Frances Williams

Frances Williams was born Frances Jellinek of St. Paul, Minnesota. She started performing when she was 14 and left home when she was 16 as part of an acrobatic troup. Her first oppurtunity to show off her vocal abilities was in George M. Cohan's musical "Mary". She is perhaps best known for her roles in "Artists and Models", "The Cocoanuts" (also with the Marx Brothers, as well as several editions of George White's Scandals. It was in one of those editions in which she is credited as having introduced the Charleston to the general public. Another notable musical was "Everybody's Welcome" in 1932, not a generally well-known show, but best remembered for the introduction of the standard "As Time Goes By", which Miss Williams introduced. She made several film appearances, and only made 5 recording sessions between 1931-1937, on which her vocal abilities are greatly shown. She also did quite a bit of vaudeville, headlining the Palace in twice, once in the early 30's and again in 1950. She made several TV appearances throughout the 50's, before becoming ill with cancer in 1956. Miss Williams had been living with her mother at the Shoreham Hotel. She died at Lenox Hill Hospital on January 27, 1959, surviving her mother, Maude Williams, and brother, William Jellinek.