The old gal was really hustling for the $$$ in the 1970s. Was she not paid well? Certainly she had some money from being Mrs. Six?
Those poor children must have been scarred for life. “Mommy, you said we were going to see The Hues Corporation.”
Desperate
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | March 30, 2021 2:38 PM |
Maybe she did it for fun, not in desperation for money.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | March 30, 2021 3:32 PM |
The audience seems to be black women only. What was that about? Segregation?
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | March 30, 2021 3:37 PM |
I have just never understood the whole Ethel Merman thing.
She seems like your fat neighbour lady who's loud and sings in her kitchen. And somehow got to Broadway.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | March 30, 2021 3:58 PM |
[quote]Certainly she had some money from being Mrs. Six?
Talk about false advertising! He was 4-and-a-half, even on his best day.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | March 30, 2021 5:07 PM |
[quote]She seems like your fat neighbour lady who's loud and sings in her kitchen.
Actually that was her appeal.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | March 30, 2021 5:22 PM |
Stars very rarely decide that they've had enough of stardom.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | March 30, 2021 6:30 PM |
Ethel had a brain tumor, some say that explains her outrageous behavior and choices. She didn't get much money from Bob Six, who emotionally and physically abused Ethel, her parents(!), and children. He had serious BDF.
Funny story: While rehearsing a guest appearance on The Loretta Young Show, Merman exclaimed "Where the hell does this go?" Young, who was a devout Catholic, advanced towards her waving an empty coffee can, saying "Come on, Ethel. You know my rules. That'll cost you a dollar." To which Merman replied "Tell me, Loretta, how much will it cost me to tell you to go fuck yourself?"
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | March 30, 2021 7:11 PM |
Actually, R6, I just watched her (Tom Brokaw on NBC News) obituary, in which he said “considered by many to be the greatest musical theatre actress of all time.” She was the favorite singer of both Cole Porter and Irving Berlin; George Gershwin inscribed a photo to her “a lucky composer is he who has you singing his songs”; Jule Styne referred to her as “the best”; Stephen Sondheim said she was “thrilling” in Gypsy; Jerry Herman wrote Hello, Dolly for her; Richard Rodgers said one of his greatest regrets was never getting to hear her sing one of his scores….so, though she may have become a bit of a caricature of herself by the 70s, and may be hard to understand by people who didn’t experience her, (especially live) her Broadway stardom was not a fluke.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 24, 2021 2:57 AM |
R7
Exactly what I was thinking......
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 24, 2021 2:59 AM |
She was always fun, upbeat, and professional. I like her shimmy dancing in this performance. I think a much bigger rack would have improved her look.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 24, 2021 3:12 AM |
Ethel Merman started on Broadway in 1930. In those days you had to have a big voice to be heard through the orchestra without a mic. She performed with tremendous energy, which came across the footlights and grabbed the audience. She can be forgiven for not being relevant in the (and her) seventies.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 24, 2021 4:01 AM |