[78-L] Young Ella

[Joe Scott]

According to Ella Fitzgerald: The Chick Webb Years And Beyond by Ron Fritts and Ken Vail, 2003:
4/21/32 moves to Harlem
1933-1934 at New York State Training School For Girls, runs away
1934 homeless in Harlem
11/21/34 wins Amateur Night at Apollo
first week of 3/35 is introduced to Chick Webb
3/8/35 Ella's first tryout performance with Webb's band happens to be for a "white college crowd" in Connecticut and and she is well received
At the 1930 census Ella was not living with her mother, she was living in Yonkers with a family of the last name Corri, in a neighborhood where many people were "Neg[ro]," many were "W[hite]," and many spoke Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. (At the 1920 census she was living with her parents, a transfer wagon driver and a laundress, in Newport News.)
BTW those are easily some of the best recordings Ella ever made imo. Ellis Larkins.
Joseph Scott