Zaruhi Elmassian

Born: Oct. 12, 1906, Lynn, MA
Death: Feb. 6, 1990, Los Angeles, CA
Active years recording: 1940s - 1950s
Label Association: MGM Records, Zar-Vart Records

Setrag Thomas Vartian

Born: Nov. 5, 1899, Dikranagert
Death: Apr. 23, 1986, Los Angeles, CA
Active years recording: 1925 - 1952
Label Association: Sohag Records, Zar-Vart Records

Setrag Vartian and Zaruhi Elmassian amazed and impressed audiences from stage to screen. Before meeting, they had each gained national recognition: Zaruhi as a singer and Setrag as an entertainer. Eventually eloping to Las Vegas in 1942, the couple became invaluable to the Armenian community through continued commitment to Armenian art and culture.

Setrag was born in Dikranagert, in 1899 and arrived in the United States in 1909 with his mother Mariam Vartian. They settled in Newark, NJ, just a short drive from Fort Lee, which by 1910 was America’s movie capital. There, Setrag grew up alongside the film industry. Zaruhi was born in Lynn, MA, in 1906; both of her parents were born in Kharpert. 

Setrag married his first wife, Ankin, in 1921. Around that time the couple joined the Armenian Dramatic Society, led by Setrak and Masha Sourabian. In 1925, Setrag made his debut recording on the Sohag record label, with a song titled Jahel Em Gnig Chunim (I’m young and without a wife). By the end of the decade, the movie industry was shifting into a new phase with the “Talkies” (the addition of sound to motion pictures). In 1929, Setrag was signed with Fox Studios as a member of the permanent chorus.1 His lone credit is as a member of the chorus in the 1929 movie, Happy Days, appearing under the name Thomas Vartian.  

In 1936, Setrag turned his attention to producing Armenian language films Establishing the Marana Films in NYC, Vartian would produce, direct, and star in the first Armenian language film made in America, a musical film adaptation of the popular operetta Arshin Mal Alan. The cast was primarily from the Sourabian’s acting troupe, with Setrag Vartian in the lead role. The film was screened in New York and nearly every Armenian community in America. Vartian, along with the Sourabians, moved to Los Angeles in the late 1930s to pursue opportunities in Hollywood and continue their advocacy for Armenian theater. Setrag Vartian would meet Zaruhi Elmassian in Hollywood.

Zaruhi Elmassian spent her childhood in Lynn, MA, but by high school the family relocated to Fresno. She began to gain local recognition for her soprano voice: her public debut was in 1927, at a concert held at Fresno State College. While attending the University of Southern California, she began appearing as a soloist for both Los Angeles and San Francisco Opera Companies. Zaruhi made numerous appearances on the radio in Southern California. In 1933, she appeared as the lead in a romantic opera titled The Master Thief, at the Pasadena Playhouse. In that same year she joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, working alongside conductor Otto Klemperer. 

Along with a handful of like-minded individuals, Zaruhi was integral in the establishment of the Armenian Allied Arts Association, a non-profit aimed at helping Armenian artists. Her magnificent voice and stage experience led her to Hollywood, where from 1933-1939, she lent her voice to ten major motion pictures. While some of the films leave her as uncredited, her highlights would be Naughty Murrieta (1935, which featured Armenian actor Akim Tamiroff), The Great Ziegfeld (1936, as a soloist). She’s credited as a vocal stand-in for Jeanette MacDonald, in three films, The Girl of the Golden West (1938), Sweethearts (1938), and Broadway Serenade (1939). In 1939, Zaruhi voiced one of the Munchkin’s in the movie the Wizard of Oz.

“The singer (Zaruhi) is endowed with a beautiful sweet voice which she commands and uses with ease. Listening to her, one cannot help but feel that her vocal resources are aided by unusual musicianship, adroit phrasing, and sense of style, which is so unusual among the singers of today.”

- Marguerite Babaian - Paris

After Setrag’s separation from his first wife, he and Zaruhi married in 1942. Setrag continued working in the post-production department for major film companies, such as RKO, Fox, First National, MGM and Warner Brothers. He also continued to produce and direct Armenian language films. In 1944, a film adaptation of Hovhaness Toumanian’s Anoush opera with music set by Armen Dikranian, was produced by Vartian, who called it the “first Armenian language film produced in Hollywood.” Setrag and Zaruhi would take the lead roles of Saro and Anoush. On October 29, 1944, the movie’s premiere screening was held at the Fresno High School auditorium and was attended by over 1,800 Fresno Armenians and other music lovers.3 Vartian’s last movie was a musical documentary, Songs of Gomidas Vartabed, in 1946. 

The duo produced an album on their self-titled label Zar-Vart Records: Ooreni by Melikian, Hoy Nar by Sarkisian, Keler, Tzoler and Asoom en Oorin by Komitas Vartabed, Partzer Sarer by Tigranian,  Astgher Anoush by Stepanian, and two duets,  Arshin Mal Alan by Begoff and Siretzi-And-Haberban. The recordings shared here are from that album (with the exception of Strag’s 1925 recording of Jahel Em Gnig Chunim). 

By the 1950s Setrag returned to directing stage productions. Zaruhi would devote herself to maintaining an Armenian choir: ; serving as choir director at the St. James Armenian Church in Los Angeles, singing at countless weddings and worship services. 

A special thanks to the SJS Charitable Trust for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.