Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum is located on Secor Road in the hamlet of Hartsdale, town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, about 25 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. It was founded in 1902, and is non-sectarian. Ferncliff has three community mausoleums, a crematory, a small chapel, and a main office located in the rear of the main building.

Ferncliff Cemetery is notable for its three community mausoleums.

The Ferncliff Mausoleum, aka "The Cathedral of Memories", is the cemetery's oldest mausoleum, constructed in 1928. It has classic architecture, but the corridors are dark without glass panes to admit natural light. Judy Garland, Ed Sullivan, and Joan Crawford are three of the most famous interments in the main mausoleum.

The Shrine of Memories is Ferncliff's second mausoleum and was constructed in 1959. "Shrine of Memories" is a more contemporary structure than "Ferncliff Mausoleum." It has many panes of glass to admit natural light, and there is a large frieze of Christopher Columbus in the main hall of the building. Basil Rathbone is one of the most famous interments in "Shrine of Memories."

Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and vaudevillian. Renowned for her contralto voice, she attained international stardom through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the remake of A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgment at Nuremberg. At 39 years of age, she remains the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her two older sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, she was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

Malcolm X ( /ˈmælkəm ˈɛks/; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

Malcolm X's father died—killed by white supremacists, it was rumored—when he was young, and at least one of his uncles was lynched. When he was thirteen, his mother was placed in a mental hospital, and he was placed in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for breaking and entering.

In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group.

Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull, Gúira de Macurijes, 31 August 1911 – Los Angeles, 31 December 1970) was a Cuban musician who played the tres (Cuban guitar) in son-based music, and congas in folkloric rumba. In the 1940s and 50s Rodríguez reorganized the son conjunto ('son group') and developed the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo, and was an important and prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred song lyrics.

Rodrígues was born in Güira de Macurijes in Bolondrón, Matanzas Province as the third of fifteen children, fourteen boys and one girl. As a young child, Rodríguez was blinded when a horse (or a mule) kicked him in the head.

Later, Rodríguez became a musician, and eventually became one of the most renowned bandleaders on the island earning him the nickname El Ciego Maravilloso (the marvellous blind man). His music emphasized Afro-Cuban rhythm as well as the melodic lead of the tres, which he played. In 1936 he played his own compositions with the Sexteto Boston, led by his cousin Jacinto Scull. The group disbanded in 1937, and he joined the Septeto Bellamar of cornetist José Interián in 1938. From 1940 to 1947 he led a band in Cuba, Arsenio Rodríguez y su Conjunto.