Connie Francis is DEAD to me

Who’s sorry now, bitches?

I bumped the other thread from earlier this month

Her Top 40 hitmaking success preceded her in death by 60 years.

Connie’s life story post-fame is a sad one. May she rest in peace.

She's gone to where the boys are.

We need a Connie bio pic. Who could play her?

Before or after nose job(s)?

Bios claim she was born in Newark. Not So. Parents lived in Newark. While visiting relatives in Crown Heights Brooklyn (where they once lived), Mom went into labor. Connie was born at St. John's Hospital on Atlantic Avenue, now Interfaith Medical Center. This is confirmed by president of her fan club.

I remember back in the 1980s, after she had gone through the whole rape ordeal and the murder of her brother and one of her multiple institutionalizations, Dick Clark, in an attempt to help her reignite her career, had her on The Pyramid as one of the celebrity guests.

The poor thing was a mess. You could tell she was hanging on by a thread mentally, and she lost every single match she played. It was painful to watch. I felt sorry for the contestants, because they knew when they got paired up with Connie, it was gonna be all over for them.

Luckily, Dick was able to showcase Connie in a much better light soon after the Pyramid fiasco.

R9 What was this from? New Year's Rockin' Eve?

Married 4 times, 3 of them for less than a year.

[quote]Bios claim she was born in Newark. Not So. Parents lived in Newark. While visiting relatives in Crown Heights Brooklyn (where they once lived), Mom went into labor. Connie was born at St. John's Hospital on Atlantic Avenue, now Interfaith Medical Center. This is confirmed by president of her fan club.

Don't worry, R7. AG Pam Bondi has the files on her desk, and she's going to make this info public because Americans want to know. You're doing a damn good job, though, as president of her fan club.

The Connie Francis troll must have slept in this morning. I expected to be regaled with stores of her continuing worldwide stardom, her many recordings in Farsi and Urdu, and her ability to sing in every genre including Calypso and grand opera.

Bobby Darin rests in peace knowing that he dodged a bullet twice—first from her her mafia relatives and second from marrying someone who was an even bigger mess than Sandra Dee.

RIP Connie. Now reunited with Bobby Darin, her one true love.

R13 — In honor of the Connie Francis troll, who may or may not be wailing on his carpeted living room floor in paroxysms of grief, here is a favorite Connie tune.

Bossa Nova Hand Dance! (1965)

Connie said "Where The Boys Are" is The Gay National Anthem.

R5 the biopic that didn't happen was to star Gloria Estevez.

[quote] RIP Connie. Now reunited with Bobby Darin, her one true love.

Bull! Darrin took out a restraining order on her for 'eternity'. She's going nowhere near him.

Two weeks ago Connie was interviewed by WABC's Cousin Bruce Morrow, from her Florida hospital bed. She was optimistic.

Was there a rivalry between her and Annette Funicello back in the day? They both came up about the same time, both had singing careers and both starred in some lightweight films, and were both, of course, Italian-American

Guess you won’t be able to kiss her on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday from now on either.

Barbra wanted her to duet with her on the new album "Secrets of Life" but Francis said 'no'.

She was crazier than a shithouse rat but she seemed like a nice lady.

R5...Years ago Emilio & Gloria Estefan were in negotiations to produce a Francis bio pic. Well, those negotiations fell apart & as a result Connie had nothing nice to say about the Estefans. It ultimately turned into an ordeal for Connie, which she discussed in interviews that are quoted on her Wiki page. This wasn't the first account of the Estefans unbecoming behavior in professional deals, either. I remember a Rolling Stone feature about Gloria when she was on top in the early 90s. Past members of the MSM had little good to say about her husband. Also, about 10 years ago an upstart reissue label had contracted to re-release the MSM's 1985 & 1987 albums. After work & money had been invested in this project the Estefans had apparently pulled out last minute. The label ended up folding shortly afterwards. The owner was vocal about the reasons why, which prompted Gloria to snap back via Twitter. After reading both accounts of the situation, I'm totally team record label here, as Gloria did not seem forthright in her reasons for the project being axed.

