Back when Ethel Merman's disco album was released in 1979 a few friends and I were visiting Manhattan and we decided to stop the department store Korvette's located on Fifth Avenue. While we were there we noticed that Ethel Merman was there promoting her new Disco Album and there wasn't many there so we decided to over and say hello. My friends and I stayed talking with Miss Merman for close to an hour. She was so nice and gracious and extremely funny she told us some very funny stories and we all purchased the album. I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. Great video
There were no flops on her resume. What made Ethel unique, was her near perfect record putting behinds into theater seats for long runs. Whether you worked on the stage, in the front of the house, or behind the curtain, your surest gig to pay your monthly rent for 6 straight months, to save for the engagement ring for your sweetheart, to get those school clothes and supplies next fall, was to get work on a Merman show. Ethel kept your lights on, and the groceries in the fridge.
I saw Merman in Gypsy at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago. My mom pulled me out of grade school that day and said, "You'll learn a lot more today than you'll ever learn in school." Well, what can I say, till today, I still have not witnessed a performance to beat Ethel's "Mama Rose." That day, I thought the roof would come down with the thunderous ovations from the audience. What a voice. What a performance. What Magic. Jule Styne 's score & Sondheim's lyrics hit a home run as well and till today, Gypsy remains 'unarguably,' the best Broadway overture ever. Yes a TOTAL CRIME that Merman was not cast in the movie. Your presentation here too was a home run and very much appreciated. One last thing, on youtube, there is a full version recording of Merman's 'CLOSING NIGHT performance of GYPSY' that is 'sound only.' So, if you close your eyes and and have an imagination, you can picture yourself at the Broadway Theatre in NYC, watching Merman's final performance of "GYPSY!" Thank you again for your wonderful presentation. :)
@@joshuavandyne7334Angela’s is so powerful terrifying and gut wrenching you can feel the desperation the bitterness mania and tragedy when she sings and acts it that’s why she won the Tony because she researched rose and then played her in a realistic way
Nobody beats at those rows! And that monster Frederick Brisson the husband of Rosalyn Russell snatching that player up to do his dirty work to cast his wife in that movie was a downright slap in the face to Ethel!? That just would’ve been another piece of Ethel’s legacy, shame!
My mother saw Merman on Broadway a few times and mentioned that you had to experience her live onstage, to appreciate what an incredible performer she was.
Well that makes some sense. I have never understood her appeal. Her voice is not the most pleasant to listen to, and while she was really powerful, she blasted everything at full volume almost all the time (or so it seems). I suppose if she had an electric stage presence that could go a long way to explain why people liked her so much.
@@punkinholler this is her very first recording, from 1932 - very different from how most people know her voice (if not inclined to listen to the full cut, I'd suggest listening from 2:50 to the end) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3BCwI6nC7F4.htmlsi=Rs0rZjBYP93PWcwg
Thanks for this program< Bur there was one major oversight: Ethel Merman was featured in a very successful comedy movie "It's A Mad Mad Mad World" and she out-shouts and outshines, gets the biggest laughs and steals the show from Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney Buddy Hackett and many of the most popular comedians of the time!
Saying Tyrone Power was handsome is an understatement. He was perhaps his most stunning in "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "Rose of Washington Square." Alice Faye, co-star in both, said in her 1990s video interview that kissing Tyrone Power was like kissing a dream. It's no wonder Hollywood relegated Ethel to brassy supporting roles at that point, since she was not a "beauty" and all audiences were viewing images strictly on towering movie screens. Also, thank you for being one of the few people who still know the proper pronunciation of reprise. This, and your presentation, warmed my heart.
Harvey Fierstein has an interesting story re: Merman and her relationship with theater after her heyday. Apparently, she came to see La Cage Aux Folles, and after the show, she came backstage. Harvey asked what she thought of the show. She responded, "I thought it was shit, but everyone else loved it, so what do I know?!" I love that story, because even if she was out of touch with the then-current state of the Broadway musical, she seemed aware of it and willing to concede that her tastes were not necessarily everyone's.
