Today in Comics History, April 25: Happy birthday, Ella Fitzgerald!

Born on this day in 1917: the Queen of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald! One of my favorite vocalists, her jazz vocalizations and scat rhythm singing provide us with a large library of popular and entertaining recordings across six decades. And yes, she even got her own comic book feature! And without the usual racist, stereotypical portrayals of Black persons in comics (Bravo, Alex Toth!).


from "Ella Fitzgerald: The Cinderella of Song" in Juke Box Comics #3 (Eastern Color, July 1948), pencils by Alex Toth, inks by Alex Toth (?) or Frank Giacoia (?)







Still, this comic couldn't have begun to predict the amazing success of Ella Fitzgerald throughout her career: she performed concerts, record records, and received major awards through the 1990s, was commemorated on a US postage stamp, had jazz festivals and theaters named after her, won 14 Grammy Awards (including the first-ever by an Black artist, at the very first grammys), received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967, the National Medal of Arts, the NAACP's inaugural President's Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Even if she hadn't continuted with her musical career, she could have relied on her secondary job as Banshee of the X-Men.



By the way, I imagine this ensorsement in the very same comic book was negotiated between Ella's agent and estern Color Comics as part of the contract to portray her early life:


house ad from Juke Box Comics #3
Ella Fitzgerald was also apparently an electronics early adopter!


from Juke Box Comics #5 (Eastern Color, November 1948), by Phil Berube
She also appeared in several movies including Pete Kelly's Blues, Abbott and Costello's Ride 'Em Cowboy, St. Louis Blues, and Let No Man Write My Epitaph, and, according to this meticulously researched comic book by Roy Thomas, a film called (peers at sign in comic) The Chick with a Band.


from "The Secret Origin of the Golden Age Hawkman" in Secret Origins (1986 series) #11 (DC, February 1987), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Luke McDonnell, inks by Tony DeZuniga, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Mary DeZuniga
You know, on second glance, that says "The Chick Webb Band with Ella Fitzgerald." But admit it: wouldn't you wanna see Ella star in a film titled The Chick with a Band?


The Far Side (Universal Press Syndicate, September 4, 1988), by Gary Larson
Happy birthday, Miss Ella! You will always be singing in my heart.


"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" by Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, written by Duke Ellington;
on The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS, March 7, 1965)