So LuPone pulls a Merman at Gypsy?- Page 2

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 11:50am

Did Ethel EVER do anything like this?

Story has it she left the stage, went into the audience and physically threw a drunk heckler out the emergency exit into the alley. I can't remember which show it was, though.

[D2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 11:55am

The show was CALL ME MADAM. Stritch was her standby.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 12:00pm

Stritch was never one to let the truth get in the one of a good story.
Dody Goodman tells it differently.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 12:23pm

This is news to me, so thanks for posting...especially the audioclip.

However, isn't that a bit hypocritical? People getting yelled at for taking pictures and someone recorded the whole thing. Aren't you not supposed to do that too?

At any rate, I would have been upset if I were emotionally invested in the performance.

But...since it was recorded, does anyone know what she did when she said, "You know what we're going to do?"

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 12:24pm

She started again from the top.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 1:27pm

I thought it was Call Me Madam, but I couldn't be sure. I do know I read it from another source, however.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 1:39pm

I'm not challenging the Merman story, I've just never heard it before. I've always thought her a "Show must go on" type of Diva- Not a "Stop it! Your picture taking is shattering my concentration!" type.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 1:40pm

Oh, it's everywhere, Matt. I was surprised that Joekv had never heard it before - it's classic show-biz apochrypha. I heard it long before Stritch was telling it (at least she, Goodman - and Mister Matt - agree that the show was indeed Call me Madam, if they don't agree on the specifics of the event).

I always wondered about Merman and Mary Martin's swear jar.

Story goes, Martin had a swear jar backstage at some show. You know, you had to put in for each expletive you uttered - fifty cents for "bastard", a quarter for "damn", and so on. It goes on to tell that one night Merman, annoyed about the practice, hands Martin a sawbuck. Says:

"Here's ten bucks - go fcuk yourself!"

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 4:38pm

Though notice that in the version Elaine Stritch tells and the Dody Goodman version they both state that Merman attempted to continue on until it became impossible to do so. Even the most professional artist can be pushed to their limits.

[Patti_LuPone_Fan]

Posted: 6/29/09 at 8:27pm

Scarywarhol, have you been living under a rock. Patti the sun, the light, not always the grace but if not that the voice of reason on stage.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/1/09 at 7:46am

It was definitekly Loretta Young who was famnous for her swear jar.

I think Mary martin was less virginal in her private life than she was in her stage persona.