Summary

An Ella Fitzgerald record titled "Ella in Berlin", in its original album cover and plastic sleeve. It was recorded live in 1960 and this version was released in 1963. It was particularly famous for Ella's first rendition of 'Mack the Knife'. Lindsay and Sylvia Motherwell both enjoyed a variety of music, from jazz to musicals.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

A 12" record with a 33 1/3 RPM, in its original plastic sleeve within a cardboard album cover. The front cover is a photo of Ella Fitzgerald on stage, singing into a microphone in a black dress and holding a red scarf. The title "ELLA IN BERLIN" appears across the top and "Ella Fitzgerald" is written vertically down the right-hand side of the album. On the back is a list of the songs on each side of the album, and a blurb about the music.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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