TOD - 4 years ago, Richard and I went to Music Hall to Cincinnati Opera's Porgy and Bess. He said he remembers singing excerpts from it in high school chorus.
There's a hippy-dippy public radio station in Yellow Springs, OH, just east of Dayton. Several years they were promoting a local production and, on a Monday, I heard the announcer say "PorJy and Bess." He repeated it on Tuesday the same way, so I purposely listened on Wednesday, thinking surely someone would have corrected him by then. When he mispronounced it again, I called the station. The announcer himself answered and I told him I couldn't stand it any more. He seemed to appreciate my concern.