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)

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.