Frances Hoffman Lavine was born in Chicago, on January 7, 1906. However, the family moved to Duluth, Minnesota when Frances was still a child. Her father, Louis Hoffman, later moved the family to French River, Minn. to satisfy a desire to live in the country.
There, Frances served as director of the French River Dramatic Arts Club from 1926-1927 and engaged in dramatic work through the Senior Hadassah at the Temple Emanuel Congregation in Duluth. In 1924, Frances participated in theater performances during summer stock at Northwestern University, Gloucester, Mass. She was a student of Maurice Giesen of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, and worked under Fritz Leiber, a Shakespearean actor.
She founded the Children's Theatre of Duluth in 1928 and served as its director until her resignation nine years later. In 1932, the Children's Theatre opened what was believed to be the first children's theater playhouse in the country. Throughout its history, the Children's Theatre of Duluth was unique in originally having all officer positions on the executive board held by teenagers, and later as the only theater group of its kind supported and operated by its own organization. Works Progress Administration monies assisted the organization for a period in the 1930's. The Children's Theatre of Duluth disbanded in 1939 due to lack of funds.
Frances Hoffman married Max H. Lavine in 1935 and the couple made their home in Superior, Wis. where Frances continued her one-woman performances and dramatic readings. A son, John Morgan Lavine, was born in 1941. (See also John M. Lavine Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society.)
Mrs. Lavine's civic involvements included service in the Superior Chapter of the Wisconsin Tuberculosis Association, Superior board of the National Association for Crippled Children and Adults; and as a member on the Governor's Committee on the Employment of the Physically Handicapped (1956), Board of Trustees of St. Scholastica College, Board of Directors of the UW Foundation of Superior, and Executive Board of the Duluth Superior Educational Corporation. She also acted as president of the Lavine Newspaper Group.