But anyway, back to the subject here...Yes, a bio pic of Connie Francis could be meaty if done with honesty & with high production standards. It's true what someone said up thread--her life post heyday has been interesting & peppered with its share of sadness.

RIP Connie Franklin

A Connie biopic would play better as an utter campfest melodrama. I wonder who manages her estate and whether they'd be dumb or greedy enough to allow such a thing.

[quote]Was there a rivalry between her and Annette Funicello back in the day? They both came up about the same time, both had singing careers and both starred in some lightweight films, and were both, of course, Italian-American.

Except that Connie could actually sing. Annette, fond of her as we were, could not.

It's fucking about time! Hasn't she been in the ICU for weeks?

What was so tragic about her life other than the rape?

She was involuntarily hospitalized for bipolar disorder on multiple occasions ( 17 times claims one source). Her brother, a lawyer who had recently testified as part of an investigation into Mafia dealings, was shot to death by a pair of gunmen in his driveway in 1981.

She also suffered a botched nose job that wrecked her voice for 7 years She needed several surgeries to fix it.

She was fucking batshit crazy r30. Lots of stints in the nuthouse.

Sob. We have all her 78 rpm's.

Wish I had tickets for Just In Time tonight to witness the outpouring of love the actress playing Connie gets at the curtain call.

Aww I’m in my 40s but adored her in that cheesy ass movie Back to the beach. RIP

R35 That was Annette, not Connie.

Oh well she had a hot ass but she couldn’t live forever. RIP

They ran several commercials for compilations of her hits on TV during the 80s. That's how I first heard of her. Must have inspired that SCTV parody.

R38 Oh, my God! I was just typing a post about those commercials, too, when yours popped up.

That's how I first heard of her, too. I remember asking my mom who Connie Francis was, and she just said, "Oh, she's had a tough life."

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero

I would much rather listen to Connie Francis, despite the dreckiness of so much of her material, than Barbra Streisand and I'll never understand why the gays think Barbra is so great.

Could you imagine Connie singing "People". Sheer torture, I'm sure.

Lucy wanted her to play Vera Charles but Gary talked her out of it.

At one of her comebacks, she opened up the show with a heartfelt rendition of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" accompanied by much cheering by her adoring fans once they realized that that was the song she was trying to get across. Disco and Connie were not in tune.

Reminded me of the glorious opening number of the Las Vegas spectacular starring that all around dynamo, Mary Hart. She came out high kicking in all kinds of sequins belting the Elton John/Kiki Dee classic, "I've Got The Music In Me." Alas and alack, she didn't, not even a little bit.

Susan Dey is currently meeting privately with Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss and Yvette Mimieux about not issuing a statement.

Ms. Dey did not invite George Hamilton to the meeting.

Annette had a few top 10 records - Tall Paul (No. 7 in 1959}, O Dio Mio, Pineapple Princess, Let's Get Together (with Tommy Sands), and a few others in the top 100.

Connie had three No. 1 Billboard hits from 1957-1962 and several others in the top ten and top one hundred. Her record of No. 1 hits for a female stood for many years. And there was a time that her total number of billboard 100's were topped only by Elvis and the Beatles.

I don't Annette and Connie had a rivalry. Connie was controlled by MGM and Annette had Disney = two different approaches. And of course Annette wasn't crazy.

Connie didn't stand the test of time, one of those artists who just didn't translate to later generations. I'm Gen X and I'm not really familiar with her.

What did she do that was nutty?

Did she act like Britney or Amanda Bynes?

Hats off to MGM and its army of hairstylists, makeup artists, costumers, visual artists (see the way they draw her on the poster), photographers, directors, and choreographers who tried to make this dead-eyed, stumpy, moon-faced, thick-waisted woman into a major star of film musicals in the quartet of films she did there.

The drawings of CF for the posters of Looking for Love and Follow the Boys are miracles of optimism.

She called herself a "die-hard liberal" but also supported Nixon and Reagan, so who knows where the truth lies.

[quote]What did she do that was nutty?

I remember she called Cindy Adams from the loony bin in the 1980s, raving about how she'd discovered the cure for AIDS but Reagan and Ed Meese were trying to silence her.

