Beverly Sills Auditions
Beverly Sills (b. 1929)
Application for the
Major Bowes' Amateur Hour
Annotated form, 1939
Motion Pictures, Broadcasting
& Recorded
Sound Division
Gift of Joseph Brown, 1969 (65.1)
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In its first year of radio network broadcasts, more than 30,000
acts auditioned for Major Bowes' Amateur Hour. This
talent contest program introduced many well-known performers during
its run. A young Beverly Sills, then aged ten, won the competition
with a powerful delivery of a Mozart aria in 1939. Other Original
Amateur Hour performers represented in the collection who
later achieved stardom include Robert Merrill, Regina Resnik, Frank
Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Pat Boone, and Ann-Margaret.
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