I came across this video on youtube of the real Gypsy Rose Lee interviewing Ethel Merman on The Gypsy Rose Lee show. Very interesting interview.
the real Gypsy Rose Lee interviews Merman
Wow, that rehearsal footage is amazing to see!
Updated On: 9/15/08 at 02:23 PM
I could watch that over and over.
I love Lee's positive reaction to Merman playing her mother. I was worried that she might have been negative or upset about it but she was as happy as happy could be about the whole thing. I also think that that was the only footage I have ever seen of the upstairs theatre at the New Amsterdam. A place that is now only used as a storage space for Disney On Broadway.
I saw Tommy Tune's preliminary workshop for Nine up there. It was magical.
I love that clip, but I always wonder...
"Was she on coke?"
WOW!
She looks a lot like (a very old) Laura Benanti!
She looks nothing like the beautiful Benanti at all.
Merman: "Does anyone still wear a hat?"
A Mink one at that!
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