Actually, it was not "La Cage aux Folles" to which Merman made that comment (she was too weak and ill at that point, only a few months from death), but actually "Torch Song Trilogy". Jerry Herman has documented that he took the original cast LP of "La Cage" to Merman in the hospital and played it for her, and she genuinely seemed to enjoy it very much.
I was lucky (thanks mom) to have seen her in Gypsy when I was 14. She was electrifying. I had seen her on TV a few times and thought she was appealingly brassy but nothing prepared me for her performance in THAT show. Not giving her the movie version was criminal.
I'm surprised you didn't mention that Hello Dolly was actually _written for_ her. And Jerry Herman later confided that hers was his personal favorite Dolly ever. As for Mama Rose, many decades ago (definitely before LuPone's and Peters' -- possibly before Midler's and even Daly's), Sondheim said that Angie's Mama Rose was heartbreaking, but Merman's was thrilling. He also once said that they had avoided putting too many acting demands on her at first because they didn't think she was up for it, but then they discovered she was a wonderful actress; she'd just never been asked to before. (I'm paraphrasing.)
Thank you for this. Ms. Merman was from my mother's generation so I only knew her as an older person. I so enjoyed learning her history as a young performer.
You absolutely must make a video about Elaine Stritch. This woman stole my heart and she might as well keep it. What an amazing performer. I love this video you made very much!
I mean I love her. I dunno what I would have to say that hasn’t already been said in her one woman show, the doc, or various memoirs. A lovely, terrifying, impossible woman. Some Toronto actor colleagues talked about working with her during ‘Showboat’. Again, talented, but could also be mean and demanding. Tricky to talk about. But somehow, you can’t resist her. Thanks for watching! X
The casting and behind the scenes dealings of Rosalind Russell as Mama Rose instead of Ethel Merman reminds me of how Diana Ross got the roll of Dorothy in The Wiz movie instead of Stephanie Mills
Your so right ! Well Rosalind Russell's husband owned the right's "Gypsy" so naturally he got it for Rosalind . And half of Rosalind's singing was done by Lisa Kirk ! It is a proffessional crime that the great Ethel Merman did not play her greatest role in the movie version of "Gypsy".
@@Nunofurdambiznez We may regret it but it wasn't "sneaky and underhanded." They bought the rights which they had every right to do. There's nothing wrong with that. Grow up.
@@TheTerryE Also, there was nothing underhanded with Diana Ross being cast over Stephanie Mills. Ross starring is what got the movie financed and made. Ppl need to remember that it’s “show-b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s.”
"The Ethel Merman Disco Album came out in 1979. The genre was declared dead a year later." - (Ryan Warner for the Colorado Public Radio, 2023) I'm sorry this quote is hilarious 😭
Thanks for this balanced consideration of this unique performer. I wish you'd mentioned her contribution to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Her role is an extended mother-in-law joke, but a very well-written one. She goes head to head with masters of comedy like Berle, Caesar, Silvers and the rest. I think it's her best movie performance. Coming hot on the heels of GYPSY, she would have been justified in feeling she had nothing to prove to Hollywood. Instead of toning herself down, she lets herself rip. Amazing. And she doesn't sing a note.
On my senior trip to NYC, in May of 1970, I saw Ethel Merman at the St. James Theater in “Hello Dolly”…….The thrill of a lifetime for a 17 yr old from Ohio. I still have my PLAYBILL along with wonderful memories. I may not remember what color socks I put on in the morning, and all I own are white, I remember that Broadway experience. 🤙
I saw that show as a 20 yr. old in Oct. 1970, about six weeks before the show closed. It was a Wednesday matinee, first row mezzanine center. The ticket price was $5! I also still have the PLAYBILL and remember Miss Merman's performance like it was yesterday. Talk about larger than life!
I really appreciate you trying to balance some of the more heated (read: sexist) accounts of female broadway stars, not just Ethel but others as well. It's incredibly refreshing to hear from a male commentator and as a woman it defiantely makes me feel more safe in your space. Love the work, please keep it up!❤
I really wish she had been in the film version of Gypsy. I have a childhood fondness for the show having been in a school production as a newsboy, and I have an adult fondness for her as a strong female performer who also happened to be close to a friend of my family.
