Helen Hancocks

I hate to do this, but the info bits at the back of the book were way better than the rest of the book. To start off, my galley has no words on the first page, and the first words make it feel like you are missing an introduction to Ella. It also seems like the author tries too hard to make the book not about Marilyn Monroe, and doesn't mention her last until almost the end. This book would have been so much better if the author had decided to either A: make it a friendship story and give credit to both woman like it did in the end, or be just leave it as an Ella story and leave out Marilyn’s name all together. I really wanted to like this book. The illustrations are amazing, but the rest of it...ehhh. One suggestion on the illustrations, somehow name the awards. There are just pictures, and while most recognize a Grammy statue, they may not know the Kennedy Honors, Presidential medal of honor, or the third one that I can’t name.… (meer)

This book begins with a rather egregious grammatical lapse. The author states: “Ella Fitzgerald loved to sing and she sang good.” In fact, good is an adjective. Well is an adverb describing how a job was performed. One is a “good singer” but one “sings well.”

That aside, this is a lovely story about a great lady, Ella Fitzgerald, who, in spite of her exceptional talent, and like other black performers in the 1950’s, was denied admission to a number of hotels, restaurants, and clubs.

But Ella had one advocate she didn’t even know about: Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe is only rarely credited for her considerable intellect, or her compassion and courage. But it would be remiss not to take a look underneath her exterior at the beauty that was also within her, and how she helped play a role in opening up musical venues to black performers.

It so happened that Marilyn studied the recordings of Fitzgerald over and over for inspiration and emulation. [It was rumored that a vocal coach of Monroe instructed her to purchase an album of Fitzgerald’s recordings of Gershwin music, and listen to it 100 times in a row.]

The Mocombo was a popular Hollywood club frequented by many movie stars, and it was Marilyn’s favorite. Ella was not welcome at the Mocambo. In Ella’s own words in a later recollection:

"I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt … 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.”

[The Mocambo closed in 1958 a year after the death of the club operator and co-owner, Charlie Morrison, with whom Marilyn bargained a couple of years before.]

At the Mocambo, as the author reports: “Ella was FABULOUS! She was a hit with the crowd.”

The show only lasted for a week, but Ella’s friendship with Marilyn lasted longer. Marilyn continued to make sure Ella was able to get before audiences. “And Ella became known as the First Lady of Song - the Queen of Jazz! - winning many awards along the way.”

The author concludes: “Just goes to show what friends can do for one another.”

Well, actually it’s a bit more complicated than that! There isn’t much in the story to explain the Jim Crow laws of the 1950’s, nor any indication that “white privilege” and the promise of greater profits played a much larger role in what happened than “friendship.” In my opinion, an excellent teaching opportunity was squandered.

At the end of the book, there is background on both Ella and Marilyn and the photo of the two together at the club.

The author, who did the illustrations, uses a mixture of crayon, gouache paints, watercolor, ink and pen, combined digitally. She creates a naïve style of art that is well-suited to a story for children.

Evaluation: The prose is a bit insipid and the information given is sketchy, but the story behind the book is worth retelling, and deserves a larger audience. Perhaps this book will inspire further investigation by readers.… (meer)