OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Dishy Monica Lewis!

Welcome, music sluts, to anther edition of Manor Music Monday, today with an added skosh of sass, brass and class - and heaps of talent, too, from a flirty dame who started out as a jazz songstress, then segued to becoming a fine actress, then segued right back to being a jazz songstress. You can hear her perform scads of delightful tunes tonight at the Manor's "Bush Diver" after-hours lounge and ramen dinette, so be sure to swing by. And get this: yours truly actually met this songstress. Can you believe? Lucky me! Can you guess who it is?

If you guessed Monica Lewis, you win! When I met her, it wasn't long before she passed, unfortunately. She was in her early 90s, chipper as can be and attending an anniversary screening of the movie "Earthquake!" in which she appears. I nabbed her before she went inside. She was so delightful, so sweet, and surprised that I knew her primarily as a singer. "I thought everyone forgot about that," she said and regaled me with tales of her past, including her premiere performance at NYC's "The Stork Club" (she was so nervous), her work fronting for Benny Goodman and his band (he was "such a gentleman") as well as her performances on "Toast of the Town" (later retitled "The Ed Sullivan Show") and "The Alan Young Show."

Years and years previous, she was already making her mark as a teenager singing on the radio, and even had her own program, "Monica Makes Music" on WMCA in New York. Later, from the 1940s through the 60s, she was the singing voice of "Miss Chiquita Banana," a gig that brought her much needed cash between gigs. Her star steadily rising, it wasn't long before she was dubbed, "Americas Singing Sweetheart." 

But at the top of her game, she left singing behind entirely in order to marry and start a family with Jennings Lang, a big-time Hollywood producer. Jennings, by the way, had a bit of a past. Yes, a true Hollywood scandale. Before he met Monica, he had a torrid affair with actress Joan Bennett, and when Joan's husband, producer Walter Wanger, found out, he tracked down Jennings, aimed a pistol and shot him in the balls. Literally. I am not kidding. Luckily for Monica, he survived intact.

Because of her marriage, Monica performed in several movies which Jennings produced, most notably the 1974 disaster opus,"Earthquake!" in which she portrayed "Barbara," the glamorous executive secretary who's shaken about a good deal when the earthquake strikes and unfortunately does not survive. In real life, however, she triumphantly returned to the recording studio in the late 1980s, releasing the highly praised album "Never Let Me Go," which led to the re-release of many of her 1950s LPs. Critics celebrated her anew as a "fluent interpreter of jazz standards," and she was off and running again, performing at a host of popular clubs, like Hollywood's "The Cinegrill."

My favorite LP of hers is 1957's "Sing It To The Marines," Her alternately husky and honeyed voice is just right in numbers like "Blues In The Night" and she sounds terrific in the cha-cha version of "Let's Face The Music And Dance." She wasn't all talk about supporting our troops, by the way. She was in Korea singing her heart out on several occasions and obviously made the fighting boys very happy. Listen to her buoyant "Let's Face The Music And Dance" below and click through for the entire LP. It's a lot of fun.

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Getty Images