I've posted this before, but this is the way I was told the story, by someone who guaranteed that every Merman story he ever told was fabricated, exaggerated and adapted to the audience.
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Merman was dragged against her will to see Lauren Bacall in Woman of the Year on opening night. At the climax of Bacall's big song "One of the Boys (Who's One of the Girls)" Bacall hit one of her legendary "foghorn" notes.
Merman squirmed through the big build-up to the big note, as Bacall "sang":
I've layers of lacquer a lady enjoys,
I've earrings and bracelets and various toys,
But I love when I've slipped into ripped corduroys,
Because I'm one of the girls...
One of the girls...
One of the girls
Who's one of...
Thuuuuuuuuuuuhhh-- And as Bacall let go of that awful note to take her breath for the final note, the entire audience heard a familiar voice from the middle of the 10th row mutter loudly,
"JEEEZUS!" Onstage, Bacall could here her too. The entire audience, watched silently, while Bacall held her arms at 10-and-2, seething, before singing the final word: "--boys."
The reception in the dressing room after was icy.