What a great woman and a great talent. Ethel didn’t need auto tune or pitch correction. Hell, she didn’t even need a microphone. Thanks for making such a thorough and thoughtful video.
I grew up watching her on TV and loved Call Me Madam when I saw a rerun, I was maybe 12 - 14 years old. Such a talent. Thank you for this episode. RIP Ethel Merman!
Excellent. i never saw her on stage a bit before my time. I did see her in the film, There is no Business like Show Business. and It's a Mad, Mad World. From what I've heard on the internet, she had a powerful voice. She should have done the film of Annie Get your gun.
I thank you for on a comprehensive document on the carreer which captures the grit, beauty, sadness, anger of the world of Broadway. Bravo for your sensitivity ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ethel Merman sings Hank Williams, Jr., "They all ask me Ethel, why do you drink? Why do you roll smoke?" "If Heaven ain't a lot like Broadway, I don't wanna go..."
I recall The Merm did a commercial for Texaco in the mid-sixties with a huge Lincoln. "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star. The big, bright Texaco star!"
I have now binge watched all 21 episodes! I truly LOVE this channel! I look forward to new content when it shows up! (: (: (: (: Thank you for doing such a great job and taking such great care in the making of your videos - I am astonished by them, particularly the editing of all the great archival footage! (: (: (:
This is the second of your videos I've watched, and I am very impressed with your research and presentations. Great insights into great theater! Thank you!
“You want to do a musical and you want to do it right? You gotta live like a fucking nun”! ❤ (Merman to Elaine Stritch, who was her “standby” in Call Me Madam).
I'm a huge fan of the Merm and have devoured everything about her. This is an excellent overview. Happy Hunting has a great score IMO. My favorite Merman anecdote is via Arthur Laurents: He invited her to a Passover seder. She arrived late and ostentatiously threw a ham-and-cheese sandwich on the seder plate. What about her great cameo in Airplane!?
Have any of you seen Kid Millions and/or Strike Me Pink? They’re both Eddie Cantor vehicles and are comedies, and also had Ethel in them, as she and Eddie were good friends. She did great at physical comedy as well as some wordplay.
Funny thing is that although frequently cited as a belter, Merman never, ever belted in the modern sense of the word, where the chest register is pulled way high up in the range. She sang through a well focused middle range with a lot of head-voice mixed in, which is why the voice carried so effortlessly. If you listen to Patti LuPone and Merman sing the same song, you hear LuPone belting while Merman just sings through an easy and brassy middle range.
From what this guy has said about Jerome Robbins in this video and his first video about Funny Girl, I’m left thinking, “So before Abby Lee Miller from Dance Moms there was Jerome Robbins.”
If the story of Ethel Merman and the chorus girl's sounds familiar, Jackie Suzanne based Helen Larson on her when she wrote "Valley of the Dolls"! (Even though she was in love with her) ❤️🩹
Her feud with Lamas was, to be fair, her fault. She played the diva to the hilt, and Lamas was having none of it. The nail in the coffin was when, as one of the producers, she refused to let Lamas out of his contract to play Emille DeBeque in the film version of "South Pacific".
Please do a piece on Helen Morgan. My mom said that Cole Porter loved how Merman sang his songs. Which seems odd to me, but hey, get it to the back row.
I would have given my eye teeth to have seen her in Gypsy, but I did get to see her once, and it was a disappointment. I saw Carol Channing in Hello Dolly about a month after it opened (I was in high school) and again, about a year later. Carol was still fantastic. I saw her, yet again, decades later, in San Francisco. Then I saw Merman, as is stated here, as the last Dolly in the original production.I didn't think she was very good. The other Dolly that I saw was Pearl Bailey, in the all black production. She was fantastic. And the legendary Cab Calloway played Horace.
thee is one huge glairing omission in this video: Ethel was among the group of stars filmed in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" How can they leave her out of this video?. That big group of stars also includes Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Durante, Paul Ford, Phil Silvers, even The Three Stooges.
