New Ethel biography trashed...

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:11am

Some graphic sexual images of Ethel Merman I hoped never to see!

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/7284

"It would be a pleasure to report that Mark, an obvious Mermophile who has also written biographies of Ella Fitzgerald and Lucille Ball, has captured the whole, unadulterated Merman. Unfortunately, his book is a botch."
______________________________________________

"This is a harsh judgment, yet the evidence is on pretty much every page. Merman was known for her salty vocabulary but she's no match for her chronicler, who announces on page five: "Romantically, she thought with her vagina." That brusque, ungainly, needlessly vulgar sentence has plenty of company: "Blessed with fascinating breasts...She gave great boss." (Whatever that means.) "It was a very fortuitous batch of blow jobs." "And Sherman Billingsley, who had been sending his gifts to Ethel long distance, happily greeted Ethel with open arms (and an open zipper).""
______________________________________________

"Mark's book is so surfacey that, in the end, we can't tell whether Merman was a one-dimensional woman or a complex individual at the mercy of an inept biographer. But we may not have to wait long to find out: Brian Kellow, features editor of Opera News, has a Merman bio in the works. Let's hope it evinces the finesse and professionalism that Mark's work lacks."

Updated On: 12/13/05 at 01:11 AM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:14am

I agree with that review completely. It's a very problematic bio, though it does contain some illuminating details.

[Kringas]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:16am

Margo, I remember you saying in another thread (and I just read in the review) the book says, "Romantically, she thought with her vagina." That's enough to get me to read the book.

[jimmirae]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:25am

That review makes the book sound "Rabid". Interesting name from the past there though with Benay Venuta... Funny, When I greeted her after "Pippin" I never got that vibe off her...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:44am

The author doesn't confirm or deny any of the lesbian stuff. He only devotes a couple of pages to it, mentioning that the rumors exist and he hints he doesn't believe them.

He spends much more time with her heterosexual life. She was quite sexually active (though rather conservative on the surface). Lots of messed up relationships and bad marriages to men who invariably took her money and sponged off of her while she was bread winner and wore the pants in the family.

Updated On: 12/13/05 at 01:44 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 2:19am

This sounds just too trashy to live. What a terrible thing to publish something so nasty, vile and gossipy about a legend such as Merman.

Where can I get a copy, STAT?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 5:09am

The review is very complete, I can't believe there's actually an analogy that has to do with Michael Jackson on an Ethel Merman biography. I have never understood how come Merman is such a gay icon if she was such a strong Republican. Does this book touch on the famous Russell v. Merman feud? What about her thoughts on Sondheim and Jerome Robbins? I tried reading her autobiography but I read that it skipped over many stuff so I decided not to read it, I'm still waiting for a complete Merman biography, I guess this is not the one.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 1:27pm

Merman comes across best in her two autobiographies though she (naturally) glosses over the unpleasant stuff and makes a case for her standing up for herself. The books read like she is sitting there chatting to you. I enjoyed Bob Thomas' book which shed some light on the darker side of Merman's life. We all have a darker side. We all go through troubled periods. In an interview she did in 1979 for a radio show I produced the following exchnage wrapped it up:

Q: What have been some of your disappointments?

MERMAN: Marriages! ... but as I always say, we all make mistakes that's why they put rubbers on pencils. And that's what I did. I made a few Loo-loos! (laughs)

That was Ethel!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 1:38pm

There was never any "romance" between Merman and Venuta. I never knew Merman, but I have been friends with Venuta's granddaughter (who is Merman's goddaughter) for many many years, and spent quite a bit of time with Benay in the few years before she died. She was no more a lesbian than Margo here.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 1:45pm

The rumors mentioned were about Merman and Jacqueline Susann having a brief affair after one of Ethel's divorces (the 4th?). The source of the rumor? Benay Venuta (along with a few unnamed others).

[midtowngym]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 1:47pm

This sounds like an amateur biography. Written by a blushing fan from the excerpts posted online. "Romantically, she thought with her vagina." That's enough to NOT get me to read the book.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 1:48pm

I thought I read in a review that one of the rumors was that Merman and Venuta had some sort of affair.

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:00pm

Wasn't Merman the inspiration for the character of "Helen Lawson" in Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:18pm

"MERMAN: Marriages! ... but as I always say, we all make mistakes that's why they put rubbers on pencils. And that's what I did. I made a few Loo-loos! (laughs)"

Yes, and according to the new biography, pencils aren't the only things she needed rubbers for.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:24pm

The Merman-Venuta liason is quickly dismissed -- they were on again off again pals for decades, but there's no evidence there was a romantic aspect to their relationship. But, Venuta herself puts forth the info about a possible Susann-Merman tryst.

It's really pretty poorly written all in all. Some gossip. Endless details about every gig she played in 50 years (he must have gotten his hands on her travel itineraries). No real insights into her working relationships with her co-stars or people like Styne, Robbins, Sondheim, Herman, Berlin, Gershwin etc.....

[defying_gravity2]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:24pm

Wow, I'm glad I entered the contest to win this. I'm very intruiged...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:38pm

Thank you, Margo. I feel better.

[morosco]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 3:01pm

I was surprised at how thin a read this book it. Hardly worth the effort.

[Kringas]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 1:07pm

I know the book is supposed to be crap, but I won a copy! I never win anything!

[bschneid76]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 1:21pm

I'm glad I didn't buy it then. Almost bought it on an impulse because she is one of my fave Broadway stars! Did you see The PBS special with the Boston Pops, i cheered at the end of the Merman thing, she was great!

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 2:36pm

One of my best friends before he died was Merman's publicist Phillip Bloom. He claimed Merman was never a lesbian, as did oublicist Robert Ullman and Louis Booto, editpor of PLAYBILL. I saw Michael Reidel on tv a couple of years ago referring to the butch Ethel Merman as if she were lesbian, and he's misinformed.

I never knew Merman, but my friend stephen Cole, did, and he's acknowledged in the book. I need to ask him his opinion of the book. The only show Merman and I have in common is GIRL CRAZY; I was one of the editors on the Rexbury recording with Judy Blazer, and the orchestra parts to "I Got Rhythm" do not jive with the account of Merman and the high C in the song in the new bio.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/24/05 at 5:50pm

"Romantically, she thought with her vagina."

Hell, I think with my vagina but romance has NOTHING to do with it. Sounds like a real page turner. Can't wait to get it.