Open Happy Birthday Thread: Ethel Merman
by Big Hollywood
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59 Comments
Loved her in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
AMEN!…..She is the definition of THERE IS NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS!
I love Ethel Merman.
My ex, the Dragon Lady, couldn't stand her voice so I used to put her on the turntable whenever the Dragon Lady would come to retrieve more of her belongings. That guaranteed she came and went as fast as she could scuttle along on her claws.
Many thanks, Ethel. You helped me get through a rough patch!!
I think that Ethel Merman was one of those talents that you needed to see on Broadway or in a live performance to feel her enormous energy. Most of us never did, but this clip from the Judy Garland show in the very early 60s shows a lot of what Merman was all about..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21hBW3_hSXc
Absolutely hilarious as Merman takes total control of her signature song THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, shutting out Streisand who simply gives up and Garland who hangs in there.
It's been said that Merman's most remembered performance is in IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD in which she plays the mother-in-law from Hell. And it has also been said that it is a shame that that is so,
She did a number of films in the 1930s in which she is seen to good advantage.
And she was married to Ernest Borgnine, of all people!
Check out the new version of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Barack Hussein Obama" at: http://www.myspace.com/rogerweber
Even Ethel Merman would sing along!
Check out the new version of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Barack Hussein Obama" at: http://www.myspace.com/rogerweber
Even Ethel Merman would sing along!
Great singer, great star. A shame that in this "visual" age you can't just be a great singer, you have to be physically attractive as well. People like Susan Boyle are rare exceptions, now.
No! I don't want to!
You can't make me!
Love it! Thanks for that link.
Yeah! Somehow looks seem to be confused with an implication of intelligence in this shallow sound bite era. Jimmy Durante, Kate Smith, Victor Borge, and The Great Gunderman wouldn't have a chance.
"Lt. Hurwitz. Severe shell shock. Thinks he's Ethel Merman."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZdqsCW8vM
Ever hear any of her disco album?
Dude! My copy won't play on Windows Media Player (well, it does, but it sounds like the speakers are blown out), but it plays fine on other players e.g. Winamp. I smell a conspiracy between the Microsoft and the Big O.
She was great in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
[...] the article here: Open Happy Birthday Thread: Ethel Merman This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
I remember a story Peggy Noonan wrote about Ethel in "What I Saw at the Revolution"*…
During a Broadway performance, the leading lady missed a high note. By a mile. Ethel was in the audience, and was heard to whoop, "Oh, BAAAA-RUTH-ERRR!" into the silence that followed.
* A little book she penned back before becoming a Vichy Republican.
If Scott brown wins, everything really will be coming up roses. ~rimshot~
CHRIS MATTHEWS on his show yesterday condemned all the Tea Party movement as a bunch of racists. I say the next time he has one of those stupid outdoor interviews outside in those director chairs on remote, that the Tea Party folks show up and disrupt his show and shout him down. This moron needs to pay for all his rantings against Palin and the Tea Party folks! Any other ideas?
*When* Scott Brown wins…it will be 'the Scott heard round the world'
You can bank on it.
Thanks for the clip. It looked like Barb was a little unsure of herself; I know she gets terrible stage fright before a performance. It was marvelous to hear Merman sing out her song.
The guy looked close to tears when I saw him while riding the bike at the gym. I just laughed to myself.
After the election on Tuesday, I expect these creeps to come out with more and more of this same old crap.
F_ck 'em all.
Massachusetts Miracle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nEoW-P81-0
Go! Scott Brown! And a Happy Birthday to Ethel Merman!
The standard was always different for Broadway people though…big diff even in the past between what level of attractiveness/stardom was put on the big screen, hence the eternal bad call to cast Roz Russel in "Gypsy."
YES! I actually have it from when it was reissued a few years back. As much as I love La Merman, a little goes a VERY long way. Apparently it was a pure money making proposition–she came in, laid down her tracks to a normal backing, then left. It's a bizarre little novelty, but it sort of makes me sad that she had to do something so tacky purely for cash.
Merman had a pretty merciless reputation, even as she was respected for her professionalism–she was known to have the curtain brought down early on co-stars who were getting more applause than her.
The clip is a drag queen's dream! I think Ethel Merman would steal the show in line at the butchers. And c'mon–if you were that young and had to patter/sing with two of the grandest dames (and Garland seems a teensy bit impaired as well) of stage/screen, you might well be intimidated! And on top of it, Ethel sings her fricken' signature song?? Love seeing Barbara's retro sailor blouse. She looks so young! Whatever you think of her politics, you have to give her props for how she's managed her career and fortunes over the years–no doubt she looked at Merman and Garland and learned how NOT to do it.
I gave some money last night to him – man – woulpdn't that be great!
Well, since so many of us remember her in its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World my favorite scene of her is behing held upside down by Terry Thomas and Milton Berle.
Well, this is an interesting story courtesy of imdb – apparently she was more than merciless:
"Their marriage was dissolved after 32 days. They had announced their impending nuptials at the legendary New York night spot P.J. Clarke's, but Borgnine, who was riding high as the star of "McHale's Navy" (1962) at the time, said the marriage began unraveling on their honeymoon, when he received more fan attention than she did.
The competitive Merman was left seething. "By the time we got home, it was hell on earth," Borgnine recalled in a 2001 interview. "And after 32 days I said to her, 'Madam, bye.'" Borgnine went on to marry a third time, but Merman remained single after her divorce. In her 1978 biography, she devoted a chapter of her autobiography to the marriage: It consisted of one blank page."