I understand the time restraint, but at least a small mention of her best comic role on film, where she was a standout among stars. Although this channel is called "Staged" Right…
@@larskars5835 This is a good video, but it may be a function of a younger person simply not understanding how important some of her roles were. Not including the film you mentioned, or Airplane, *is* odd. For those who know films. I'm thinking he just doesn't know some of these cultural references or why it would be weird to leave them out.
@@ALNizhoni I disagree. The research required to achieve such a painstakingly detailed account of Merman's career must have taken quite a long time and intense focus. There is an abundance of unique photographs and some amazing video footage of the early Broadway shows - much of which I've never seen (and I've been a Merman fan for a long time). At some point, one has to make decisions on what stays in and what goes (as the creator says above, if he included everything it would be the length of a Ken Burns mini-series). Personally, I don't feel mentioning "Mad, Mad World" would add anything new or significant to this biographical account, but I do agree that including her moment in Airplane! would show how Merman was capable of making fun of herself (however, there could easily have been a copyright issue in using that footage, especially since "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from GYPSY is involved). Instead, the creator includes a brief clip of Andrea Martin as Merm in a classic SCTV skit ("Wake Up And Love Me") which covers the image many have of Merman, later in her life, beyond her prime, as well as Merman's disco album. But, your comment "it may be a function of a younger person simply not understanding how important some of her roles were" is boggling. The incredible detail on display here from the early film shorts (something I knew nothing about) to her many triumphs on Broadway, her difficulty in finding the same kind of success on film, as well as a very mature, astute analysis of her private life (the myths vs. the reality) does not in any way signal to me that this young man had any trouble understanding ANY aspect of her career. You can come away from watching this by saying "glass 2% empty" or "glass 98% full." EVERYONE will find one or two things they feel should have been mentioned, but this is a wonderful exploration of Merman's incomparable career and her singular, powerful persona.
Everyone is of their time, and when you fit it like a glove, you get Merman; musical comedy, no mics, persona power, "Great Lady" shows. No one can 'compare' to Merman because that world and The Golden Age have passed. Can't think of a show, post Herman, she would have been right for, & had she 'come up' today, she probably wouldn't have been a star; wrong skill set for the time. Ethel will just have to settle for Legend, and boy is that fabulous. No B'way performer will ever again have a catalogue like this, HER songs, because that world has gone: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UUGkFDQ42hA.html
I am suprised "There's No Business Like Show Business" hasn't been re-tooled yet as a B'way show. And it is truly a huge missed opportunity to have Merman do Gypsy onscreen. (or, alternatively, one of the first choices the producers had --Judy Garland).
I wish Judy had been in better health to take on that role, if not Merman. Someone else did mention in one of my posts that it’d been curious how Judy would approach the role, given her own mother rearing her up in Vaudeville and very much being a ‘stage mother’. An endless series of if only…
I hear Ethel was much better live. The RU-vidr Be Kind Rewind mentions that in one of her videos. I believe she was great on broadway. She had a 40s 50s broadway singer voice. She is like-able and funny.
While it is true Elaine Stritch never "went on" for Ethel Merman she did take over the tour in June of 1952 and before that played a special matinee performance in May of 1952 with Merman in the audience. I guess Ethel could be a pretty generous lady!
Through the years I've seen her on Broadway a couple of times toward the end of her career she tended to shout but she was a one and only. She surely was not loved by the people she worked with I mean the chorus people dancers and singers. Such as at the first rehearsal remember I'm the star of the show and don't. Forget But in her prime you could not beat her
Has the famous story of Frederick Brisson masterminding the casting of his wife in the film version of "Gypsy" (talk about wives' tales) ever been proven, or has it become such a legend that nobody questions it ("Oh, everybody knows...")? It doesn't really hold up when you analyze it. For starters, why would David Merrick sell "Gypsy" to a rival producer when obviously he'd make more money dealing directly with the studios? At the peak of her career after "Auntie Mame," Rosalind Russell would hardly seem to need her husband to hustle jobs for her, especially at Warner Bros., which was in financial trouble before "Auntie Mame"; it's more likely she said to Mervyn LeRoy, who wanted her for "A Majority of One" [1960], "I'll do "Majority of One" for you if you give me "Gypsy." In any event, Ethel Merman probably wouldn't have gotten the movie (it's rumored that Jack Warner promised the creators Judy Garland, but that of course could be another story), which is a shame, as good as Roz is in that underrated film. (There is a caricature of Merman in Tessie Tura's dressing room; you see it best during Natalie Wood's "Mama, I'm pretty" scene.) Merm should have done a TV production in the '70s while she still had her chops.
