Clara Louise Kellogg

Originally Aired: October 27, 1937 In Cavalcade of America #106, "Clara Louise Kellogg," a fifteen-year-old girl's casual humming while practicing piano changes her life forever. When Colonel Henry Stebbins, a director of the New York Academy of Music, visits the Kellogg home in 1857, he recognizes that young Clara possesses an extraordinary soprano voice. Despite her years of piano training, the Colonel insists that her vocal talent must be cultivated, offering to secure America's finest teachers. Clara embarks on four grueling years of training, determined to become America's first native-born opera star. At nineteen, Clara makes her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto at the Academy of Music, but the evening becomes a nightmare when Italian singers unleash a conspiracy against her. Hired hecklers hiss and boo throughout her performance, and afterward, the Italian singers crowd into her dressing room to demand she abandon opera, insisting Americans lack the voice and soul for their art. Though devastated, Clara defiantly declares that someday American singers will prove themselves equal to any in the world. With Colonel Stebbins' unwavering support, she faces the question of whether courage and talent can overcome prejudice and tradition.