R48: She was bipolar and repeatedly hospitalized. She also was a conservative Republican who had the delusions of Reagan mentioned by R51.

One of the all-time great songs...

Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are" on The Ed Sullivan Show

Lush, gorgeous studio version...

Connie Francis : Where The Boys Are

You don't rape Connie Francis.

[quote]One of the all-time great songs...Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

She knew where to find the boys. What about the booze?

Whatever really went down with the mob would be of interest to film audiences...

Have Connie Stevens and Connie Converse made any public statements on the matter yet?

Her father chasing Bobby Darin away, shotgun in hand, would be fun. And we could hope for a better portrayal of Darin than LaSpacey gave.

Very hard for a contemporary crowd to imagine what the culture was like in 1974 around issues of rape, celebrity, etc.

Can't even put it into words really.

[quote]One of the all-time great songs...Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

It's not on anyone's list of "all-time great songs".

I was thinking of those compilation commercials from the 1980s when the thread about her hospitalization appeared. People seemed surprised at how good she looked.

She had a catch in her throat. That's often how her singing style was described (flatteringly, too!).

JUST IN TIME is a fun Broadway show but I don't get why the actress playing Connie makes NO attempt to get her singing voice right. And it's not like she came up with anything better.

So, I guess Brenda Lee is the lone survivor of the girl singers of Connie's generation. Not that there were many of them, and that's what made their success and popularity so phenomenal.

Connie didn’t have bipolar disorder. She had PTSD and had been misdiagnosed for years. It’s reminiscent of the Jessica Lange movie where she played the actress who was sent to the looney bin against her will.

Dolly wanted to make a movie on Connie as well, but she was tied up with the Estefans. Dolly wanted Valerie Bertinelli to play Connie.

[quote]One of the all-time great songs...Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

[quote]It's not on anyone's list of "all-time great songs."

It's on mine.

I bet Barbara is pleased pink about this.

Valerie Harper would have made a good Connie Francis.

I thought of Connie when that young woman in Mulholland Drive sang. The dark haired one.

Dianne Wiest !!!!

I love this more upbeat song from her, she wasn't just turgid ballads. Check out Lollipop lips and Gonna get that man

R21 I don't think so, Connie could sing, Annette not so much.

I thought "Stupid Cupid" was fun

I don't think a 'movie bio' is the way to go with Francis. I think a juke-box musical (with the right casting of Francis - maybe Lea Michele ? ) could be a Broadway hit. In the right-sized theater, the 'Jersey Boys' and 'Neil Diamond' tourists will be packing it in.

As a little boy, I had a pencil-dialing crush on the song "Stupid Cupid," particularly the BOING! sound effect that was supposed to be Cupid's bow and arrow.

I'm not too familiar with Connie's music. I only remember her from headlining the concerts at our 'summer music theater under the tent' in our state in the 70s, and the afternoon commercials selling her albums. I remember a couple of songs by her, especially this one which plays in the Target ads...

Another huge hit was Lipstick on Your Collar. Also, not a turgid ballad.

V-A-C-A, T-I-O-N!

In the SUMMERTIME!

R50, Well, Connie didn't exactly become a "major star of film musicals." After the success of "Where the Boys Are," MGM thought they had a new Elvis in their hands and quickly signed Connie to a three-picture deal.

But after the back-to-back flops of "Follow the Boys," " Looking for Love," and "Where the Boys Meet the Girls," MGM cut the cord and sent her on her way. Connie never really felt comfortable as an actress anyway.

I was gently directed not to sing Connie’s ‘I’ll Follow the Boys” as I had intended to do for my middle school talent show back in the late 1970s. I could rip the shit outta that song. I did win the faculty prize for my heartrending “Chiquatita”, despite cat calls from my peers.

One of my favorites, that last note gives me goosebumps.

Connie sounded really at home singing in Italian or is this Napolitano?

Stupid Cupid was written by HOMOS Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield

Well she went out on a wonderful note career wise. “Pretty Little Baby” has had 27 billion streams on TikTok.

Crazy how life works. Crazy how TikTok revived Brenda Lee and Connie Francis.

