Georgette Harvey

Georgette Harvey left St. Louis for New York at eighteen and formed a vocal quartet, the Creole Belles, which took her to Europe and then broke up there. She stayed, and spent over a decade singing in Russian nightclubs and cabarets, leaving after the Revolution by way of Siberia and Japan. Back in America she became a Broadway character actress, creating Maria in the Heywards' play Porgy in 1927 and singing the same character in Gershwin's opera eight years later. She was screen-tested for Mammy in Gone with the Wind.