Ella Logan

Ella Logan (6 March 1910 – 1 May 1969) was a Scottish-American actress and singer who appeared on Broadway, recorded and had a nightclub career in the United States and internationally.

Early years

She was born as Georgina Allan in Glasgow in 1910 (although she later shaved three years off her age.[1]), where she was raised. She began performing under the name Ella Allan as a child.[2]

Career

She went on to become a band singer in music halls. Aged 20, she made her debut in 1930 in the West End of London in Darling! I Love You. She toured Europe in the early 1930s. Logan eventually emigrated to the U.S. and began to sing at various clubs and to record jazz on the British Columbia label (part of EMI).

She then appeared in several Hollywood films, including Flying Hostess (1936), 52nd Street (1937) and The Goldwyn Follies (1938). She appeared in several Broadway shows in the 1930s and early 1940s, but traveled to Europe and then Africa during World War II to entertain the troops. She also appeared on The Ed Wynn Show and The Colgate Comedy Hour in the 1940s and 1950s.

Logan returned to Broadway in 1947 starring as Sharon McLonergan in the original production of Finian's Rainbow, singing the show's most famous song, "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", among others. The production ran for 725 performances. She did not return to Broadway after that. In 1954, she was cast in a proposed animated film adaptation of Finian's Rainbow and re-recorded the score with Frank Sinatra. But the film was canceled, and the recordings were not released until the 2002 box set Sinatra in Hollywood 1940-1964.

The original cast album was released in 1948, and was Columbia Records' first Original Cast album. She recorded the show's songs for a second time in 1954 for the LP Ella Logan Sings Favorites from Finian's Rainbow, accompanied by pianist George Greeley. It was released by Capitol Records in 1955, (H-561 in the US, and L-561 in Australia).[3] This was the second of her two solo albums.

Logan's career was hampered by the FBI, who suspected Logan of having communist ties but never found any evidence to support such allegations. The FBI kept a file on her from 1945 until 1961, placed her Los Angeles house under surveillance, and monitored her activities and travels, which resulted in being searched while traveling to New York, due to suspicions she was a “Russian courier agent.” Due to John J. Huber's Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of 1950, Logan was listed as a Communist sympathizer in Red Channels. [4]

In the 1950s, she became an international nightclub performer, appearing at such venues as the Copacabana and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York as well as in London and Paris. She appeared on television in May 1956, in London with Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars. In 1965 she was part of the cast of the infamous Broadway flop, Kelly, until her role was cut during out of town tryouts. She continued to work occasionally in clubs, on television, and in theatrical stock productions, into the 1960s.[5]

Family

Her first husband was Charles John Lepsch. Logan met her second husband, film writer and producer Fred Finklehoffe, a playwright and producer, when he was co-librettist for the 1940 musical Hi Ya, Gentlemen. They were married in 1942, had one daughter, Binnie Quinn, and divorced in 1954.[6] Her niece is the actress/chanteuse Annie Ross and her nephew was Jimmy Logan, a Scottish actor.[7]

Death

Ella Logan died of cancer in Burlingame, California, aged 59.

References
  1. Ella Logan, a.k.a. Mrs. Georgina Allan Lepsch, gave her date of birth as 6 March 1910 on her U.S. Petition for Naturalization, #227616, dated 14 May 1934.
  2. "Swing when you're Scottish", heritage.scotsman.com; accessed 27 May 2017.
  3. Capitol Records Discography, Part 4
  4. ;accessed 1 June 2020.
  5. Ella Logan profile, IBDb.com; accessed 27 December 2015.
  6. ;accessed 1 June 2020.
  7. Ella Logan on IMDb
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