Francia White

Francia White (1909 - October 22, 1984) was an American soprano who had an active career in concerts, operas, operettas, radio, television, and film during the late 1920s through the 1940s.

In addition to her radio work, she is chiefly remembered for helping to launch Edwin Lester's Los Angeles Civic Light Opera in 1938 and was one of their main leading ladies up through 1942.

[1] She became a regular performer at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera during the late 1930s and early 1940s, notably starring in the company's very first production as Mitzi in Franz Schubert's Blossom Time in 1938.

Other LACLO roles included Marianne Beaunoir in Sigmund Romberg's The New Moon (1938), Princess Helene in Oscar Straus's Waltz Dream (1939), the title heroine in Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta (1941), and Nina in Rudolf Friml's The Firefly (1942).

[2] White's career was tragically struck short in 1943 when she developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis that forced her to retire.