“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
Inside that glitter and shine, there was a star…
And if Ella likes her, who can not?
She gets so much hate it seems, “why would you idolize a sad, fucked up drug addict?” Because many people are sad in some way, no one has it all put-together, and from everything I’ve read, she was a real, honest person who was just lost in her own world.
