Monica Lewis: She's Hip!

All Photos: Alan Mercer  Lighitng:  Eric V.

One of the first realizations I had about Monica Lewis, after saying hello, was this lady is hip!  She spends time everyday on facebook after all.  How many other 89 year olds do that?  More than this, she is a progressive, open minded and spiritually aware thinker.  I fell in love with her immediately! 

For nearly two decades throughout the 1940's and 50's, Monica Lewis reigned as one of America's most popular songbirds, with a career that encompassed not only nightclubs and recordings, but also movies, theatres, radio and TV. An accomplished pop and jazz stylist, her blonde beauty graced magazine covers and her million dollar legs helped get U.S. troops through two of its greatest wars. She even enjoyed 14 years, between 1953 and 1967, as the singing cartoon voice of the popular advertising character known as Chiquita Banana!

Monica's rapid ascent to stardom began in the mid 1940's while still in her teens, with her own show on New York radio station WMCA. Monica also appeared in the very first episode of 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' in its initial run as 'Toast of the Town.' Her nightclub debut at the legendary 'Stork Club' led to appearances with Benny Goodman and a chance to alternate with Frank Sinatra on 'The Chesterfield Show.'

Her early recordings ranged from Gershwin, Kern and Coward favorites to such saucy items as 'I'm Gonna Be a Bad Girl' which she co -wrote and 'Put The Blame on Mame.'  Monica is among the very best singers of her generation.  Many of these recordings are available on CD and digital download. 

Monica's success brought her a movie contract with MGM as their new "threat" to Lana Turner. She romanced Victor Mature in 'Affair With a Stranger,' and danced with Gower Champion in 'Everything I Have Is Yours.'  She joined a roster of jazz stars including Louis Armstrong in 'The Strip' and sang to the marines in Jack Webb's 'The D.I.'  This is one of the best videos on Youtube where you can view Monica singing the Ray Coniff song (If 'n you don't) Somebody Else Will, one of my favorite of her performances.   

In 1957, at the height of her career, Monica temporarily gave it all up to become the wife of producer Jennings Lang but in the 1970's, she gradually began accepting occasional TV and movie offers, most notably in the blockbusters 'Earthquake,' 'Airport '77', 'Rollercoaster' and 'The Concorde: Airport '79.'  These films have a world following and Monica is a treasured star to the fans. 

In the 1980's and 90's, Monica made a few choice cabaret appearances and recorded several new albums, among them 'Never Let Me Go', another personal favorite of mine for her variation of style, 'My Favorite Things,' 'Monica Lewis Swings Jule Styne' and 'Why Did I Choose You?', a tribute to her 40-year marriage to Mr. Lang.  Monica's voice has matured into a real jazz inspired vocalist in these recordings. 

Eric Venturo and I went to Monica's home to take these photos celebrating the release of her new book "Hollywood Through My Eyes, The Lives & Loves of a Golden Age Siren" written with Dean Lamanna.  Monica was a joy both to photograph and when we visited afterwards. 

AM:  What a joy to be able to talk with you about your new book.  Is it a biography?

ML:  Yes it is.  It's my whole life.  I was born in 1922. 

AM:  Where were you born?

ML:  In Chicago.  I'm 89 and thank goodness I feel pretty good!  I've lived a lot of lives.  We have them listed by decades in the book.  I was a child when the great depression hit and people were jumping out of windows.  The struggle was enormous.  Of course I didn't realize all this at the time. 

AM:  What did your father do?

ML:  He was a composer and concert pianist and head of music at CBS in Chicago.  Things went bad because he made some bad investments and we were flat broke.  So we piled into our last possession, a Pierce Arrow, which would be like a Lexus today, and we drove to New York because my Dad had a brother who had a job.

AM:  How old were you when you left Chicago?

ML:  I was eleven and had my doll with me.  New York was our new home.  My older brother and sister both worked and brought home their earnings and put them on the table.  My Dad was getting assignments and my Mother who was an Opera singer was teaching voice lessons.  I couldn't get a job yet. 

AM:  How old were you when you were able to earn some money?

ML:  I was seventeen or eighteen. 

AM:  Were you singing for a living already?

ML:  I was in high school.

AM:  Did you do anything else to earn money?

ML:  Well I tried, but I never did anything else.  I tried to be a shoe model because I was tiny and had a four and a half B shoe.  They all said I was jail bait, so get out.  I've always been singing and dancing. 

AM:  What was your first break?

ML:  I was walking down the street with my Dad and we met an agent that he knew.  He told him, "My little girl is a singer."  The agent said, "If you say she can sing then I know she can."  He said I had to get some pictures to use as a head shot.  I didn't know what a head shot was.  I got the pictures and he booked me in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.  My mama went with me.

AM:  So this is how you started a professional singing career?

ML:  Yes, it was so innate.  My family's religion was music.  We were all about music but I couldn't do the classics.  I didn't have my mother's power or range for opera.  I couldn't play the piano as good as my sister or play any instruments.  My brother could pick up any instrument and in five minutes he could play it.  My Dad was a genius.  My family was always on such a higher level but I found my own niche.

