University of Wyoming
1937 performances for Dragonette Palmolive Broadcasts -- reel-to-reel audio tapes.
Home movies, 1930s-1940s -- film -- 16 mm.
Jessica Dragonette was a singer and actress, performing in radio broadcasting for 22 consecutive years. She began her career in 1924 with a role in Max Reinhardt's production of "The Miracle", followed by "The Student Prince" and "The Grand Street Follies". In 1926 she began her radio career with WEAF, which became NBC, singing the role of Vivian in one hour operettas in "The Coca Cola Girl" series. This was followed by "The Philco Hour", 1927-1930, and then the Cities Service Concert series, 1930-1937. After less than a year with "The Palmolive Beauty Box" Dragonette went on concert tours through the 1940s. Her sporadic radio performances of this period include: "The Ford Sunday Evening Show" and CBS "Saturday Night Serenade". She wrote two books: "Faith is a Song" (1952), her autobiography, and "Your Voice and You" (1967).
The collection contains correspondence (much of it photocopies), 1939-1979, with letters from Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Fulton Sheen, Leonard Bernstein, among others. Professional files, 1927-1975, contain some business correspondence as well as clippings, 1919-1979, and cover Dragonette's radio career with NBC and CBS as well as concert tours, including a 1941 visit to Wyoming, and lecture tour. A "photographic archive", as well as 600 phonograph recordings of the singer's live radio broadcasts, 1933-1945, which were never released commercially, are also included. There is a transcript of a 1980 oral history done with Dragonette by Columbia University. Lectures, manuscripts for books and articles, written by Jessica and by her sister and business manager, Nadia Loftus, are included. Other materials include: musical scores ; scrapbooks, 1927-1979; double track tapes of 1937 Palmolive broadcasts; scripts; home movies; art work; and artifacts related to the career of Jessica Dragonette.
Nadia Dragonette Loftus was preparing a biography of Adolfo Muller-Ury, 1864-1947, a portraitist. Research materials and a typed, partially finished manuscript are included.
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There are no known other archival collections created by Jessica Dragonette at the date of processing.
Partial finding aid available in repository.
This material was received from Jessica Dragonette from 1970-1971, Nadea Dragonette Loftus from 1971-1978, Nicholas Turner from 1986-1987, and Mary W. Bower in May 2024.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
The American Heritage Center is in the process of converting its older container lists to a more accessible format. This link is to an older versions of a container list for boxes 1-39.