Marilyn and Ella

Marilyn and Ella is a 2008 play by Bonnie Greer.^[1] It is a musical drama about Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald.^[2][3]

Background

On March 15, 1955^[4] Ella Fitzgerald opened her initial engagement at the Mocambo nightclub in Hollywood,^[5] after Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner for the booking.^[6] The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. Bonnie Greer dramatized the incident as the musical drama, Marilyn and Ella, in 2008.

It has been widely reported that Fitzgerald was the first Black performer to play the Mocambo, following Monroe's intervention, but this is not true. African-American singers Herb Jefferies,^[7] Eartha Kitt,^[8] and Joyce Bryant^[9] all played the Mocambo in 1952 and 1953, according to stories published at the time in Jet magazine and Billboard.

References

1. Byrne, Ciar (2008-02-13). "Marilyn and Ella: The meeting of the misfits". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
2. Charles Spencer (2008-02-25). "Marilyn and Ella: Cut the monologues and let the songs do the talking". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
3. Michael Billington (2008-02-23). "Theatre review: Marilyn and Ella / Theatre Royal Stratford East, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
4. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (March 12, 1955). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved August 16, 2013. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
5. Johnson Publishing Company (April 7, 1955). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
6. Nicholson, Stuart (1993). Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz. Da Capo Press. p. 149. ISBN 0-306-80642-8.
7. Johnson Publishing Company (August 13, 1953). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. p. 60. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
8. Johnson Publishing Company (December 10, 1953). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
9. Johnson Publishing Company (November 12, 1953). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved August 16, 2013.