AM:  Did you have any musical influences?

ML:  I was very influenced by the jazz music I would hear on the radio like Ella Fitzgerald.  That was within my capabilities.  If you read my book you'll know that I finally got a job for five dollars a week doing a little radio show on Saturdays on WMCA in New York.  Then I got a call from Leonard Feather and he told me Benny Goodman was auditioning that afternoon.  Peggy Lee had eloped and he needed someone to take her place by that night.

AM:  What was the audition like?

ML:  It was a cattle call with three hundred girls.  My knees were shaking, but he said, "Kid come back at seven thirty tonight.  You're hired."

AM:  Did you work with him a long time?

ML:  I had a two week stint working with him.  He wanted to take me on tour but my folks said no.  Then I got a call from the Chesterfield cigarette people.  They had a radio show with Perry Como and Jo Stafford three nights a week and they wanted to buy the other two nights.  They wanted someone fresh for the other two nights.

AM: What was that show like for you?

ML:  We would introduce songs on the show that we thought would become hits and that always happened.   It was called 'Music That Satisfies' and it was on forever.  I became a national name. 

AM:  Did you get a recording contract from this?

ML:  I did, but the boy I was dating at the time started a record company with me called 'Signature Records' and it was all jazz.  I was the only middle of the road artist.  I was more about pop songs.  I was doing ballads and happy tunes but not pure jazz.  So I had my record contract and name recognition and then television happened.

AM:  How did you get into television?

ML:  I was working at the Lowes State Theater with Ed Sullivan, who hadn't become "ED SULLIVAN" yet.  He was a gossip columnist at this point.  My brother came to see me one night and Ed asked what he did.  I told him my brother was in advertising and he could help him a lot.  They got together and my brother said, "Why don't I devise a television show because television is where it's at right now."  Ed said he couldn't do anything and my brother told him it would be a variety show and everyone else will do the singing and dancing.  So the 'Ed Sullivan Show' was born and I was on the first show!

AM:  What year was this?

ML:  That was around 1948.  I was the first person they tested color television on.  I was the guinea pig for color.  From this time on my career was records and television. 

AM:  I love all the videos there are of you on Youtube.

ML:  I am a late comer to the internet.

AM:  It's rare that someone of your age embraces the internet.  It's great!!!

ML:  Well you have too!  I'm just a little slow with this.  There's no book!  My son Rocky makes me links to what I want.  I am getting better at understanding it all. 

AM:  I love how present you are.

ML:  When you have grandchildren you have to keep up, because even email isn't used as much, now we all talk to each other on Facebook. 

AM:  I love that you have a music page on Facebook for fans.

ML:  I have Monica Lewis and I'm also Monica Lang. 

AM:  The Monica Lang page is for people you really know right.

ML:  Yes and the music page is for fans.

AM:  I think we can get you some more fans!

ML:  That would be lovely!  Most of my personal friends are gone now.

AM:  How does it feel to outlive most of your friends?

ML:  Awful!  I find myself doing ridiculous things like checking the obituary page in the newspaper.  It's really sad.

AM:  How do you combat those feelings?

ML:  I have to keep my mind going with fresh things.  I involve myself with as much as I think is OK in my son's world and both my granddaughter's worlds.  I don't pry or anything like that.  I take great joy in their accomplishments.  They know Grandma is pretty proud of them. 

AM:  I know they are so proud of you too.

ML:  They like me. 

AM:  That's because you are likeable! 

ML:  You have to stay with it.   

AM:  Your album, 'Never Let Me Go' is so amazing.  It's more jazz.

ML:  That album was produced my stepson Mike Lang. 

AM:  All your music is so good and timeless.  Did you think it was time to write a book?

ML:  No I didn't.  I always wanted to write a book but I never did.  I started ten years ago and then I put it away.  My son had a book published and he told his publisher about me.  She called me and told me she found my life story fascinating and she had never published a book like this before.  This is what got me to write the book.

AM:  How long did it take?

ML:  Ten years ago my friend Dean Lamanna started collecting things on me.  The publisher made a deal with Dean to assist me.  He helped with the organization and how it would be laid out.  It is all my words.  He's a wonderful writer himself, so I really welcomed that.  We put it together from the very beginning to the various stages of radio, television, recordings, movies, marriage, political affiliations, people like the Kennedys who we were crazy about, and before that Ronald Reagan who I dated for two years.    

AM:  So it was a serious relationship with Mr. Reagan.

ML:  It was.  He got very serious and wanted to get married.  I really liked him a lot but I felt that it wasn't going to happen for me and that it wasn't the right thing.  Frankly I had met somebody who was an Irish, poetic type of guy and a screenwriter.  I was very drawn to him and I thought if I feel this way now then I cannot marry Ronnie. 

AM:  Did you love Ronald Reagan, but just not deep enough?

ML:  We were very compatible and there wasn't a bad thing I could think of to say about Ronnie.  He was the sweetest guy.  It was serious enough but something stopped me.  Whatever it was, it was the right decision.  I didn't even marry the guy that I was so madly in love with.  In the end I married Jennings Lang and I had the best wonderful marriage. 

