It's Ethel Merman's Yahrzeit, Y'all

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 9:32am

She died this day on 1984. Here she is, at a tender age, telling us what it will be like for us "After I'm Gone":

http://youtu.be/ebSvhyTBawI

[Addison D.]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 10:01am

PJ--May I ask how you remember this? Do you keep a calendar of such things? Eidetic memory? Or is Merman in a special category?

I can barely remember Parents and Grandparents, let alone Divas and Icons.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:20am

What's not to remember?


Ethel sings a sweet "Show Business" to the Muppets:

http://youtu.be/-kdggcQhysQ

[bobs3]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 2:29pm

You wouldn't know it from her performances and personality but Ethel Merman was actually baptized Episcopalian and worshiped in the Episcopal Church her entire life. I would not be surprised if she had Jewish roots (Grandparents maybe?).

[artscallion]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 2:35pm

addison, there's a facebook page that you can like that posts notifications every day of birthdays, death anniversaries, etc for classic stars...
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

[Jon]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 6:20pm

Ethel was quite adamant about letting folks know she was NOT Jewish.

There is the famous story about her being invited to Seder at Jule Styne's, and bringing a ham sandwich in case she hated the food.

[bobs3]

Posted: 2/15/14 at 10:53pm

A ham sandwich at a Passover Seder? That is so wrong and so funny!

[Jon]

Posted: 2/17/14 at 8:26am

Which reminds me of the famous Ann Miller story (probably apocryphal):

During the run of SUGAR BABIES, one of the chorus girls asked Ann, "Are you going to work on Passover?", to which Ann replied, "Oh honey, I don't do game shows!"

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/18/14 at 1:47pm

Ethel was really Sephardic. She told everyone Merman was a shortened version of Zimmermann (with those two n's, a German name, not a German Jewish one? in any event, not Jewish), but it was really a shortened version of Mermonides.

(not my best joke, but what the hell)








zimmerman, zimmermann, jew or not jew? Updated On: 2/19/14 at 01:47 PM

[steveshack]

Posted: 2/19/14 at 5:02am

The Merm! One of my favorite subjects. I haven't checked in on the boards in eons. How nice to see Ethel back.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/19/14 at 8:30am

I love playing "Jew, Not Jew." It's almost as fun as "Dead, Not Dead."

So Ethel WASN'T Jewish, but she IS dead. ... Just to be clear.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 2/19/14 at 8:35am

Oy--It's like listening to my Grandma Ruth, reading the obituaries every morning...

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/20/14 at 2:27pm

Perhaps George Zimmerman (also not Jewish) can keep a lower profile (yeah, like that's about to happen) by changing his name to George Merman.