Today in 1917, the birthday of Ella Fitzgerald, a towering figure in jazz, a legendary voice, a star among stars… especially when she became really good friends with another big name: Marilyn Monroe.
The two icons may have taken very different roads to stardom, but they also had a lot in common.
Both women had difficult, often painful childhoods; both married and divorced young; and both went on to become enormous stars.
And they became friends: Monroe’s singing coach suggested she listen to Fitzgerald’s records to pick up some singing tips.
Eventually she started showing up at the singer’s concerts, and they got to know each other.
In fact, Monroe tried to use her fame to help her friend’s career.
Fitzgerald was trying to get a singing slot at a well-known club in Los Angeles called the Mocambo.
There’s long been a rumor that the club owners didn’t want to book a Black singer, but they had actually hosted several already, including Eartha Kitt, Herb Jeffries, Joyce Bryant and Dorothy Dandridge.
The actual problem was that Ella Fitzgerald wasn’t that well-known outside of jazz circles; the club owners said they weren’t sure that she was famous enough or, as they put it, “glamorous” enough to draw a big crowd.
To which Marilyn Monroe said, if you want glamour, how about this: you book Ella Fitzgerald, and I’ll sit in the front row of every show.
Fitzgerald was actually more popular than the club thought, and her shows brought in so many people that her contract was extended.
But when people also heard that Ella Fitzgerald’s act was so hot that Marilyn Monroe was showing up every night to see her, sometimes with other stars like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, you could say she leveled up.
As Fitzgerald herself said, thanking her pal Monroe, “After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again.”
Starting today in Georgia, it’s the Thomasville Rose Show and Festival.
The community has thousands of rose bushes in its garden; plus, locals can enter their own blooms into the Rose Show, or check out a parade of orchids, or just enjoy some food and live music.
Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe: Inside Their Surprising Friendship (Biography)
THOMASVILLE ROSE SHOW & FESTIVAL
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Photos by Carl Van Vechten (left) and Bert Parry, via Wikicommons