Disappearing Acts: Connie Converse

Connie Converse (1924-unknown) was an American singer songwriter who was active in the 1950s New York music scene. Her recordings are some of the earliest known recordings of the singer songwriter genre but were lost after her 1974 disappearance. 

For Further Reading:

• Connie Converse Was ‘the Female Bob Dylan.’ Then She Disappeared.
• The Art of Disappearing 
• Connie Converse’s Time Has Come 
• Connie Converse: The Enigma and Mystery of the Original Singer Songwriter 

Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the end to their stories, but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies. This month we’re telling the stories of these women: we’re talking about disappearing acts.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones and Abbey Delk. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller,
to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage,
disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the
end to their stories, but the beginning of a new
chapter in their legacies. This month, we're talking about disappearing acts.

(00:29):
Before today's Womanicuan packed up her car and drove into
the sunset. She was a talented yet overlooked musician. Her
nineteen fifties recordings were some of the earliest in the
singer songwriter genre, but she was never credited for her
contributions until a recent discovery put her on the map.
Meet Connie Converse. Elizabeth Eaton Converse was born on August third,

(00:54):
nineteen twenty four, in New Hampshire. According to letters Elizabeth
later wrote, household was quite strict. Her mother was a
pianist and music was often played in the household as
long as it was classical or religious. Elizabeth did well
in school and attended Mount Holy College in Massachusetts on

(01:14):
scholarship for two years before dropping out. Elizabeth then moved
to New York City to pursue a writing career. Greenwich
Village became the home of her reinvention. She started going
by the name Connie and took up drinking and smoking,
much to the dismay of her family. But not all
of her new hopies were meant to annoy her parents.

(01:36):
She also spent time painting, going on road trips, writing poetry,
and teaching herself guitar. Soon, Connie graduated to writing songs,
and they had a sound that was all Connie's own,
way ahead of their time. Her lyrics were emotional, witty,
and personal. She was a singer songwriter before the term
was coined. Connie ended up writing about forty songs during

(01:59):
her time in New York, and eventually they cemented her
legacy in the music world. In the nineteen fifties, Greenwich
Village was the epicenter for the Beat movement. Artists, poets,
and musicians gathered in coffee shops like Gaslight Cafe and
Cafe Wi. Connie spent her time with fellow creatives and

(02:19):
befriended folk singer Pete Seeger and cartoonist Gene Deutsch. Jane
became Connie's biggest supporter. He encouraged her to record her music,
but there was one small problem. Connie didn't have a
record deal or even access to a studio, so the
pair improvised. Using Jane's tape recorder. Connie recorded her songs

(02:43):
in her kitchen or in front of a small audience
of friends at Jane's home. Despite her talents, Connie did
not play typical gigs like her contemporaries, and she had
trouble getting her songs in front of anyone in the
music business. They didn't know what to do with her.
Her sound was folksy and plaintive and raw. It was

(03:04):
the nineteen fifties, nobody was performing newly written, introspective folk
songs at the time. Connie did get the opportunity to
play her songs on Walter Cronkite's CBS morning show, but
the appearance didn't yield more opportunities. Dejected, Connie finally had enough.
In January of nineteen sixty one, she left New York

(03:25):
for good. That same month, a young singer named Bob
Dylan moved to Granweed Village. The folk scene exploded with
the generation of singer songwriters. Meanwhile, Connie was living a normal,
quiet life in Michigan for two years, she worked as
a secretary. Eventually she became a managing editor for the
Journal of Conflict Resolution. But in nineteen seventy two, Connie's

(03:50):
career took a serious blow the journal was acquired by
Yale University. Connie was out of a job. She grew
depressed and began drinking more. Noticing the change in her personality,
her friends pulled their money to send her to London
to cheer her up, but it didn't make much of

(04:11):
a difference. In letters to her family, Connie wrote, human
society fascinates me and oes me and fills me with
grief and joy. I just can't find my place to
plug into it. So let me go, please, and please
accept my thanks for those happy times. In August of
nineteen seventy four, Connie packed up her Volkswagen Beetle and

(04:31):
drove off. That was the last time anyone saw Connie Converse.
Connie's music and name were largely forgotten, that is until
a filing cabinet Connie gave her brother was opened decades later.
The filing cabinet contained letters, poems, tape reels of oral histories,

(04:52):
and all of her nineteen fifties recordings. In two thousand
and nine, a compilation album of Connie's recordings was released.
People started calling her the female Bob Dylan, but Connie
came first. She wrote in a voice that was purely
hers and no one else's. It's hard on for all
the one and only Playboy the Western. All month, we're

(05:14):
talking about disappearing acts. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast The Western Special thanks
to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. As always,
we're taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you
on Monday. Something's gone wrong with my guitar. All of
a sudden, it's bubbling.