[quote]I don't think a 'movie bio' is the way to go with Francis. I think a juke-box musical (with the right casting of Francis - maybe Lea Michele ? ) could be a Broadway hit. In the right-sized theater, the 'Jersey Boys' and 'Neil Diamond' tourists will be packing it in.

Currently, there's a hit jukebox musical on Broadway called JUST IN TIME about the life of Bobby Darin starring Lea Michele's BFF Jonathan Groff.

Connie Francis is a major character. The actress who portrays her, Gracie Lawrence, was nominated for a Tony at last month's ceremony, as was Groff, but no nod for the actress playing Sandra Dee.

[quote]Crazy how life works. Crazy how TikTok revived Brenda Lee and Connie Francis.

Brenda Lee is heard every Christmas.

[quote]Stupid Cupid was written by HOMOS Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield.

As was "Where the Boys Are."

It seems Connie never did any theater work, in New York or otherwise. Even when she played some of the big summer stock theaters like Ohio's Kenley Players she would simply do a concert of her hits. I think she was well-aware she was not an actress.

[quote]JUST IN TIME is a fun Broadway show but I don't get why the actress playing Connie makes NO attempt to get her singing voice right. And it's not like she came up with anything better.

Will they be dimming the lights at that theater in her honor?

Connie and Brenda Lee succeeded in that very brief lull of 1958-1962 of girl singers between Rosemary Clooney and Patti Page and Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield.

Brenda Lee wisely switched to country and was never a nut.

did Sedaka and Connie have a friendship over the years? anything on record?

R93, don't know, but he has nice things to say about her voice here:

Saddened by the lack of Hollywood response. At least some celebrities posted tributes

Belinda Carlisle

Pat Boone

Deanna Martin

Mario Cantone

Joe Piscopo

Someone called GayPatriot posted a picture of Connie Chung under RIP Connie Francis

Where's Gloria Estefan? Dionne Warwick, whom she just toured with?

Connie Francis never appeared singing together with Dionne Warwick. They were separate acts on the same evening. They never shared the stage.

Calling Connie crazy was due to her behavior after being misdiagnosed and given improper psych medications. Once she was diagnosed correctly and taken off meds, she was fine. She was initially diagnosed as bipolar and given Lithium which messed her biochemistry up. She suffered with lithium poisoning at one point. It was a well known psychiatrist or psychologist who contacted her to suggest that she was misdiagnosed. She was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and taken off meds. From then on, she enjoyed a happy life as an entertainer, and once retired, a happy life with her friends. She experienced a tremendous resurgence in May when her Pretty Little Baby recording went viral and had billions of streams. She was a rare talent with a wonderful voice that had great versatility. She was resilient and one of the greatest talents of the 20th century not just for the hundreds of millions of records sold, but also for her singing voice and entertainment talents. She was humble, and did not have a publicists.. She was very bright and very witty. Her father hindered her career, but she was a magnificent talent.

R95 Also a tearful Neil Sedaka and Michael Musto, Gracie Lawrence, Chris Isaak, and more.

Elton John: "I am the Connie Francis of Rock and Roll!"

Most of her show biz friends are gone!

Joe Piscopo also gave a tribute.

Whoppi and the The View crew posted a tribute to Connie.

Bitch stole my act.

Am I the only eldergay fan of Connie's who doesn't remember "Pretty Little Baby" that song of hers that was featured on Tik-Tok? I thought I knew all her major hits from her albums I collected in the early 60s....but not that one.

R102 / Pretty Little Baby was included on the 4 CD box set issued in 1996 / with over 80 tracks.

My point being it was on the radar to include in that anthology...... but I had never heard of it.

I think it was a B-side

She must not have wanted to duet or pair up on variety shows?

She shines in the Bobby Darin tunes on Sullivan.......

Whatever side it's atrocious, and I'm a fan.

Is Pretty Little Baby sung by the Connie F. character in JUST IN TIME? I saw the show but since I didn't know the song, don't remember if used. I'm just wondering if that's what brought attention to the song.

It seemed so odd to me that they didn't use any of Connie big hits - except for maybe Who's Sorry Now? (again, don't really remember) - but maybe they didn't want to pay for the rights for the big hits, which was unfortunate.

