Frances Hutt (February 7, 1903-July 19, 1970)

Frances Hutt was born in Sherman, Texas to Mr. Orla Thomas Hutt and Mrs. Lee Davis Hutt. The Hutts moved to Sapulpa in 1910 when Frances was seven years old. O.T. Hutt worked as a railroad worker, a brakeman, for the Frisco in Sapulpa. Lee Davis Hutt is a descendent from the Jefferson Davis family of Mississippi (President of the Confederacy). The Hutts lived at 1018 East Line Street (the home still stands).

Frances graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1921 as Valedictorian. Unfortunately, the museum does not have a 1921 yearbook (nor any other of her years at Sapulpa), but a Freshman image of her and her class appears in the 1918 Sayonara yearbook for the high school.

While in Sapulpa, Frances performed in the arts. She often sang and performed for school plays and church groups. After graduation, Frances moved to Chicago and New York to pursue her opera career at Chicago Musical College and Stephens' New York Singing School. While attending the school in Chicago, she met Thomas Dewey. They moved to New York together and married in 1928.

"Thomas Dewey would eventually revolutionize the methods of a criminal prosecutor, but his first calling was as an opera singer." "Convinced that he could never 'set the opera world on fire,' Dewey ultimately turned to the law, and in 1925, graduated form the Columbia University School of Law in New York." "Possessor of a marvelous, deep, rich baritone voice that would also make him the second most effective radio speaker in politics after FDR." He fell in love with Frances Hutt "a five-foot-three-inch brown-haired beauty."

"Although she once sang professionally, the former Frances Eileen Hutt sought to avoid the spotlight after she was married to Mr. Dewey. She was able to do so with marked success while Mr. Dewey won fame as a prosecutor of racketeers, from 1931 to 1939, and while he was New York Governor, from 1942 to 1954, she managed to keep herself and the Dewey's two sons pretty much out of the public glare.

"However, after Mr. Dewey won the Republican party nomination to run against President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, she emerged as an indefatigable campaigner who quickly became accustomed to 'the gold fish bowl,' as she called it." Thomas Dewey would also run again in 1948, losing the Presidency against Harry S. Truman. But these two moments were not his only chances for presidency - he ran earlier in 1940, and aided in the 1952 campaign for General Dwight Eisenhower.

"Even so, a close friend said, 'facing a camera barrage, Frances looks as though she wished with all her heart that she were somewhere else.'

"In the five years preceding her marriage, she made many theatrical appearances under the stage name of Eileen Hoyt. She was a soloist in a variety show at the Paramount Theatre shortly after its opening in 1926 and she made two 20‐ week tours of the Paramount theaters circuit. She appeared in a touring John Murray Anderson 'Almanac' show, and was understudy for the principal soloist in a road company of George White's Scandals."

"The Deweys lived at 1148 Fifth Ave, in an eight-room apartment with two baths. If Dewey was inaugurated January 10, 1949, Mrs. Dewey would be the first ex-showgirl who has entered the White House as its mistress and easily its most decorative occupant since Dolly Madison. The apex of Frances Hutt Dewey's stage career was reached in 1927, when, after an apprentice in concert work, she had a singing role in a road company of George White's 'Scandals,' billed as Eileen Hoyt."

"Mr. Dewey was elected Governor in 1942, and as First Lady of the state, Mrs. Dewey commuted between Albany and the farm home in Pawling, which the Deweys acquired in 1939. She instilled in the Dewey sons, Thomas Jr., born in 1932, and John Martin, born in 1935, their parents' love of music, giving them their first piano lessons.

"Mrs. Dewey, wife of the former Governor of New York, died Sunday, July 19, 1970 in Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, after a long ill ness. Mrs. Dewey, who was 67 years old, lived at 141 East 72d Street and at the family's country home in Pawling, N. Y."

*Bonus* Below are videos of Frances Hutt and Thomas Dewey. Unfortunately, we were unable to find videos or sound bites of Hutt singing or speaking. Once we find a video or clip of her voice / singing, we will post an update.

The video above was filmed by Otis R. Rule, owner of Rule Furniture, of Sapulpa. It was donated by Wendell Evans, grandson of Rule.

The videos below were found on Youtube.