Remembering CALL ME MADAM on its 65th anniversary

I love Ethel's dresses in these photos. Main Bocher designed them specifically for her. Ethel Merman: A Life has some really interesting stuff on the show. It's a shame that a full cast recording with Ethel was never made, though the film soundtrack is a good listen, despite its horrible sound quality. Great spread as always, Nowack.

aj88 said: "I have always really liked this show and hoped it would be brought back. I could even see it being a good vehicle for someone like Jane Lynch, if they wanted to try to get someone who could potentially help sell tickets.

You're Just in Love has always been my favorite duet. It isn't earth shattering but I have loved it from a very young age.

"

Most of the humor is political and relates to the Cold War. I saw it as recently as 10 years ago (with Karen Morrow and Hugh Panaro) and it already seemed a museum piece. I think a major revival would either play as nostalgia for senior citizens or require a major "revisal". But the basic premise no longer has the same bite now that few remember that Sally Adams (Ethel Merman's role) is based on the real-life Pearl Mesta, Washington hostess and ambassadress to Luxembourg.

***

Re the national tour mentioned by the OP, I believe he refers to the tour of 1966-67. (In the 1970s, Merman was busy touring for her disco album.) It was to have been a tour of the Lincoln Center revival of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1965), but Merman changed to MADAM when the reviews in New York all talked about how she was too old to play Annie Oakley.

I saw the tour twice, in Fort Lauderdale and a week later in Miami. (My ticket for the former cost $1.95 for the last row on the extreme right, but since I was 12, it still took me two months to save up for two tickets, the second for my grandmother who drove me.)

Even from the back row, Merman was absolutely thrilling! It's really hard to explain her appeal (and God knows I tried over 15 years of teaching musical theater) to generations who are used to body mikes. In 1966, there were only general floor or ceiling mikes and the orchestra usually dropped its volume to a hush whenever anyone sang. Not so with Merman, who could be heard even over a pit band playing full out.

At a Saturday matinee of senior citizens in Ft. Lauderdale, Merman and Russell Nype (the latter also in the role he created) got 7 curtain calls for "You're Just in Love". The audience simply would not let them continue the show.

Finally, Merman was indeed what Sondheim calls her: " a great low comedienne". As I've written elsewhere, she did at least five minutes "in one" as her character tried to figure out how to walk in a dress with a train. I was on the floor laughing, even though physical comedy isn't usually a favorite of mine.

And, yes, she gave the EXACT same performance in Miami, even though the rest of the company adjusted to a different house and even a somewhat different set.

Mr. N, I'm embarrassed to say I can feel my heart beating faster just to recall Merman's MADAM. It's been 50 years; I ought to have calmed down by now, eh? LOL.

CORRECTION: In my post above I implied that body mikes didn't exist in 1966 and I believe that is incorrect. Now that I think of it, I believe I read an early version of the technology was used on Helen Traubel in PIPE DREAM on Broadway a decade earlier. But they were still primitive, even up through the early 1970s, and had an unfortunate tendency to pick up police radios. I later worked for a number of years at the theater where I first saw MADAM and we still weren't using body mikes when I left in 1977. (It is a 1200-seat house. In the mid-70s, we used body mikes on all principals at our 3,000 seat theater in Miami Beach.)

Ah, but Mr. R, remember how we used to sit in the dark while the orchestra played reprises so that they could get those hard sets in place? What audience would have the patience today?

R&H were certainly the masters of speeding up shows by alternating scenes "in one" before a show curtain with full stage scenes. Yet if you listen to the "full recording" of SOUTH PACIFIC (the one with Paige O'Hara as Nellie), it's amazing how much time is devoted to "incidental music" while the sets are changed.

***

Confidential to Mr. Nowack: since I obviously have such fond memories of Merman, I thought I might be disappointed with Morrow. I needn't have worried. She was phenomenal and made the role her own. Panaro is also a favorite of mine and those two big voices on "You're Just in Love" brought down the house!

Updated On: 10/12/15 at 06:40 PM

What a shame we only have (as far as I know) the two OBC recordings (GRASS HARP and I HAD A BALL) of Morrow. The odd thing is that while she has a Merman-size instrument, she's actually very insecure, even about her own abilities. (She and I taught at the same university for years, but we have a close friend in common which is where I get most of my information.)

I complimented her on the encore she and Panaro got with "You're Just in Love" (a real encore as opposed to the pre-scheduled encores that theater normally employed) and all she did was complain about how it threw her off and she didn't know what to do when people kept yelling for more. (Fortunately, Panaro just started singing again.)

She had a pivotal role in the movie Mad World as the mother in law from hell. She also had a cameo in Airplane. Her TV highlight was as Lola Lasagna in the old Batman TV series.

Here's Merman singing "You're Just in Love" with Tab Hunter:

Thanks for the Tab Hunter Ethel version!!!! Heavenish hilarity. That was Ethel doing what she does best.

Singing and clowning. Dont miss that clip!

Gaveston said: "R&H were certainly the masters of speeding up shows by alternating scenes "in one" before a show curtain with full stage scenes. Yet if you listen to the "full recording" of SOUTH PACIFIC (the one with Paige O'Hara as Nellie), it's amazing how much time is devoted to "incidental music" while the sets are changed."

Funny you say that--SP was notable as being one of the first major musicals and certainly the first R&H one (if we discount Allegro's reliance on projections and sliding panels,) that tried to get away from "in one" scenes. Josh Logan's original staging was remarked upon for being so cinematic and having scenes that would "wipe" (to use the movie term) into the next scene and how quickly it all flowed. The video of the Mary Martin London production shows this in spades. Of course by the time of King and I they were back to doing scenes in one.

Mr. Nowak, your photo-laden trips down memory lane are always amazing. Thank you so much!

Every time I watch the movie of "Call Me Madam" I totally understand why Ethel never had a major film career. She always seemed to be working so hard and never was never able to relax and let the camera come to her. It must have driven her crazy with jealousy when she made "There's No Business..." with Marilyn Monroe, who of course was the master at making love to the camera.

That said, Jack Warner was crazy to film "Gypsy" without her!

Updated On: 10/15/15 at 11:33 AM

As an FYI for Comcast customers, the movie version of Call Me Madam is now available free on demand.