I know that not everyone likes Ethel Merman as a performer. And I do completely understand why. She's loud, over-the-top and mannered. She's also pretty-darn legendary, and I do like history. So, while I'm not a "fan" of Ethel Merman where she can do no wrong, I do greatly admire her career and enjoy more than enough of her performing. I also sense that to get the full take of her talent, it probably helped to see her onstage in a show, live. And most people today never did. She also wasn't in many movies, but even for the few that she did, that wasn't really her best venue, since she was so "large." My folks did see her on stage, though, in perhaps one of her two most famous shows, Annie Get Your Gun, on a trip they took to Broadway in late-1940s, and my dad talked about her performance for the next 65 years. Also, outside of individual songs and talk show appearances, there isn't a lot of extended video on her, where you can get a larger sense of her in full performance. I have a couple of those, and we'll post one of them today. This is a 13-minute set of her hits from the Waldorf in New York, for what appears to be for TV telethon in the mid-70s. (That's a pretty long set for TV, even in the 1970s.) It stands out for a few reasons. Rather than just singing, she sort of performs the numbers (or at least some of them) as if she was onstage in the shows. Not a lot, but it's nice to see the little touches. Also, halfway through she tells a story about how she got her starts. It's a bit melodramatic in the telling, but interesting. And whether one likes her singing or not...boy, did she introduce some major songs in the Great American Songbook. And what a career to have worked with George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin -- not to mention all the way up to Stephen Sondheim, who did the lyrics for Gypsy, with Jule Styne. I remember a very long time ago when a kid watching a talk show she was a guest on. There were other Broadway performers on, and the question was asked about getting nervous before a performance. Some of the guests told stories, and then Merman sort of brushed away the question, saying something like, "No, I really don't. I know that if I knew my part and had rehearsed it, I'd be ready and just do my job." One of the panelists there was the singer-comedian Kaye Ballard (who had been in the musical Carnival!), and she interrupted in some awe, and I've always remembered her comment -- "Boy, when God created you, did He do some dance."
2 Comments
Myles Berkowitz
10/22/2020 12:37:38 pm
One of the first jobs I had after college was working for my girlfriend’s father at Allen and Co. For some reason, along with preparing the taxes for the Allen family, we also had to prepare Ethel Merman’s taxes. They were very easy so I did it myself. I have always had a guilty feeling that it might have killed her.
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Robert Elisberg
10/22/2020 03:00:53 pm
I suspect you say that about a lot of people. But it's not true. You only bring joy to the world.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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