R81 Darling,that was one of the gayest things Ive ever read ! I could just picture you standing on that stage belting your heart out ! Brava ! Brava !

R81......really ...if I had the bucks and the know how I would re stage your middle school talent show and put the number back in.

[quote]She was resilient and one of the greatest talents of the 20th century

No she was not. Not even close.

Why can this woman just be appreciated for the career she had rather than trying to rewrite history and trying to make her into something she wasn't.

She was one of the first female pop singers for the "youth market". And should be appreciated for that.

But she was quickly replaced by other hit female hit makers: Barbra, Petula clark, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Leslie Gore, Jackie De Shannon, Lulu, Diana Ross, Cher....

Yes, she moved on to Vegas....but she was never a top draw. She wasn't up there with other Vegas performers like Debbie Reynolds, Eydie Gorme, Shirley McLaine, Peggy Lee...

Did she record anything thing in the 1970s that was of quality? Any TV performances in the 1970s of quality?

Her personal problems resulted in erratic performances.

And it's a shame too. Her career is one of "what might have been". If she had had a smart manager (and not her father), good artist direction she could have been up there with the best.

This truly lovely rendition of Born Free on the Ed Sullivan Show shows it. She looks great and her singing is direct without the corny plaintive whine she relied on. Serious and not cutesy. This performance should have been the start of a whole new career. But it wasn't.

We can all stop pretending she wasn’t Annette Funicello

"Where The Boys Are"--film and song--are iconic and hold a special place in American culture, and Connie Francis were instrumental in that happening.

[quote] Why can this woman just be appreciated for the career she had rather than trying to rewrite history and trying to make her into something she wasn't.

I think most of us who remember her fondly understand that. At any rate 'most' of us who even remember her are dead or dying and as such are vulnerable to sentimentality.

I liked your post.

Original.

I love the monkey's uncle and I wish I was the monkey's aunt

[quote]She was resilient and one of the greatest talents of the 20th century ... she was a magnificent talent.

I posted a few weeks ago about how Gen Z insists on constantly applying superlatives to everything ("one of the greatest performances in film history" etc.) but actually it seems like everyone is doing it now.

Please r116. That human trait existed long before Gen Zers.

Neil Sedaka did his own version of Stupid Cupid

Such heartfelt expression and range! Which of today's whispercoo songstresses could emote beautifully live in front of an orchestra?

[quote]We can all stop pretending she wasn’t Annette Funicello

Fortunately, for those of us who appreciate talent and actually know something about music and her career, she wasn't.

As I thought might be the case, Connie’s obituary did land on the front page of the print edition of today’s NYT.

Did Walt Disney bang Annette?

Incidentally, both Sandra Dee and Annette Funicello were mentioned in Rizzo's number "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" from GREASE.

So were Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Troy Donahue, and Elvis, but not Bobby Darin or Connie Francis.

The Connie troll has risen! Oh, to hear her whiney song stylings once again! In Serbo-Croatian and Italian!

r123, Connie and Bobby Darin were never held up as paragons of virginity, innocence or teenage modesty so they'd have no place in that song from Grease.

Actually, had Connie been able to act, she might have made a great Rizzo.

In JUST IN TIME, the role of Connie is a far better role than the role of Sandra Dee.

[quote]Connie and Bobby Darin were never held up as paragons of virginity innocence or teenage modesty so they'd have no place in that song from Grease.

Neither was Elvis but he's in the song.

A big problem for her legacy is that every one of her hit songs sound so dated. They already sounded dated in 1965. Stuck in the pre-Beatles era.

Yet every one of Dionne Warwick's recordings still sound contemporary. Dusty, Petula...still sound contemporary. The beat, the orchestrations, the singing style sounds modern.

In the latter half of the 1960s, Connie Francis needed a hit song she could introduce. "Alfie", "Let it Please Be Him", "Is That All There Is?".... material that would have been right for her voice, age and audience. But there was nothing.

On WML? in 1961.

And in 1973.

Thank you,, Donna Loren at R115.

