Preface: Jane Froman could be called a Henry County girl as she spent her early childhood in Clinton, Mo. A few years later she would grow to womanhood in Columbia, Mo. She, like so many noteworthy women, had an inner strength to persevere with all that would come her way. Her voice and her love for show business would ultimately take her around the world, she eventually returned to Columbia, the place she always called home.
She was born Ellen Jane Froman in University City, a suburb of St. Louis. Her father, Elmer Froman, was raised at Plattsburg, Mo, one of six children. Her mother, Anna Barcafer Froman was one of thirteen children, born and raised in Clinton. The Barcafer clan was rich in musical talents, both classical and popular. They were one of the most prominent families of Clinton, with Mr. Barcafer serving as the probate judge of Henry County.
Jane had been named for her maternal grandmother, Ellender Jane Barcafer. Jane greatly admired her grandmother and her aunts, all of them described as “strong cast-iron” women. In years to come she would credit their “fighting spirits” for keeping her alive in an ordeal she would face later in life.
Her grandmother not only possessed an amazing voice but was also a great homemaker as she made and mended all the clothes for thirteen children. She churned butter, tended a garden and an orchard. She canned the bounty and taught painting classes. She was known to make exquisite lace and found time to ship her “painted china” to markets in seventeen countries. In addition, she organized her brood of thirteen into an orchestra that played for many functions around the county.
Jane’s mother, Anna, was the musical star in the Barcafer clan and played the piano by age five. She earned a salary as an organist in a country church before graduating from Franklin High School in Clinton. A feat not common among young ladies
After college Anna taught in Clinton and St. Joseph. This is how she met Jane’s father. Their wedding was reported in The Henry County Record and The Clinton Eye. The articles praised Anna’s musical accomplishments and described Jane’s father as: Froman is a well-known young businessman of St. Joseph, holding a responsible position with Hundley-Frazier Dry Goods Company.” In all honesty he was a traveling salesman but according to a cousin’s letter he was described as: “a fine looking man, in fact, handsome with a beautiful tenor voice.” Following the wedding the couple returned to St. Joseph to make their home.
Four years later Anna studied and performed during 1902 and 1903 in Europe. Returning to Missouri she opened a studio in St. Louis. She was the featured vocalist at many state receptions during the 1904 World’s Fair. Another family letter recorded that Elmer, Jane’s father, was employed with Rice, Stix & Company as a salesman. When Jane was born in 1907, her father was still traveling selling his wares and her mother was giving music lessons.
A second child was born but the baby died of spina bifida and was buried in Valhalla Cemetery in St. Louis. Jane had been sent to Clinton to live with her grandparents during the baby’s illness. When the baby died, Jane’s mother, Anna, came to Clinton and her father went to New York. As far as anyone knows, she never saw him again. All of this trauma was to affect little Jane and she would carry those scars for the rest of her life. She had been very close to her father and missed him terribly. It was about this time that everyone noticed what a beautiful voice Jane possessed but it was at the same time that she began to stutter.
Many suppositions are given as to why some people stutter but in Jane’s case it was probably psychological. Stuttering in some cases can be brought about when a person feels hostility toward someone and does not express the anger openly. Her father, that she loved dearly, had left her and no one would tell her why or speak of it to her. In family letters it was reported that Elmer was in Atlanta and had gone out one evening to buy a paper and was never seen again. At the tender age of five, Jane’s father had vanished without a trace.
Anna, now a single mother, returned to work in music and placed Jane in the Holy Rosary Academy in Clinton. The upper floor of the school was a theater and here is where the nuns discovered her vocal gift. Despite her singing ability she was the brunt of other children’s jokes. Jane recalled: “We were poor so my clothes was not as fine as theirs. I didn’t have a father and I stuttered. So I took refuge in my singing because when I sang I didn’t stutter.”
Jane developed a stubborn and adventuresome streak and was once caught looking through a transom window so she could watch a nun shave her head. She also made friends with a girl and went to her home. The girl’s mother was described as “fast” and Jane wanted to see what “fast” was. She received a “whipping” at the convent for that act of defiance. But more defiance would follow.
She played by ear and could perform a tune after hearing it only once but the nuns insisted Jane had to practice for hours. She balked and angrily bit the piano from one end of the music stand to the other, leaving deep teeth marks that her mother had to pay to restore.
Jane’s mother, Anna, secured the position of director of voice at Christian (now Columbia) College in Columbia, Mo in 1920. She and Jane moved to Columbia and Jane was enrolled in the school and it was here Jane began to sing in productions. After she graduated from Columbia College, she enrolled in Journalism School. Not that she wanted to write but because she wanted to perform in their annual musical production and she did. She also partied and never declined an invitation; all this resulted in her flunking out of school.
Because of her role in the Journalism School’s musical she was asked to come to St. Louis to perform in a production in the Grand Central Theater, where her roommate was Betty Grable. She was paid $100.00 and promptly spent $75.00 of it on an elaborate beaded dress, the height of fashion in the roaring twenties. Unwittingly, Anna orchestrated two events that would put Jane on the path to show business stardom. First, she openly showed her shame of Jane flunking out of Journalism School and she married the Mayor of Columbia, William J. Hetzler. She had become the first lady of Columbia. For whatever reason Jane felt she was no longer a part of her Mother’s life. Jane felt she was on her own and had to figure a way to survive. She began immediately to use her musical talent and her show business career was on the way.
................ To be continued