Copyright. The question is asked multiple times in the comments and I give explanations in many. RU-vidrs have to abide by the rules otherwise we get penalized. X
At the end of the day, like what was said both things can absolutely be true. I dont think it has so much to do with "women" as it does with any performer of that time where it was very much considered improper for the background acts to try to upstage the main act. We arent there today and we are like "let the greatest talent rain" but back then even up to my favorite singer Whitney Houston, there are ppl on the background keeping ppl from over stepping the lead. It was more about proving your longevity and stability and not pop-up talent. You had to earn the ability to upstage so to speak.
I very much enjoyed the video but is there a reason why we don't get to hear any audio clips? I would have loved to have heard the amazing Ms. Merman in those clips from her early career!
Yup. Most of the audio I would have wanted to use is copyrghted. (I get away with it a bit by burying some of her singing stuff under my narration.) RU-vid has very good systems that detect copyrighted material as soon as a video is loaded. Either they'll flag it and put limitations on the video's scope (monetization, being viewed in certain countries, etc.) or just taken down altogether. You can also receive a copyright strike to your channel which could eventually lead to account suspension. It's a bit of a drag but we all have to play by the rules. Fortunately, you're on the right site to look for clips of her singing. X
Yes, it does seem odd to have a video about Ethel Merman with almost no examples of her actual singing. It would be like doing a feature about Fred Astaire without showing him executing a single dance step!
@@lgoldman Reiterating a point that someone else has already said with a Fred Astaire analogy does not make you sound clever. It only shows you didn't read why there is no singing in this video. Or you purposely ignored it to comment. Either way, you are a search bar away from Ethel singing. Go enjoy. X
Yes, they’re interpolated. But not just the high parts. Sometimes it’s just parts where Russell isn’t as musically apt or articulate. Most of ‘Some People’ is just Lisa Kirk. In fact all of it. Same with ‘Everything’s Coming up Roses’. ‘Rose’s Turn’ is one of the few song where I can genuinely hear Russell before Kirk flips in.
May west disliked at all because she was jealous of her! May was not very talented or a very good actress! Ethel had it all going on, on the stage and out of her mouth! There was a lot of backbiting between women back then because everyone was trying to get ahead. The same way it is today, But Ethel earned every inch of her career. And what a career it was!
Although you have a nice speaking voice, it would have been a far better review of Merman and her career if you had given more examples of Merman's voice which was spectacular in the theatre [saw her more than once on Broadway".
Hey. Thanks for watching. Unfortunately, using said examples are really hard with copyrighted material and RU-vid picks these up pretty quickly. I couldn’t even use her quick cameo in ‘Airplane’. It’s been how I’ve navigated and shaped this channel from day one. Fortunately, you are a search and click away from thousands of Merman videos. X
When someone, who has the *immense* amount of money it takes to BUY a theater, wants to name one after her, then there will be. I mean, you're certainly free to buy one and name it after her if you like. Oh what's that? Your short a few hundred million dollars? Ethel is a legend, but this is up to someone who passionately wants to make this happen, and it's probably a long shot at this point.
Honestly, if someone in the chorus was chatting with their colleague *on stage during the performance*, I would want them gone as well. How unprofessional!
