B. E. Zobelein; Sang With L.A. Light Opera

Bonnie Emerie Zobelein, a featured vocalist more than 50 years ago with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company who married into one of the city’s most prominent families, is dead at the age of 84.

A family spokeswoman said Mrs. Zobelein, who sang as Bonnie Emerie, died Jan. 30 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.

Through the 1930s and 1940s she sang lead roles in “Blossom Time,” “Rose Marie” and “The Chocolate Soldier” with the light opera company at Philharmonic Auditorium and elsewhere. She also appeared regularly at the Hollywood Bowl in such summertime opera productions as “Carmen” and “Madame Butterfly.”

A Los Angeles Times critic wrote of one performance in January, 1942, that “her voice is unexpectedly rich and opulent for such a small girl.”

Mrs. Zobelein grew up in the Los Angeles area and studied voice in Paris before returning to the United States, where she performed in New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco in addition to her local appearances.

In 1933, she married Eugene Zobelein, grandson of George Zobelein Sr., president of the Los Angeles Brewing Co., whose products included Eastside Beer. George Zobelein’s spacious home on a onetime 350-acre ranch across from Exposition Park was a local landmark for years, even after his death in 1936.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Zobelein is survived by a son, Craig, and two grandchildren.