim Hutton played his first scene with "her," he cracked: "I once knew a girl back in Peoria who had the same measurements." Susan Oliver countered: "Yeah, but this one doesn't talk back!"
Typical of Hollywood, Joby Baker, an expert guitar player, had to learn to play a bass fiddle. Afterward, Connie agreed to record the ballad with a beat he composed, providing he would accompany her on the fiddle.
Although supermarkets are a dime a dozen around Hollywood, none were interested in breaking into the movies. Not after they heard their displays of stock had to be demolished by Connie and Joby in a hysterical comedy sequence. The movie-makers remained undaunted and built their own market on a sound stage. Ten-thousand dollars worth of groceries were purchased and used as props. They ended up in the supply room of the studio commissary.
On weekends, Connie flew to Las Vegas and searched for acreage. "This is my favorite home away from home," she enthused. "When I appear there, it's the one vacation I get during the year. So I'm going to build my own hideaway where I can live in privacy while I perform. Now that I'm learning to golf," she added, "this will give me more time to perfect my stroke." her golf teacher is an old friend -- Dean Martin, no less. He pointed out: "She has a great drive, but what am I saying? That's how she became a star!"
Additional notes regarding the movie Looking For Love:
Joby Baker was a professional painter of note; several of his abstract works were exhibited in major Los Angeles art galleries.
Story author Ruth Flippen had her husband, Jay C. Flippen, play the executive Ralph Front. Jay felt like being in a fishbowl acting a role written by his spouse.
Jesse White, who played Connie's agent Tiger Shay (he wore loud jackets and appeared to be smoking a cigar even when his mouth was empty), was also known as the Maytag repair man from the washer commercials in the 1970s.
Connie on Ed Sullivan Show (1/16/99)
by Jerry Wanek
I was a teenager in the late 50's and a fan of Connie's while in high school. During my hitch in the U.S. Coast Guard, I also worked at a radio station in North Carolina as an evening top 50 disc jockey in early 61, all during the time Connie was at the top of the charts. After the service, between 1963 and 1967, I also worked as an announcer and DJ at a couple of radio stations in Nebraska. I always delighted in playing Connie's records. After being transferred to NYC during my C.G. hitch, I had the opportunity of seeing Connie "live" during a dress rehearsal of the Ed Sullivan show. As always, she was fantastic.
At that time the public was allowed to attend the Ed Sullivan Show dress rehearsals on Sunday afternoon. The theatre used in those days was very small and the public sat in the balcony. The main floor was only about 6 or 8 rows deep. I remember it sure looked different from what you saw on TV. Ed Sullivan didn't stand in front of the curtain as it looked on TV. He stood in front of a dummy curtain off to the side. The only other performers I remember on with Connie were Bob and Ray. Their act was quite technical so it was recorded for broadcast for that evening.
WAS I EVER SURPRISED when Ed introduced Connie. It was a great thrill for me to see her in person. I was just a Nebraska kid (21 years old) in the service. It's hard to describe the thrill I went through. Of course like any red blooded American boy, I was in awe of her beauty and talent. WOW, what a thrill.
Radio in the Early 1960s (1/16/99)
by Jerry Wanek
During the late 50's and early 60's when Connie Francis was popular on broadcast radio, it was the time of the Philadelphia sound. Many of the singers came from the same area. They were clean cut, neat appearing, all American kids whom we could all look up to and associate our lives with. Elvis was in his hey day with sometimes three or four songs at once on the top 50 charts. Connie Francis was the top female singer with new and exciting songs all the time.
Many of the groups that were popular were the quartet type. The Four Lads, The Four Freshmen, The Lettermen, The Beach Boys, the list goes on and on. Marty Robbins had a number of hits at the time. Even some of the Broadway plays and movies resulted in hit songs. Theme from The Dark, At The Top Of The Stairs and theme from A Summer Place to name a couple. Even Lawrence Welk had a number one hit, Calcutta. Pat Boone and Elvis bounced back and forth who had the most popular male vocal out at the time.
I don't remember Connie Francis having much competition as she was very popular all the time. She had a way of putting across a song that would either make you want to tap your foot in time with the music, dance, or even bring tears to your eyes, depending on the song or style.
Top 50 music was kind of a mix of single vocalist, groups, and full orchestration hits from movies. Movies and drive-in's were the popular form of entertainment and had a great deal of influence on what were the popular songs.
Then in the early 60's came the great invasion from England. The Beatles. Things begin to change fast. Gone were the sweet sounds of the 50's where you could understand and sing along with the lyrics. Instead came the yea yea yea sound. Country music started to become more popular, with a number of radio stations becoming more specialized.