The moment you take the sound off, you can get a pass. I’ve only had one copyright dispute (which was a Tony’s acceptance clip) where I thought being dinged was unfair. I fought it and won. Those who do post copyrighted stuff on RU-vid usually have limits to how they can use their account for or the video is just removed altogether. RU-vid scans the video once it’s uploaded and once they detect copyrighted material from a movie, soundtrack, musician, or anything is flagged. I’m towing the line even including those singing clips that are buried underneath the narration. I get the disappointment of not hearing her, but we do have to follow the rules on RU-vid. Thanks for watching! Xo
...seems like every generation feels a need to "push the envelope" to create attention, recognition, identity in the arts. Pre 1965, it was personal talent... and the ability to sell yourself to the masses... respectfully. Post 1965....nudity, vulgarity, blatant egotism infected society and the entertainment business mistaken as "new creativity" ,Avante-Garde, "advancing/rediscovery of social values". A sort of Pandora's box of social toxicity. While much good still came out of this 1965 era, a chunk of social civility was lost. Thats what Ethal Merman speaks of in a later interview regarding the theatre/entertainment. Her values are not "old school", they are simply more civilized...
@@StagedRight Ethel made a generalized comment (I suggest watching this posting) regarding offensive text and nudity in entertainment. My guess is that her comment was made in the 1970's/80's, and by that time several plays and entertainment venues were transitioning from "feel good" to reality/"shock"/"alternative response" productions.
The interview is ‘77. ‘Chorus Line’ is the hottest ticket on Broadway with said four-letter words and virtually no plot aplenty. This is the period where the ‘concept musical’ is being utilized more by creatives on Broadway. I’m not sure what nakedness she’s referring to between ‘Hair’ or ‘Oh! Calcutta!’ (the latter of which I am not familiar with.) Even if she means Fosse’s sexiness in ‘Pippin’ or ‘Chicago’, it seems a bit of an odd comment for someone who says she is not prude. Some of these pieces are considered fodder for being old-fashioned today. A testament to how sentiments change with the culture and I believe she got thrown by it, as do so many. She later told Harvey Fierstein in the 80s when she saw ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ that she thought it was a ‘piece of sh*t but everyone laughed, so what do I know?’ It’s possible that shows that ‘push the envelope’ and are ‘avant-garde’ can actually speak to the culture at large and not simply be placated with sweet insipid shows that mean nothing to the audience.
@@StagedRight ..."speaking to the culture" does not justify the text content when it comes to vulgarity, or a general offensiveness. Society long ago considered others respectfully creating a general interpretation of actions that one did not cross because it would/could offend, be offensive. Those guidelines were self discipline imposed. Today, its a blatant disrespect for anyone outside the offenders head, w/objectors (to vile content) being told to "turn the channel" if viewed content was/is unacceptable. So much for worldly inclusion. It's my way or the highway. "Free speech". Ethel spoke from her life experience (w/the entertainment field being a crash course in social diversity). Suicide statistics of young adults are up almost every year for several years now. Many based on current culture experience of potential future culture gloom... and doom, of humanity.
@@billkeil716If this was a network special - or even an A&E biography, that would be a fair criticism. But, the very high cost of copyrighted material makes it prohibitive for a RU-vid creator to include the type of music and movie clips that would enhance this type of biography piece. The great majority of people who will watch this will likely be quite familiar with Merman's singing voice. And for those who might not be, or those of us wanting to revisit Merman's recordings, there are so many ways (on RU-vid and other platforms) to do so. Truthfully, I watched the entire 48 minutes and it never occurred to me that there weren't music clips -- because I could hear that voice in my head so clearly. This is FREE content -- if one would like to pause and listen to, for instance, some of the original cast album of GYPSY, it's easy to do so. This man clearly works very hard on producing his content -- if the viewers need to work a bit to fill in what couldn't be included because of copyright restrictions, that's not a bad thing.
A powerful singer - Its a shame she started to look matronly very young and looked way older than most other actresses of the same age which i guess meant she lost out in certain parts because if it
@@robbiduncan9823 And then what? I'll wait. Ethel was right. She saw the immense talent, but knew, from experience, that Holiday's weight would be a problem (that wasn't Ethel's problem - hers was Ethel not being seen as 'beautiful' or traditionally 'sexy.') Jennifer Holiday has done diddly squat since Dreamgirls. Unless you count touring in dinner theater...singing songs from Dreamgirls.