As a reflection of her declining popularity over the years between 1961 & 1973, the very different audience reception Connie received in her two WML appearances is quite stark.

the panel in '73 after the masks come off have a bit of a "Connie...I haven't thought about you in years..."

57 clips

r128, I love Connie but your post is very perceptive. Even Rosemary Clooney, who was a generation earlier, kept up with the changing times and tastes and altered her repertoire.

R128: I'd argue that Warwick and others have rather dated orchestrations for many of their hits. Petula Clark's "Sign of the Times" is very dated. Warwick's most spare arrangements like "Walk on By" have aged the best.

"Everybody's Somebody's Fool" is my favorite of Connie's song. I didn't understand how someone could be somebody's fool. I was very young.

Connie Francis was the Britney Spears of her day, except Connie could sing.

Connie Franshish.

[quote]Petula Clark's "Sign of the Times" is very dated.

It sounds fresher today than anything Connie Francis recorded back then.

Petula being associated with "Swinging London", with the stylish and brightly colored Mod era, is "dated" in a very cool and appealing way.

Also, note that Petula Clark is 5 years OLDER than Connie Francis, but in the 1960s seemed so much younger and in the groove. Thoughly contemporary.

Connie being serenaded by a Gen Z twink dressed in 50s garb. This must've been so surreal for her. Her house looks swank. I know we've had trouble sharing Youtube shorts on here, so the channel's name is PeterLemongelloJr if you want to look it up.

R140: More contemporary than Connie, but that's not difficult. Still, pretty dated.

If only she had lived, she wouldn’t have died.

Connie Francis remains in the consciousness of American culture.

Yes, it would have been great had she been able to transition in a more relevant way after the British Invasion of the 1960s. But she didn't, and yet she remains iconic. She still captured the urban, East Coast rise of New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey girls. And 'Where The Boys Are' is the culmination of the beach movies of the '60s.

Bobby Darin and Connie

Bobby and Connie

Connie and Bobby performing together

Big bum

Big voice

Walden Cassotto and Concetta Franconero

R44, my mom was a huge Connie fan. I took my mom to Vegas to see Connie and Dionne Warwick back in 2010 or 2011.

I was really curious as to how/why CF and DW would be performing together…

The crowd (pretty sizable) was largely Asian (Japanese/Japanese-American, maybe) — apparently CF was very popular.

CF performed first. She came out singing I Will Survive and was wearing a CRAZY bubble-like getup. She compared herself to Lady Gaga and mentioned the meat dress, etc. She was fun and self-deprecating; obviously silly, goofy, and a bit off of her rocker.

DW performed separately. She was the antithesis. She was steady, elegant, and regal (honestly!).

It was a fun night — my mom really enjoyed CF (as well as DW) while I was blown away by DW but was so happy to have been able to have my mom finally see CF live.

Meanwhile, that other Concetta, Concetta Ingoglia (aka Connie Stevens) is still with us.

And the third Concetta's got a knife in her pockeybook and she's gonna CUT YOU UP after class!

R102 Pretty Little baby was never a hit in the USA. It was a B side in the UK and a big hit is Asian countries. In the USA, it was placed on her LP Connie Francis sings Second Hand Love. It i not a surprise that someone in the USA would not remember that song.

Which, R155, makes it so odd that the song is listed right at the top of her “hits” in so many of the obituaries of her.

Don't forget about me. I'm still alive and living at the same assisted living home as Lanie Kazan and Diane Ladd.

See R153, R157.

Connie Francis never made a film as good as "Susan Slade" or "Parrish".

Connie uses Bobby Darin’s name as her “one true love” because he’s dead and not around to defend himself. A platonic friendship she blew up into a passionate affair. Connie was a virgin forever and dominated by her father - her words in one of those old pathetic interviews from the 70s/80s.

[quote]Connie Francis never made a film as good as "Susan Slade" or "Parrish."

Not to mention "Scorchy"!

How do you know that, R157? You reside there too?

Was Connie on good terms with son? Does he stand to inherit the bulk of whatever Connie left?

What kind of estate do we think she leaves? It's not like she wrote any of her songs.

R164 Wigs, wigs, and more wigs!

Connie’s estate = - 20K