Country Stations, Big Band stations, and the new Talk Station format. With new technical things being developed, the old Disc Jockey style of music began to fall by the wayside. Automated radio came into being. A machine set on a timer began to play the songs. The Radio Personality was gone replaced by the Talk Show Personality. Radio stations in the late 50's differed as to the size of the station and the size of the town in which they were located.
The large towns and bigger cities had the radio station personalities. The smaller towns having the 1,000 watt daytime, 250 watt night time stations had the Disc Jockeys that were using the small station as a training ground before developing their skills and moving on to a larger better paying job with a big station. The small station DJ did everything from playing music, reading the news and giving the sports to doing commercials and even taking transmitter readings every hour on the hour. Once he felt he was ready, then it was time to move on to a larger operation where he could specialize in playing music or reading the news, doing sports or reading commercials. The job of taking transmitter readings and operating the control console was left to engineers who belonged to the union. The announcer was limited to sitting in a room just announcing the song. The record was put on the turntable and even the announcer's microphone was turned off and on by someone else.
Most of the weekly top 50 charts were made up via the billboard weekly magazine. Sometimes in our case at WCNC in Elizabeth City NC., we would use Billboard and some other publication to kind of average the list out. But Billboard was the big reference in those days. It was based on records sold and played over select 50,000 watt stations nationwide. There were many stations copycatting American Bandstand with live broadcasts from various dance halls around the country. A dance hall would during the evening would have an hour or so remoted to the local radio station for a live segment.
The local radio personality would be featured for that hour spinning records for the dance and ad libbing his usual chatter.
As in radio, things change, but we are blessed with the Elvis, Marty Robbins and the Connie Francis sounds and styles that will be with us always. They were the best and no change will replace the great memories and entertainment they brought us.
Request shows are always difficult to run. The request all most had to be mailed in advance. The DJ usually had his program figured out in advance to a certain degree. This included requests. To take a live request via phone was difficult because the DJ was usually at the station by himself and was also busy setting up his commercials keeping the log of what went out on the air and what time (required by FCC), taking transmitter readings (also required by FCC) getting his hourly newscasts prepared, etc.
Today with computerized selections via CD it is much easier to push a button and the selection comes up via computer.
The guys expressing their opinions about stations not playing their favorite tunes missed one very important point. Radio programming is designed to aim at a certain type of listener not just listeners in general. Television is also. In many cases it is more important to target type instead of volume.
For example: Let's say you have a program about Stocks and the Markets. You would be better off having 10,000 wealthy people listening who are investors than 500,000 teenagers who couldn't care less what the markets are doing.
The same with TV and the Soaps and women oriented Talk shows. Sally Jessie, Oprah, Rosie, etc. Supposedly women are home during the day and they are the big listeners and viewers of those type of programs.
Another example, we have a 50,000 station here in middle Nebraska KRVN (K-Rural Voice of Nebraska, note the play on call letters). KRVN has a huge listening audience: Eastern Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and even in their fringe areas. Their programing is mainly rural agriculture. They are very strong on farm news, weather, cattle, and grain markets. That's about all they broadcast with a little country music thrown in once in a while during the morning and early afternoon hours. They advertise mainly farm related items. Equipment dealers and cattle auctions, harvest production, chemical seed companies, etc. As I mentioned their listening market area is HUGE. They also do sports. They couldn't care less about top 50 or the junk rock that is on other stations. Programming is mainly to target a specific audience and the type of commercials should be targeted at that particular audience.
RAI-TV Special on Connie (1/16/99)
This television show, Bentornata, Connie!, from Italy was a special that featured Connie Francis. It was broadcasted earlier this year in Italy and Europe, and later in the U.S. and Brazil (not once but several times in Brazil). Connie was very elegant and sang a few songs. RAI featured other singers performing some of Connie's hits, except, of course, it was Connie that sang Mama. She received several standing ovations and concluded the show by singing Where The Boys Are in Italian, however, in the background they showed a scene from Follow The Boys where Connie was singing Waiting For Billy (most likely RAI could not get WTBA footage in time for final production). A clip of Bobby Darin and Connie singing a duet was also shown.
Connie was asked whether she considers herself American or Italian. Her quick answer was, "Italiana!" The New Jersey neighborhood where she grew up was very much like Italy.
RAI is Italian public television and this show features longtime celebrities. It began with various singers singing the Karen Carpenter song, Yesterday Once More around a juke box and an old style radio. RAI has a webpage at http://www.rai.it.
