Ruby Elzy

Elzy entertained at the White House, December 15, 1937, for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's luncheon for the wives of U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

She appeared with Paul Robeson in the 1933 film The Emperor Jones, and also with Bing Crosby and Mary Martin in Birth of the Blues, though neither of these were starring roles.

Elzy created the role of Serena in George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess and performed in it more than eight hundred times.

Fortunately, Elzy sang the demanding aria on the 1937 CD release of the Gershwin Memorial Concert that took place at the Hollywood Bowl three months after the composer's death .

Just as she was reaching the peak of her powers as a singer and about to achieve her greatest dream—to star in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida—and one week after her final performance as Serena, Ruby Elzy died in Detroit following surgery to remove a benign tumor.