Trivia

Her novels included The Ptomaine Canary (1959), and The Metropolitan Opera Murders (1951).

In 1959 she wrote her autobiography, St. Louis Woman, with Richard Hubler.

Voted Woman of the Year in Music twice by the Associated Press.

She was forced off the Met stage by the newly-appointed General Manager Rudolf Bing and left in 1953 when Bing refused to allow her to perform in nightclubs.

Appeared 176 times on the Met stage (168 times in Wagner operas).

Appeared at New York's Copacabana Club, the Chez Paree in Chicago, The Sahara hotel in Las Vegas and the Clover Club in Miami. She also appeared on TV where she made a great foil for the likes of Groucho Marx, Red Skelton and Jerry Lewis.

Kirsten Flagstad and Marjorie Lawrence of the Met were her Wagnerian competition and she didn't get her deserved attention until they left the company.

Was part-owner of one of the most singularly hapless teams in baseball history, the St. Louis Browns. A fan of the team since childhood, she frequently turned out to support them in person, in spite of the dangers to her voice.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6422 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.