Thursday 26 January 2012

Ella & Marilyn

Marilyn with Ella Fitzgerald listening to jazz at Hollywood's Tiffany Club in 1955.
Ella Fitzgerald had become her favorite singer, and when she found out that a popular club had refused to book Ella because she was black, Marilyn took action.
Quote from Ella: "I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. It was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the '50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocomabo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him - and it was true, due to Marilyn's superstar status - that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman - a little ahead of her times. And she didn't know it".


1 comment:

David Halliday said...

great stuff. Marilyn was a strange woman. she met once with poet Carl Sandburg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE0SvDlDnO0 and yet at another time she was passed around at a party by gangsters.

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