Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture > Video Oral History Gallery

Video Gallery Clip Transcript: Phoebe Jacobs

I asked Louis one time, Jimmy Durante came into a club that Louie was working in and the two of them up on the stage were clowning around and after the show was over Louie took me up here to Harlem where Redd Foxx's mother had a chicken place we used to go there for breakfast and I said to Louie, "Louie you know I watched you and Jimmy on that stage" you couldn't get serious with Louis very often, I said, "you must think about this and answer me sometime, what makes a star? I mean Jimmy Durante is ugly and he's got the same corny jokes and you two up there clowning around, and people went crazy, what makes a star. He said you got to let them know that you love what you're doing for them and that's what Ella had. The minute she walked on the stage she did't even have to open her mouth. You knew she was there to make you happy. You knew knew that she loved being there with you.