Annie Get Your Gun

[whyohwhyoh]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 1:40pm

Why does no tape exist of the TV version of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN broadcast in 1967 with Merman? Surely the network must have it or the Museum of Broadcasting. Any clues or information. I remember seeing it and would love to see it again. It's a dream to see it again.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 1:47pm

I share your curiosity, and Jane Klain at the Paley Museum has devoted much time to finding the tape (She DID find the box that once housed it but the title was crossed out suggesting the tape had been erased and reused.)

From published reports, the telecast wasn't successful, cutting the show to 90 minutes and performing without an audience robbed it of its vitality. The 2-hour 1957 broadcast with Mary Martin and John Raitt is very entertaining, and despite the primitive television techniques deserves to be released on DVD.

[whyohwhyoh]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 1:55pm

Thank you. It is amazing that this historic record was not kept and just erased over like a disposable piece of junk. I pray that somehow it has survived.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 2:08pm

So much material from the 1960s that was done on tape has been lost. Tape was expensive, and no one saw any long term residual value the the material. (Many of the 1960's Tonight Show tapes were erased. Those were the days when the show was done in New York and many Broadway stars were featured.)

The clips of Merman performing on the Ed Sullivan Show at the time of the revival just whet the appetite for more.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 2:09pm

"It is amazing that this historic record was not kept and just erased over like a disposable piece of junk."

That's the way they did things back then. I think the first couple of years of Johnny Carson doing The Tonight Show were not kept because they recorded other things over them.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 4:09pm

It's sad that this tape of ANNIE seems to be gone. It's even sadder that Ethel Merman's ashes lie in a shoebox in somebody's attic and no one seems to know what to do with them.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 4:11pm

REference to Ethel Merman's Ashes

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 4:26pm

Actually, her ashes aren't in a shoe box, they are in a gorgeous urn! I've seen them - and trust me they are in a spectacular home in an apartment on Park Avenue owned by dear friends who loved her in life dearly. Its a fitting resting place...

And yes, word on the street is that the original ANNIE video was recorded over, though its hard to believe that a kinescope hasn't turned up somewhere.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 6:57pm

Did you read the article? Lewis Cleale claims he saw the ashes (yes in an urn--my bad) in an attic over a garage.

Is it possible the ashes are transient?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 7:06pm

Well, Merman never did like to work out of town, so I'd be more inclined to believe her on Park Avenue than over a garage.

I vaguely remember that broadcast, oddly enough. I could have been about 7 or 8 at the time, but I seem to remember seeing AGYG on TV.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/20/10 at 11:07pm

I had seen Lincon Center revival twice and loved every second of it. However, the 1967 broadcast which I saw was HORRIBLE. M aybe it was the closeups or maybe because the cast had been doing the show for almost two years, but it really STANK. As a historic momemto, maybe; but as an accurate representation of what Merman was all about was simeply not there. IMO.

[Joey.]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 12:26am

I love this show so much. As far as recordings go, I'm hard-pressed to think of a cast recording that isn't enjoyable.

[Almira]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 12:37am

I'm remembering an audio recording of the show floating around.

It seems a couple show lovers recorded audios of the program directly from the broadcast. A couple of those recordings survived.

[Almira]

Posted: 12/21/10 at 12:38am

The Mary Martin version was released by one of the shadier home video companies in early days of vhs.

I rented it about 12 year ago at the local gay oriented video store. It was really good.

Updated On: 12/21/10 at 12:38 AM