WITH A SONG IN MY HEART

The following text and photos are taken from the April 8, 1952 issue of Look Magazine. It is such a rare issue, and I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy...Ginger

Jane Froman's heroic life story comes to wonderful life in Susan Hayward's care..

In "With A Song In My Heart", Susan Hayward steps into the character of singer-World War II heroine Jane Froman-and makes her so alive that from now on the two women may be one in the public's  mind. Miss Hayward recreates the saga of Jane Froman's rise to fame as a stage-radio singer in the 1930's, her injuries suffered in a plane crash while on an overseas USO tour, her long fight back through pain. And, in following Miss Froman's career, "With A Song In My Heart" naturally pulsates with music. There are 32 songs set in slick, entertaining production numbers that compose over half of the film's length. Miss Hayward "sells" the songs with Miss Froman's voice on the soundtrack, and catches every detail of the singer's art. All in all, Susan Hayward, with the warmth and range of the artist she has become, makes the Froman story a convincing experience. The picture is handsomely mounted, written and directed. Its technicolor pays wondrous homage to Miss Hayward's beauty: its producer-writer Lamar Trotti (for 20th Century-Fox), director Walter Lang and technical adviser Jane Froman see to it that this screen biography is as accurately glamorous and adventurous and heroic as the original was and continues to be.

"Do I do that?" asked Jane Froman when she saw the first rushes of Susan Hayward emoting a song in the Froman manner, with the Froman voice on the soundtrack. On the screen, Susan was pointing up the lyrics with Jane's accomplished singer's gestures-the exact turn of the head and the hands at precisely the right moment. "You've been doing it that way for years," her friends told Jane." "But  with you, it's instinctive by now..." Miss Froman, who says Ethel Barrymore and Fanny Brice gave her valuable pointers, now accords Susan Hayward her highest compliment: "She looks like a singer. Every singer knows that when you breathe-it shows. Susan breathes. She understands how to stand, to move, and that gestures must mean something. She didn't copy me slavishly, either. She had tricks of her own up her sleeve." For Susan Hayward, "With a Song in My Heart" is the high point of her career. But she says simply: "Let's face it. What would the great Froman story be with the Hayward singing voice?"

"To Jane Froman, a great soldier, who, though, wounded herself, didn't forget us wounded.": Two GI's pay honor to Jane Froman(Susan Hayward) as nurse Clancy (Thelma Ritter) stands by.

Jane's marriage to Don Ross, vaudevillian-songwriter (David Wayne),is spoiled when he feels he must keep up with her success.

On USO troupe tour in 1943, Jane's plane crashes in Lisbon harbor. She and co-pilot John Burn (Rory Calhoun) encourage each other while waiting for rescue.

JANE FROMAN BOOK & MUSIC INFO

Jane, only partially recovered from her terrible injuries, returns to Europe after V-E day to sing for soldiers. She toured 3 1/2 months, covered 30,000 miles.

Article continued....next