Background
Dragonette was born around 1900 in India.
Dragonette was born around 1900 in India.
An orphan, she was raised in a Catholic convent school, Georgian Court College, in Lakewood, New Jersey, where she graduated in 1923, according to the list of the college"s alumni.
There is some uncertainty as to the exact date of birth. Her birth records were reportedly destroyed in a fire and she was not forthcoming regarding her age. The Social Security Death Index cites 1900 as her year of birth.
She began singing on radio in 1926, and during her 22-year radio career she helped to popularize operettas and semi-classical music
An admiring press dubbed her the "Princess of Song", a nickname she later would use to publicize concert events. She was the star of the Philco Hour on National Broadcasting Company from 1927-1930 (Dunning, p 543).
She became the star of the Cities Service Concerts program, which she joined in 1930. By 1935, a listeners" poll voted her radio"s most popular female vocalist.
(Fraser, B15) Dragonette sang in a segment of the film The Big Broadcast of 1936, on the condition that she have authority over the final cut on her performance.
In the end she chose to have her part removed. In 1939, she provided the singing voice of "Princess Glory" in the full color animated motion picture Gulliver"s Travels. In 1940 the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) painted a portrait of her that now hangs at her alma mater, now known as Georgian Court University.
Müller-Ury became a close friend of the singer and painted her portrait several times—the last of the portraits, painted in 1946, depicts her wearing a gold fez.
He also painted a portrait of the singer"s sister, Nadea, in 1942. During World World War II, Jessica Dragonette performed for charities benefiting the United States. armed services, earning her an honorary commission as a Colonel.
She performed frequently for the troops and sold a record number of war bonds. She once remarked that The Star Spangled Banner never had more meaning for her than it did during the war.
Both Jessica and Nicholas were devout Roman Catholics.
The union, Dragonette"s only marriage, was childless and lasted until her death. In the mid-1950s, David Gottlieb, the president of the leading pinball game manufacturer, hired Dragonette to appear at coin machine functions promoting a pinball game called Dragonette. However, the game had nothing to do with Dragonette.
lieutenant was spoof of a leading television show of the period, Dragnet.
Nicholas Turner died in New York City on March 8, 2010. Jessica Dragonette is interred in a crypt in Our Lady Queen of Peace Mausoleum at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, New New York
Dragonette"s year of birth is not inscribed on the crypt, probably because of the uncertainty of this matter.