Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
#1Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 10:20am
Has it really been 30 years? Not that she's considered 'relevant' any other place other than on this board, I still wonder which of today's Broadway stars will be pictured in a Times article 30 years after their death (albeit for a film role, not a stage role). Nevertheless, she was a singular talent; nobody like her before or since. Here's to you, Miss Merman!
It's A Mad Mad..World restored version issued on DVD
'Our whole family shouts. It comes from us livin' so close to the railroad tracks'
#2Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:07amI think the only person still with us in that picture is Mickey Rooney.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#2Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:12am
I remember that day vividly. I was still teaching and when I came home that afternoon I put on WQXR, the classical music station. They were playing the Lincoln Center revival of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. As they normally didn't play that sort of thing, I knew Ethel had passed. Moments later they gave an account of her death and a bit of an obituary.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#3Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:20am
Ethel sings a sweet "Show Business" to the Muppets:
http://youtu.be/-kdggcQhysQ
#4Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:29amI can't believe it's been 30 years! She is so alive in my memory. And she lives on in movies and on recordings (and yeah, on bootlegs, too!).
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#5Ethel Merman died 30 years ago today
Posted: 2/15/14 at 11:31am
I know Michael Riedel isn't everyone's favorite NY personality, but I really enjoyed the 2012 Theater Talk episode in which he and little Susan Haskins--she tries, bless her--interviewed Tony Cointreau and Jim Russo about their decades long friendships with the Merm. I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Ethel Merman's singing (I know, I know--sacrilegious), but I've loved her quirky film roles like Mad, Mad...World and have always admired her love of and commitment to the theatre. The interview gives some wonderful insight into both her career, her apparent kind and loving nature with her friends--not always what we hear first about with her, and some of the daunting struggles she overcame in her personal life. I wish they'd expanded the interview to a full hour. I think that group could have easily chatted on happily about the Merm. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, highly recommended.
THEATER TALK: The Private LIfe of Ethel Merman
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