That made my day !
Go JETS !
But in all fairness, Durante and Borge were comedians, for whom looks aren't really ever as big a consideration. And Smith became famous…in radio. People were shallow about looks even in the 30's & 40's: not too many plain movie stars getting those romantic closeups in the Golden Age.
Good man, Bill. I'm telling you, he's gonna win. I've been on the horn with family and friends back on the Cape all week. There is an energy and a spirit that will not be denied. Scott Brown will be victorious.
I can feel it in my bones.
No doubt, what a classic, star-studded, freakin' hilarious movie, with no nudity or gratuitous lib crap!! Truly one of the funniest films ever produced, and Ethel Merman was at the top of her acting career, in my opinion. She was absolutely riotous……
Ernie and Ethel together at a party or other soiree, what a hoot!!
wow…you gotta be a gay male, right? with phrases like "as fast as she could scutte along on her claws." reminds of something said by arriana huffingtons former hubby…
Never a big fan of Merman. Didn't dislike her, but her singing/shouting style wasn't my cup of tea.
I'd ask in an open thread about Harry Reid and why the mainstream media always seemed to slip in "the former boxer" when talking about him. He doesn't look or sound like a guy who spent any serious time in the ring. To be honest I suspected Fred Rogers or Peewee Herman would give him quite a tussle. I'd come up empty on searches for any pro or even Golden Gloves experience. I'd joked that perhaps his boxing experience came from getting gloves for Christmas and punching around his little brother. Turns out I wasn't far off. Reid’s boxing experience? He’d signed up for boxing… in high school! I guess I can now start calling myself "the former football star" since I had a good year playing on my freshman team.
What a farce, just as I suspected.
it lasted 72 hours…
The reason the media mentions Reid's boxer experience is to excuse many of his statements as being due to severe blows to the head.
I'm guessing that it was much like the Seinfeld episode where Kramer became an expert at karate. Fighting ten year olds.
Yeah, I got farther down in the thread and saw that, Hollyweird is a strange, strange place!
Being so close to the one year mark since Sully landed the plane on the Hudson (yesterday was the anniversary?) I thought you all might appreciate this: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tE_5eiYn0D0#...
It is the flight simulation of that flight. Different views, tower to plane communication and cockpit discussion. Very interesting.
You beat me to that comment!
She was in "Airplane", in the psych ward, singing "Everything's coming up roses…", then she had to be subdued by orderlies. Hilarious scene, and funny she had a sense of humor about herself enough to be in the movie.
When, after the divorce, asked why he married her, Ernest Borgnine said he thought she was Rosemary Clooney.
Well if Reid is a "former boxer" than so am I. Did it for 3 months in college to the point that (a) liked my nose just the way it was (b) knew I''d get my !@#$% kicked by a professional welterweight (and I weighed a few classes up), and (c) had a lot of respect for those who could do it…..well. Anyone who can last 12-13 rounds has my respect.
Yes George but wouldn't you have to agree with 100 decisions once the engines quit he did everything right? How many would have tried for a runway and scattered their plane all over NY or NJ? I think that landing will go down like Haynes who landed the DC10 without hydraulics in Iowa years ago. If I am not mistaken every tgry of the same thing by a simulator was a failure – "couldn't be done".
Well I can't leave this thread without reminding everyone of the final scene in It's a Mad Mad World her and slipping on the banana….
With a wife like Arriana I'd be willing to try something else, too
Pretty good, Been flying for 34 + years professionally and Capt Sully had a lot of things going for him, enough Altitude to work with and a pretty calm clear vis day.Doing a dead stick landing is not hard as long as you keep good Airspeed control and have some room to work. As the old saying goes, the runway behind you the altitude above you and the fuel you left on the ground dose you no good! Worked out well. As for Ethel Merman, well happy birthday.
Funniest movie ever.
I'm not gay or a drag queen, but I dig high energy talent of the old school. I cannot be the only straight guy who thinks that Merman belting out a tune is high entertainment. Same thing with early Garland. otoh – Streisand bores me – even her early stuff.
According to documentary material, Merman became an overnight sensation with her performance of "I Got Rhythm" in the Gershwin show GIRL CRAZY in 1930. One song, one night and she's a star. That audience was not filled with gay guys. It's a shame that theater seems to have become a gay man's domain in the eye's of an uneducated public and that the term "show tunes" is now code for 'gay music'.
The disco album was an abomination. She was either deluded into thinking that it was a good idea or she needed the money.
It's a sad coda to a brilliant career.
Isn't the photo of her as Lola Lasagna, helping Penguin tout her horse Bumbershoot, from Batman?
Not making assumptions about your preferences, or theater in general, just noting that all three ladies share a certain icon status in the drag world, thus it's funny to see all three together.
I understand. And I am are of their status among some gay men.
It just irks me that much show music and performers are now thought of by the public at large as being the province of gays only.
looks like a happy woman
Right! You got my number! Based on a few lines in a blog you've "outed" me. Excuse me now while I go put on my makeup to some righteous songs by "Queen"…sheesh!
If you're a fan of Ethel, you'll love this parody of Ethel singing Rock songs (PG rated). http://www.swyzzle.com/SWApp/?lid=9d868595-07ed-4...
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