“An unlikely friendship was formed in the 1950s when Marilyn Monroe found out that Mocambo, a popular jet set night club in Hollywood, would not book Ella Fitzgerald as a performer because of segregation. Marilyn phoned the manager and told him that she would book a front row table every night Ella performed there, knowing that her presence would get a lot of reporters there and a lot of publicity for the club. Soon thereafter, Ella became the first African-American to perform at the club, and Marilyn kept her promise. (Ella also became the first black woman to perform at the Copacabana in 1957.)
“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 Mocambo, 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.” – Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald recorded over 200 albums and around 2,000 songs in her lifetime, singing the works of some of the most popular composers such as Cole Porter, Gershwin and Irving Berlin. The legend won countless awards and accolades for her work, including numerous Grammy Awards, the Bing Crosby Lifetime Achievement award in 1967, Peabody Award for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America in 1983 and the National Medal of Arts in 1987. In 1992, President George Bush awarded Ella with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1995, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.”
-dosomething.org
Marilyn in the Media 