Monica Lewis

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Monica Lewis
Lewis in Korea, 1951
Born
May Lewis[1]

(1922-05-05)May 5, 1922
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJune 12, 2015(2015-06-12) (aged 93)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Singer, film actress
Years active1948–1988
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1945; div. 1947)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1956; died 1996)​
Children3
Websitewww.monicalewis.com

Monica Lewis (born May Lewis; May 5, 1922 – June 12, 2015) was an American jazz singer and film actress. Lewis was the longtime voice of Chiquita Banana in that company's animated ad campaign, beginning in 1947.[2][3]

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Lewis was born in Chicago on May 22, 1922, the youngest of three children.[4] Her father, Leon, was a pianist, musical director for CBS,[5] and composer while her mother, Jessica, was a singer with the Chicago Opera Company, with Lewis studying voice with her mother.[1][4] When Lewis was 11, she and her family moved to New York City due to The Great Depression.[1]

Career[edit]

Lewis began singing on radio after a successful audition with WMCA in New York City led to her own program.[5] While studying at Hunter College at age 17 she started working as a singer for a radio show titled Gloom Dodgers in order to support her family.[1][6] Shortly after working for Gloom Dodgers, Lewis had a radio show titled Monica Makes Music. She went on to co-star on The Chesterfield Supper Club on radio.[5]

She won a part as a singing cigarette girl in the Broadway show Johnny 2X4.[1] Lewis' work on Broadway led to performing at the Stork Club and leaving school; she changed her name from May to Monica because she thought it was "sexier", telling The New York Times that "I feel much more like Monica and I look much more like Monica, too".[1]

In 1943, jazz pianist Leonard Feather told Lewis that bandleader Benny Goodman needed a singer because Peggy Lee had left upon marrying his band's guitarist Dave Barbour.[1] At an audition in Times Square with hundreds of women participating, Lewis earned the part as a singer and began to sing on Hotel Astor's roof with Goodman's orchestra.[1] With the help of Goodman she began to establish her career through nationally broadcast shows such as The Revere Camera Show and Beat the Band. Lewis was dubbed "America’s Singing Sweetheart" during this time.[7] She recorded for Signature Records, MGM Records, Decca Records, Capitol Records, and Verve Records. Some of her songs included "Put the Blame on Mame", "I Wish You Love", and "Autumn Leaves."[8] However, Lewis' parents did not allow her to perform in out-of-town tours.[1]

For a short time, Lewis participated in advertisements for companies such as Burlington Mills and Camel cigarettes.[1]

In 1947, Lewis began to provide the singing voice for "Miss Chiquita Banana", a cartoon television commercial character. In 1948, she appeared in the first Ed Sullivan Show, then titled Toast of the Town, which also featured Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis]. It was created and produced by her brother Marlo Lewis.[8]

In 1950, she was signed to a contract with MGM. Some of her films included The Strip, Everything I Have Is Yours, and Affair with a Stranger, ‘ ‘The D.I’’, and she later appeared in some 1970s disaster films such as Earthquake (1974), Rollercoaster (1977), and both Airport '77 (1977) and The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979).

From the 1950s to the 1980s, she made appearances in several television action series, including Those Whiting Girls, Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato, Wagon Train, The Virginian, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Ironside.

She resumed her singing career in the 1980's and 1990s, performing at popular clubs such as the Vine St. Bar and Grill and The Hollywood Roosevelt Cinegrill in Los Angeles and Danny's Skylight Room in New York City.[9]

She spoke about her career 10 days before her death to The New Yorker in an article published in the September 7, 2015 edition [10]

Personal life[edit]

Lewis was married twice. Her first husband was the American record producer Bob Thiele, with whom she started Signature Records. They married in 1945 but divorced a couple of years later. She moved to Beverly Hills, California in the 1950s.[4] In 1956, she married film producer Jennings Lang, and they remained together until his death in 1996. They had three children, including screenwriter/producer-director Rocky Lang[11] and, by her husband's first marriage, jazz pianist/Hollywood session musician Mike Lang.[12] Her sister Barbara was a pianist and her brother Marlo was co-producer of The Ed Sullivan Show.[11]

