Portrait of Gloria Swanson by Ball c1923
It’s the birthday of the “First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald, born in Newport News, Virginia in 1917. She loved to sing and dance as a child and when she was 16 she entered a contest at the Apollo Theater. She had a dance routine worked out and walked on stage wearing ragged clothes and men’s boots, but she froze up. Later she said, “I got out there and I saw all the people and I just lost my nerve. And the man said, ‘well, you’re out here, do something!’ So I tried to sing.” She won the contest and soon became a celebrity across all of New York. She joined Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington as the only performers who could draw audiences at the Apollo from south of 125th Street.
Ella Fitzgerald said, “The only thing better than singing is more singing.”
It’s the birthday of Ella Fitzgerald | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor
Happy 81st Birthday, Elizabeth Taylor
(February 27, 1932 - March 23, 2011)“She’s indestructible.”
- Rock Hudson
Happy Birthday to Marian Marsh today - (October 17th, 1913 - November 9th, 2006)
Watch “Svengali” (1931) here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkWfl6fW_bE&feature=related
Happy Birthday Greta Garbo!
(18 September 1905 - 15 April 1990)
Every one of us lives his life just once; if we are honest, to live once is enough.
Happy Birthday, Lauren Bacall - (September 16th, 1924)
“I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie. That was the beginning of ‘The Look’.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Marian Marsh - October 17th
When asked how she’d like to be remembered in 1998, the modest, ever-gracious star simply replied, “For doing my best. I think anything I’ve ever tried, I tried to do my best. In the end, that’s all you can do!” I met her around the same time, and she was truly golden. This is my 10,000th post and it couldn’t be for a more fabulous person. I saved it, just for her.
