Frances Langford collection

Collection — Container: Single Folder Collections - 1999 Box 12 (99.0256-99.0279), Folder: 99.0274 - Folder 1

Identifier: 99.0274

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to actress and singer Frances Langford who served with the United Service Organization (USO) during World War II with Bob Hope. The collection contains an oral history interview transcript, four photographs, one from her USO days and three from 1998 when the interview was conducted, as well as audio taped interviews of Langford.

Dates

Created: 1940-1945
Other: Date acquired: 05/28/1999

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all resarchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Frances Langford was born on April 4, 1913, in Lakeland, Florida. She loved to sing at an early age, and was discovered by Rudy Vallee who later got her a movie deal called "Every Night At Eight." She acted in more than 30 motion pictures, and also starred in a radio series in the 1940s as an aggressive wife in the show "The Bickersons."

She then moved on to perform around the world with Bob Hope during World War II with the USO. They performed for General Eisenhower. Langford and Bob Hope performed together for 5 years. They never changed their act unless the environment and/or the audience objected or made the situations difficult to do the act. She kept her long blonde hair and enjoyed meeting new people from all over the world. After the war, she continued to work. She passed away on July 11, 2005, in Jensen Beach, Florida.