The actress was key to the singer getting to perform in the trendy Los Angeles club, a turning point in Fitzgerald's career, which she never played in small clubs again
In the fifties, before the fight for civil rights developed, blacks in the US lived segregated in a world close to that of whites but in different parallels. At that time, the first interracial friendships began to be established, especially in artistic environments, relationships in which the white became the supporter and defender of the black.
Frank Sinatra made Sammy Davis Jr. part of the Rat Pack and stood up for him when his marriage to a Swedish model scandalized a large part of American society in 1960. The work of Sam Phillips, owner of Sun, is also noteworthy Records, which before finding Elvis opened the doors of its label to dozens of black artists at the beginning of the decade. Before the concept of racial equality caught on with the cosmopolitan youth of the 1960s, some people looked beyond skin color, people like Barney Josephson, owner of New York's Café Society - one of the first places to eliminate racial barriers and mixing audiences- or Norman Granz, founder of the Verve label and manager of Ella Fitzgerald.
Granz always treated his artists with enormous respect and demanded the same treatment for everyone whether black or white. His artists traveled together, stayed in the same hotels, and entered the premises through the same door. Granz refused that his stars had to enter the rooms through the back door. These people were changing the racial landscape in the art world. Some show their faces, others with small gestures.
One of those small but significant gestures is the one that Marylin Monroe had with her revere from Ella Fitzgerald from her. In 1955, the singer from Virginia was visiting Los Angeles and wanted to play at the Mocambo, the most fashionable venue in the city, the nightclub where Sinatra, Bogart, Bacall, and all the Hollywood celebrities used to hang out.
But the club didn't want to hire Ella, her music didn't fit in with the style of the room, and the fact that she was black didn't help either, even though black stars like Eartha Kitt or Dorothy Dandridge had previously performed at Mocambo. But Marilyn wanted Ella to play there.
The actress picked up the phone and called the owner of the room. Monroe endorsed Fitzgerald and promised the owner of the venue that whenever Virginia sang at the Mocambo she would be in the front row. In 1953, Monroe was the biggest Hollywood star –that same year she would premiere Gentlemen Prefer Blondes- and the best possible advertisement for any venue. Charlie Morrison and Felix Young agreed to the deal with Monroe, a deal that changed Fitzgerald's career.
The night in March that Ella Fitzgerald took the stage at the Mocambo, the venue was packed with all the biggest stars in town in the best seats. No one who was anyone missed the appointment, except Monroe, who was in New York. Despite this, the evening was a success for the singer. “After that, I never played in small jazz clubs again,” Ella confessed in an interview in 1972. “I owe a lot to Marilyn Monroe, thanks to her I played at the Mocambo. Marilyn was an unusual woman who was ahead of her times even though she was not aware of it, ”the singer recalled.
After that evening, Fitzgerald's career continued to grow under the guidance of Norman Granz. In 1956, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book, one of the most successful jazz records of all time, arrived at the stores. By then Ella had the doors of all the great halls of the world open and partly because of that gesture of her most influential fan.
