Lucy Monroe

Monroe was born on October 23, 1906, in Manhattan, New York; she was the only child of Anna Laughlin, an actress, and Dwight Monroe, a gem merchant. Dwight met Anna when she performed the role of Dorothy Gale in the Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz.[2] On her father's side, she was a descendant of James Monroe.[3]

Monroe graduated from the Horace Mann School, where she was a member of the glee club. Her father did not want her to pursue a career in music, but after he died in 1925, her mother encouraged Monroe's ambitions.[2] She pursued further studies in singing with Estelle Liebling, the voice teacher of Beverly Sills, in New York City.[4]

Monroe began her career in 1925 as a dancer for the Ziegfeld Follies and also became a backup singer.[1][2] In the 1930s, she appeared on The American Album of Familiar Music. NBC offered Monroe's services to the American Legion for their 1937 convention.[5] This would be her first professional performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.[6] She sang the national anthem again at President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday ball at the Waldorf Astoria New York in January 1938.[7]

Monroe became the official soloist for both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.[8] She also began to perform at the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic.[9][10] She was the star of The American Jubilee, a show at the 1939 New York World's Fair; each of its 650 performances ended with Monroe singing the national anthem,[8] earning her the nicknames "The Star-Spangled Soprano"[11] and "The Star-Spangled Banner Girl".[6] By 1942, it was estimated that she had performed the anthem 1,500 times.[12] In an interview with Bennett Cerf in the 1950s, she estimated that she had by then performed it over 5,000 times.[13]

During World War II, Monroe traveled to United States Army camps on USO tours[11] and sang at war bond rallies. She performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" with the National Symphony Orchestra at Constitution Hall in March 1941 to celebrate its 10th anniversary as the national anthem.[14] RCA Victor named her its director of patriotic music and she embarked on a coast-to-coast tour to promote patriotic and folk music.[15] In 1942, she led a sing-along of the national anthem with 40,000 attendees at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.[8] She visited Fort McHenry in September 1944 to celebrate the 130th anniversary of "The Star-Spangled Banner".[16] Monroe sang the national anthem at the second inauguration of President Harry S. Truman in 1949.[17] In 1958, she testified before the House Judiciary Committee that was tasked with choosing an official version of the national anthem out of the 171 on record at the Library of Congress.[18]

Monroe sang the national anthem for Opening Day at Yankee Stadium annually from 1945 through 1960 and also at World Series games hosted at Yankee Stadium during that time.[8] She performed the national anthem in 1949 for the unveiling of a monument to Babe Ruth in Monument Park.[19] She also continued traveling to Europe and North Africa on USO tours,[20] and went to Korea in 1953.[21] The family of Ed Barrow, former president of the Yankees, invited her to sing "Abide with Me" at his funeral in 1953.[22] She also sang the national anthem at the ceremony preceding the start of the demolition of Ebbets Field on February 23, 1960.[23]

Monroe married Harold Weinberg, an attorney, in August 1961.[24] They were married until his death in 1977. Monroe died in Manhattan from cancer on October 13, 1987, 10 days before her 81st birthday.[8]