Marilyn Monroe’s Star Was Soaring When She Changed Ella Fitzgerald’s Life With A Single Phone Call

Who doesn’t know Marilyn Monroe? Her rise to the top is phenomenal. She was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 in Los Angeles. Her contract with the Twentieth-Century Fox and Columbia Pictures helped in shaping up her career in her early 20s. She was mainly type-casted as a blonde bombshell, but in order to break that tag she studied method acting, listened to jazz, and underwent psychoanalysis. It was during this time Marilyn first heard the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. Though, Ella had gained popularity by 1955, but not many outside the fraternity had an idea about her. Except for the love of jazz, Monroe and Fitzgerald had nothing much in common. It was during the New York gig that Monroe and Fitzgerald’s friendship grew and a strong bond developed. They found out that they were similar in many ways, as they have both suffered childhood abuse, they were both strong and both of them are trying to make a mark in a male dominated world. Fitzgerald had the worst childhood anybody could think of, still she went on to win all the amateur contest in Harlem. She became star at the tender age of 16 or 17. The mid-1950s was the time of institutional racism against the African Americans. The African American musicians were not allowed in large nightclubs and the small nightclubs would arrange their entry through the backdoors. Fitzgerald being an African American herself could not avoid the adversity, but her manager Norman Granz demanded a front door entry for her always. Just to prove their power, the Dallas police officer entered the dressing room of the singer and arrested her only to ask for a signature later. Fitzgerald in one of her interviews said that she owes a real debt to Monroe as she made sure that Fitzgerald was booked at Mocambo. She called up the owner and said that if Fitzgerald will be performing, then Monroe will always occupy the first seat of the joint. Monroe actually attended the event and the press went gaga over it. Monroe was generally touted as the dumb blonde and not many were aware of her political inclination, but she was a leftist and was not as dumb as she was considered to be. Monroe was a talented soul, but she couldn’t rise above the sex symbol tag. She used to listen to Fitzgerald songs and train herself. She was a terrific singer. On August 6, 1962, Monroe was found dead in her room. It was confirmed that the death was suicidal. She took an overdose of Barbiturates. Her mental condition was not good either as her state of mind before death was considered ‘unpredictable’ and depressed. Fitzgerald had a long life. She died at the age of 79. This is how Monroe met with a tragic end at the age of 36.