In her 2011 memoir Hollywood Through My Eyes, Lewis revealed that actor (and future U.S. President) Ronald Reagan had proposed to her.[1][2]

Lewis died of natural causes at the age of 93 on June 12, 2015 at her home in Woodland Hills, California.[3]

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1951 Inside Straight Cafe singer
Excuse My Dust Daisy Lou Shultzer
The Strip Herself
1952 Everything I Have Is Yours Sybil Meriden
1953 Affair with a Stranger Janet Boothe
1957 The D.I. Burt
1973 Charley Varrick Beverly
1974 Earthquake Barbara
1977 Airport '77 Anne
Rollercoaster Tourist mother
1978 Zero to Sixty Aunt Clara
The Immigrants Mrs Whittier TV movie
1979 The Concorde ... Airport '79 Gretchen
1982 Boxoffice Francesca
1983 The Sting II Band singer
1985 Stick Female vocalist
1988 Dead Heat Mrs. Von Heisenberg

Bibliography[edit]

  • Lewis, Monica; Lamanna, Dean (2011). Hollywood Through My Eyes: The Lives & Loves of a Golden Age Siren. Cable Publishing. ISBN 978-1934980880.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roberts, Sam (15 June 2015). "Monica Lewis Dies at 93; Her Apple-Pie Appeal Sold Chiquita's Bananas". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b Schudel, Matt (2015-06-13). "Monica Lewis, singer-actress known as voice of Chiquita bananas, dies at 93". Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-06-14.
  3. ^ a b "Monica Lewis, Actress Who Sang in Chiquita Banana Cartoons, Dies at 93". Variety. June 12, 2015. ISSN 0042-2738.
  4. ^ a b c Coleman, Laura (November 13, 2014). "Beverly Hills Elder: Monica Lewis – Little Lady, Big Voice". The Beverly Hills Courier. 49 (45). ISSN 0892-645X.
  5. ^ a b c Donald, Jane (July 27, 1957). "Career Carved By Versatility". Tucson Daily Citizen. Arizona, Tucson. p. 21. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ King, Susan (May 23, 2011). "Monica Lewis sounds her 'Siren'". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ "Monica Lewis was 'America's Singing Sweetheart'". Reminisce. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  8. ^ a b "Monica Lewis profile at". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  9. ^ Wilson, John S. (1988-05-20). "Review/Cabaret". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  10. ^ Friend, Tad (August 31, 2015). "Love and Glamour in Old Hollywood". Newyorker.com. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Roberts, Sam (June 16, 2015). "Monica Lewis, Whose Apple-Pie Appeal Sold Chiquita's Bananas, Is Dead at 93: [Obituary (Obit); Biography]". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. B4. ProQuest 1690710877. Ms. Lewis was born in Chicago to a musical family headed by her father, Leon Lewis, who was a symphonic composer and conductor. Her mother, Jessica, sang with the Chicago Opera Company and her sister, Barbara, was an accomplished classical pianist. Her brother, Marlo, became head of variety for CBS-TV and created Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" show. [...] In 1956, she met and married widowed MCA/Universal production executive Jennings Lang, putting her own career on hold in order to become mother to his two young sons, Robert and Michael, whom she adopted. They were soon joined by a third son, Rocky, now a successful screenwriter, producer-director and author. [...] Following her husband's death in 1996, she recorded a tribute album tracing their 40-year marriage, titled 'Why Did I Choose You?'
  12. ^ Burlingame, Jon (August 5, 2022). "Mike Lang, Leading Jazz and Studio Pianist, Dies at 80". Variety. ProQuest 2699190225. Mike Lang, one of the preeminent pianists in Hollywood history, died of lung cancer Friday morning at his home in Studio City. He was 80. Lang played piano (or organ, harpsichord or celeste) on an estimated 2,000 film and TV scores dating back to the mid-1960s, including scores by virtually every great film composer of the past 50 years...He was born Michael Herbert Lang on Dec. 10, 1941, in Los Angeles (but changed his name, many years later, to Michael Anthony Lang), the son of Jennings Lang, an agent who later became a producer of such Universal films as 'Earthquake' and 'Airport 1975.'

External links[edit]

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