Let's have the music that will open the door to millions of people... the kind of music that will not make people think only of the song or even of the singer... not music that is confined to the merely personal.

Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29 1901 – March 6 1967) was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s as well as in opera and on the concert stage radio television and in nightclubs. His father was a machinist and toolmaker whose work required him to move from town to town. At Carnegie Hall in New York Christmas 1931 he sang in the world premiere of Maria egiziaca (Mary in Egypt) unexpectedly conducted by the composer Ottorino Respighi himself when famed conductor Arturo Toscanini fell ill at the last minute.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.