AM:  What was the difference when you met Mr. Lang?

ML:  It was a whole other feeling.  It was the first time in my life when I felt I could rely on someone totally.  My family had always been very supportive.  Jennings was just a pillar of strength and humor.  He was so funny and witty and expansive.  He was larger than life.  He was thoroughly interested in the fine arts.  He created the television department at MCA which became Universal.  Later on he made thirty-three features. 

AM:  You are in some of them!

ML:  Little token parts.  He said I was a good luck charm.  We had a very exciting and fulfilling life.  Everybody said it wouldn't last two weeks and we were married forty years.  Jennings was the true mate for me. 

AM:  Tell me about the Chiquita Banana experience and how it came about.

ML:  It came during a period I was doing so much radio and television.  Somebody called me from the United Fruit Company and said they would like me to be the voice of Chiquita Banana.  They made a deal with me and it lasted fourteen years.  It paid my rent and it paid everything!  I spent a week doing the cartoons. 

AM:  I like how they made her sexy and cute like you.

ML:  Those cartoons are cute, sexy and fun!

AM:  Your sexiness comes from you being sweet.

ML:  That's why they were confused at MGM.  They didn't know how to use me in the right way.  They always wanted to groom me into someone else.  Lana Turner was pregnant and they wanted me to replace her.  Unfortunately Lana lost that baby so she came back to work and they didn't know what to do with me.  If I had been there five years before I would have had a shot at real movie stardom, but I wasn't and that's life. 

AM:  You have had a fun life haven't you?

ML:  You have to make your life fun.  Fun doesn't just come to you.

AM:  Do you think it's all attitude?

ML:  I do.  I think you need to make each day count.  If you're a runner then enjoy the run.  If you're a gardener then enjoy the roses!  If you have to be at work on time be glad you're going to work!  Don't spend your life complaining about everything because it makes you sick. 

AM:  No wonder your family adores you!  It seems you have skipped the traps of getting lonely and unhappy.

ML:  I do get lonely and it's in the wrong hours.  I watch a lot of television and lots of reruns of things I've seen seven times.  It's OK and I finally fall asleep.  Fortunately I don't require a lot of sleep.  If I sleep six hours it's a good night's sleep.  

AM:  As long as you feel good!

ML:  I wake up feeling OK.  Sometimes I get tired in the afternoon if I over exert myself. 

AM:  Do you still sing for fun?

ML:  Yes! 

AM:  When did you last sing professionally?

ML:  I recorded a tribute album to my life with Jennings after he died in 1996. 

AM:  Was it emotional for you to sing this?

ML:  Yes, but I felt OK about it.  It's what I wanted to do. 

AM:  Did you go through a therapy when you were writing your book?

ML:  I enjoyed it very much.  I enjoyed the process and having to think.  I enjoyed having to remember everything.  That was very good for me.  The hard part was I didn't have anyone my age to bounce it off of who might have seen some of the same things.  Dean is a great researcher and if I was slightly in doubt, he would research it.  We have a section in the book about when I went to Korea to entertain the troops with Danny Kaye. 

AM:  How long were you there?

ML:  Three weeks.  It was hard in every way possible.  I washed my hair in a helmet.  We put on a great show going from one battalion to another.  There was four of us.

AM:  What was the scariest  thing you went through?

ML:  One night we were five miles from the Chinese line and they were battling.  The noise was infernal.  We were all very frightened.  We didn't sleep at all that night.  We sat up and had a bottle of scotch.  We all took two or three nips, huddled close together and kept singing all night. 

AM:  I think my favorite album of yours is called "Sing it To The Marines.'

ML:  That's the best I ever sang.  I just found out I was pregnant.  I was the happiest person in the world.  The arrangements on that album are incredible.  The orchestra was magnificent too. 

AM:  Was it a big seller?

ML:  Yes, it did really well. 

AM:  Are you the first artist that recorded 'Put The Blame On Mame?'

ML:  I think so.  That's when Bob Hope called me and wanted me to be on his show with Desi Arnez.  Rita Hayworth sang it in 'Gilda' but she didn't really sing it.  I wouldn't dub for anyone.  Rita was great in the picture and it has a cult following now.  I met Rita much later.  She was so nice.  I had lunch at her house. 

AM:  You are going out to promote your book a little bit aren't you?

ML:  I'm doing as much as I can.  I'm signing at 'Book Soup' in Hollywood in June and I'm doing the 'Hollywood Show' in July. 

AM:  Who influenced you musically besides Ella?

ML:  In my day all of us felt the source was Ella.  We couldn't compete.  There were other singers like Sarah Vaughn.  As time went along other people like Barbra Streisand came along.  She has a gorgeous voice.  I like a lot of different music.  I don't understand a lot of the music today. 

AM:  Do you still do vocal exercises?

ML:  A couple times a week I do. 

AM:  Thank you for spending some time with us. Your music has given me and so many others a lot of joy for so long! 

ML:  I feel very good talking to you.  I'm one of those people who says enjoy every minute.  When you look back...the best things in life are what you did for somebody else.  It's the truth. 

To learn more about Monica Lewis visit her web site www.monicalewis.com