By Clark Andrews
Old Town School of Folk Music members play long-time EJ hits.
“I’M LOVING A BEAUTIFUL DAY THAT WE’RE HAVING” proclaims local Dennis Melzer. It’s what we all know and feel. Ella Jenkins celebrated her 100th birthday with “her children” all around.
We’re at Ella Jenkins Park in the Old Town neighborhood on Chicago’s Near North side. Some families two or three generations deep gather in song mesmerized by her still strong ukulele beat. Musicians from the Old Town School played songs from her discs. Balloons abound. Confetti covers all kid’s clothes and shoes. Siblings slap their thighs pretending they’re Mick Fleetwood or Ringo Starr. An au pair actually sings EJ’s simple syncopated melodies. Recall “Miss Mary Mack” nursery rhyme from your childhood? Try not to clap.
Everyone loves Ella today. |
Jada’s tee says it all: Unity, Equality and Love. |
The contrast between old and new; seasoned and neophyte is shown by Nada Riley, among many seniors in the crowd, remembering Ella Jenkins “coming to her second-grade class” and Michaela, age 9, “only learned about Ella Jenkins this morning” when her mother whisked her off to the celebration.
“I used to listen to Ella Jenkins as a little kid,” recalled Claire Barliant, Michaela’s mother, echoing similar themes as Nada.
I bet neither the Stones nor Taylor Swift appeared at a namesake venue. I’m here with our daughter who was born in 1973 and with her lifelong friend, Alex Wray. Ella Jenkins entered our gestalt when our daughter came home with Alex from St. Paul’s nursery school animated in song and dance. My wife and I were instantaneously at her next concert where we too were enthralled in song and danced, although not in a “Dancing with the Stars” way. Records quickly came from Ella’s extensive discography. We were hooked like a leaping tarpon.
Just as our nursery schoolers started to grow and mature, Ella’s career took off in the early 1980s. Guest spots on PBS’s Sesame Street propelled her from mid-west Chicago to a national stage. Sesame Street beget visits to another mainstay of child centric PBS programming Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. A favorite appearance I remember was Ella trying to teach Fred Rogers to play the harmonica. He pretended couldn’t do it. Mr. McFeely, Roger’s 2nd banana speedy delivery, chimed-in the merriment. Still funny to this day. [February 11, 1983 (S13E10)].
Imagine a career just emerging in your mid-to-late fifties age. Not Ella. Only 40+ years left to spread her songs.
A beautiful day. Chicago. Lots of people. Some kiddos, some their parents. Grandparents recall simpler times as they enjoyed free ice cream and Ella’s birthday cake. What does this crowd attract besides mosquitos and cicadas?
POLITICIANS!
Especially in Chicago’s politically active 43rd ward. When introduced, I think one-third of the crowd were active or past committee chair, former alder people like Marty Oberman or someone you once heard of. Timmy Knudson, current 43rd ward alderperson, read an official Proclamation today as Ella Jenkins Day.
Face Painting: A summer staple of outdoor celebrations.
One of our daughter’s offspring is off to University in the Fall. She’s strong in math and science but decidedly deficient in EJ. Luckily for her ballet background, NYC pulses everywhere to the rhythms of the world. Our daughter’s other kiddo, a son, enters eighth grade also missing EJ but fully attached, like the rest of his generation, to the beat of their cells and Game Boys. He’s here in spirit today just beginning to swing and sway like the rest of us.
Oh, almost forgot. Nada Riley recalled her “37-year-old daughter being taught by Ella how to yo-yo”. Quizzed about it, Nada replied “It’s a skill and a story she retains to this day.” Perhaps she has youngsters, another generation.
Nada and her daughter typified those celebrating 100 years with Ella Jenkins
Clark Andrews is at kayakkman@att.net.
Ella Jenkins was featured on Studs Terkel’s radio show on WFMT (98.FM) twice in 1963, first in July and in December. She and he were of that vintage. Anyone wishing the full EJ experience can listen via The Chicago History Museum’s website at https://www.chicagohistory.org/studs-terkel-oral-history-center/.
Other information including her children’s records may be found at her web site https://ellajenkins.com/.
Bio (from Biographical Description for The History Makers Video Oral History with Ella Jenkins, edited for clarity and length)
Ella Louise Jenkins, “the first lady of children’s folk song,” was born on August 6, 1924. Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, Jenkins loved those games involving rhythm, movement and music. Double Dutch jump rope at a quick pace was her specialty. Despite never having any formal musical training. Jenkins has become a first-rate composer and musician who plays the ukulele, the pipe organ, the harmonica in addition to singing. Having graduated from high school, Jenkins set out in 1942 to find a job. Working in Wrigley’s Gum factory on South Ashland Avenue, she earned an associate’s degree from Wilson Junior College in 1947. She later with followed with a B.A. in sociology from San Francisco State College in 1951.
This colorful “paisley” man dances to the rhythmic beat of EJ’s rhythms. |
Aides attend to the birthday girl. Her tiara tells why we’re here “100.” |
While jamming with young people on the street one day, she was invited to appear on the public television show, Totem Club. Asked to return again and again, Jenkins composed her own music for the first time. Moses Asch, the founder of Folkways Recordings, offered to record her songs. In 1956, Jenkins left her day job to become a professional folk singer and released Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing the next year. Jenkins has been described as speaking to children, not down to them. Children, even those from vastly different backgrounds, were so enthralled with Jenkins’ music that she began teaching children internationally, celebrating the beauty and value of diverse cultures.
Numerals 1 0 0 waft in-and-out of the summer breeze at Ella Jenkins Park.
The honors Jenkins has received include a Pioneer in Early Television citation, the Parent’s Choice Award, a salute from the Ravinia Festival, a KOHL Education Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and Cook County Children’s Hospital Meritorious Service Award. She has served as a U.S. delegate to Hong Kong, China and the former Soviet Union with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Smithsonian Folkways Records has produced over 30 Ella Jenkins albums since 1956. Generations of children have a deeper understanding of the world through her participatory music.