The other singers on the show were:
Betty Curtis is famous for Invece No (as well as Al Di La) which sang with Petula Clark the same year Connie sang Ho Bisogno Di Vederti with Gigliola Cinquetti in 1965.
Nilla Pizzi, a wonderful singer who sang Credimi. Nilla is also known as Queen of Neapolitan Music and gave Connie a standing ovation for her performance of I'te vurria vasa'.
Doris [not sure of her other name], Comme Bella.
Claudio Villa of Non Pensare A Me which was the winner the year 1967 Connie sang Canta Ragazzina. She sang Non Pensare A Me in a duet with him from the clip. Claudio Villa's daughter later sang Voglio Vivere Cosi.
Nicola di Bari (famous for many hits).
Connie's Mastery of Languages (1/16/99)
Grandes Exitos del Cine de Los Anos 60 is a most lovely LP and has Connie singing at the peak of her career. Her Spanish is flawless. Connie only did nine songs and they needed an extra song and decided to use Donde Hay Chicos (Where The Boys Are). She could have also used Detras Del Amor (Follow The Boys) and others instead but didn't. Connie had just done this LP in two short days flying in to Los Angeles for two days that she didn't have shows or something.
The LP was done because at the time Connie was extremely popular in Spanish speaking countries and the Latin Market was being tested out more and more in the U.S. The LP was released in literally every Spanish speaking country in the world and even Japan! No Puedo Olvidar (Strangers In The Night) was TOP TEN in Mexico and singles such as La Sombra De Tu Sonrisa, Olvidemos El Manana and Sueno De Amor (Somewhere My Love) were released. Her Spanish is impeccable and the performance almost excels that of "Movie Greats."
The English version of the LP "Movie Greats" has the song Senza Fine (means Without End) from the movie Flight of the Phoenix. Senza Fine was only done in two versions that is known. There is a single version which is a beautiful release from England on a single and also released on CD there a few years ago. The other is on the LP "Movie Greats of the 60s." Connie did one whole version in English and one in Italian and they spliced in and out different versions.
![[Connie poster]](cfposter.jpg)
Editor's note: The producers went the cheap route by just doing the same cover as "Movie Greats" for the "Grandes Exitos" album and said they would eventually change the cover. Although some people objected to the same cover, I think its a great picture of Connie wearing that Don Loper design dress. In fact, that picture is such a nice photo of Connie, I had a 30x40 inch poster made from it.
Schöner fremder Mann (Someone Else's Boy) was a big hit in every country except the US. It was #1 in Japan, #1 in Spain (Mi Tonto Amor-El Novio De Otra), popular in France as C'est lui que je veux, in Portugal and Brazil as Um Amor So Meu, and was a minor hit in Italy. It's a pretty cute song. Some of Connie's German songs have a few English words here and there which was done because they find words like sweetheart and darling charming.
Connie has been on the charts every year someplace in the world - even after 1969 when she made her last 100 chart topper in the United States.
Translating music into other languages is not a trivial task. The lyrics have to be properly interpreted to keep the same meaning, and the sounds of the words have to match the sounds of the tunes. Take a look at the writers of the same songs from the "Movie Greats" album and the "Grandes Exitos" album. The first album lists writers for Strangers In The Night by Kaempfert, Singleton, and Synder; Somewhere My Love by Jarre and Webster. On the second album (same songs but re-titled) the writers for No Puedo Olvidar by B. Kaempfert and F. Hernandez; Sueno De Amor by Maurice Jarre and Rafael De Leon. Obviously the liner notes were re-written in the respective language. When complete, the artist needs to sing with proper accentuation. Then there are cultural differences and tastes between different countries that may need to be considered.
A comment from one of her fans: "Have you ever heard her Jewish Favorites? I'm not Jewish but my friends who are could not get over how perfectly she got the hebrew phrasing, etc. In fact, they insist that she must be at LEAST part Jewish to do such a good job." (Connie did mention at a Las Vegas concert in the 1960s that she is 10 percent Jewish, from her manager [George Scheck].)
Connie has an affinity for languages. Growing up in an old-fashion Italian family in a Jewish neighborhood, Italian and Hebrew became natural for Connie. Because Spanish is similar to Italian, it was easy for Connie to learn it. Connie had difficultly at first learning German but she quickly learned it and sang it so well that some thought she was from Germany. All the other languages Connie sang were all done phonetically, which she said was easy. Japanese was the easiest for Connie.
Many language professors admire Connie for her linguistic talents. Connie Francis interprets her songs with such depth of emotion that you don't even have to know the language, you just feel it.