OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Fantastic Fran Warren!

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Greetings music lovuhs, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Or perhaps should I say "tap-tap, tap-tap-tap" since it's National Morse Code Day, too. Send this to likeminded nerds: (... --- ...). It's the universal Morse code distress signal, dont'cha know. 'Cause we're living in stressful times, aren't we? 

It's time to decompress, if only for an evening, and at the Manor's exclusive "Tug Job" bar, vapory and snackery (warm, cheesy cassava bread is served all night!), DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing tunes by a performer whose career as a big band singer, Broadway, movie and TV star stretched over 50 years. Do you know who it is?


If you guessed Fran Warren, you're right. And, yes, you can also add Sexploitation Queen to her resume, since she played the cranky mom in "Toys Are Not For Children," a beloved 1972 psycho-sexual drama extraordinaire. Fran really did do it all!

It was the early 1940s when Fran got her start as a perky chorus girl at the Roxy Theater in New York City - and yes, her voice stood out. So much so that she was soon after the star vocal attraction for several big band orchestras, like those fronted by Art Mooney and Charlie Barnet. Everyone wanted to swing with Fran. By the time the late 40s and 50s rolled around, she'd scored a record deal and was a welcome regular on the charts, on TV variety shows and even the Broadway stage. And, yes, that's her as Lady Jane in "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd."

But as much success as she had and continued to have into the early 1980s, Fran was pained by ongoing bouts of severe depression, which she said was a contributing factor to the break up of her three marriages, one of them to Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone. It got so bad that she underwent several rounds of electroconvulsive therapy in the mid-50s, which was not uncommon at the time as a treatment for both severe depression and schizophrenia. In later years, she spoke about these experiences, helping to de-stigmatize open conversations about mental health.

Through it all, her singing kept her and her fans happy. In her 1968 LP, "Come Into My World," she slays with both ballads and hot-cha! big band tunes, all of which made her a must-see on the nightclub circuit. The album's opener, "Hello Young Lovers," is sensational.

And I ask you, who but Fran would wear high heels, stylin' capri pants and what looks like a Reynolds Wrap belt?


Earlier in her career, in her fabulous 1960 LP, "Something's Coming," Fran delivers one blazing showstopper after another. Ka-pow! Bam! Wowza! Again, what's not to like? Her rendition of the title track might seem campy now - and it is - but it's also a dynamite example of midcentury razzmatazz and a further example of Fran's compelling and unvarnished vocal delivery.

Ready for more Fran? I know you are. 

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Getty Images, Box Office Int'l Pictures, RCA Victor

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