Ella Logan

Scottish-born actress/singer Ella Logan achieved her greatest renown playing an Irishwoman, Sharon McLonergan, and singing "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" in the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow in 1947. Before that, however, she had spent three decades performing on-stage, in radio and recording studios, and on film sets. Logan was born Ella Allan into a theatrical family in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 6, 1913. She made her stage debut at the age of three at the Grand Theater in Paisley, Scotland, singing "The End of a Perfect Day." During the 1920s, she attracted attention as a band singer, appearing in England and traveling to Germany and Holland. In 1929, she was cast in Open Your Eyes, a musical with music by Vernon Duke that opened in Edinburgh, but closed before it could move to London. Nevertheless, Logan herself got to London the following year. She made her recording debut there, shortly before her 17th birthday, on February 26, 1930, serving as the vocalist for the Jack Hylton Orchestra on the songs "Moanin' Low" and "Can't We Be Friends?" recorded for HMV Records. She made her first sides under her own name in April, recording two songs from the English version of the Folies Bergerie revue De La Folie Pure, "Hold Your Glasses With Bottoms Up," and "Bigger and Better Than Ever." Also in 1930, she made her West End stage debut in the musical Darling! I Love You. Logan moved to the U.S. in the early 1930s, bringing with her her young niece, Annabelle McCauley Allan Short, who went on to appear in the Our Gang film comedies among other child roles and, changing her name to Annie Ross, to become a noted jazz vocalist as an adult. Logan worked as a singer for various bands; in 1933 and 1934, she recorded with Abe Lyman's California Orchestra, and with...