Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Twenty-two-year-old ex-stenographer and former nightclub singer Ethel Merman achieved overnight superstardom when, in 1930, she first belted out "I Got Rhythm" in the Broadway production of Girl Crazy. Merman's subsequent stage hits included Anything Goes, Red, Hot and Blue, Panama Hattie, Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Madam, and Gypsy. While her Living Legend status was secure on the Great White Way, Merman was less fortunate in the movies. She was upstaged by Ed Wynn in Follow the Leader (1930), by Bing Crosby and Burns and Allen in We're Not Dressing (1934), by Eddie Cantor in Kid Millions (1934), and -- most ignominiously -- by the Ritz Brothers in Straight, Place and Show (1938). While she was permitted to repeat her stage roles in the movie versions Anything Goes (1936) and Call Me Madam (1954), she had to endure watching Betty Hutton wail her way through the film adaptations Red, Hot and Blue (1949) and Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and withstand the spectacle of a miscast Rosalind Russell misplaying the part of Mama Rose in the 1963 filmization Gypsy. Perhaps Merman's talents were too big and bombastic for the comparatively intimate medium of films; or perhaps she just didn't photograph well enough to suit the Hollywood higher-ups. Merman's best movie work includes the two Irving Berlin catalogues Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), and her character role as Milton Berle's behemoth mother-in-law in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). Ethel Merman's final film appearance was a cameo in Airplane! (1980): she played the unfortunate Lieutenant Hurwitz, who is confined to the psycho ward because he thinks he's Ethel Merman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of Ethel Merman:
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with Spencer Tracy , Milton Berle , Sid Caesar , Buddy Hackett , Mickey Rooney , Phil Silvers , Dick Shawn , Jimmy Durante , Buster Keaton , Jonathan Winters , Edie Adams , Dorothy Provine , Eddie "Rochester" Anderson , Ben Blue , William Demarest , Peter Falk , Paul Ford , Leo Gorcey , Edward Everett Horton , Don Knotts , Carl Reiner , Andy Devine , Sterling Holloway , Marvin Kaplan , Charles McGraw , ZaSu Pitts , Madlyn Rhue , Arnold Stang , Jesse White , Lloyd Corrigan , Norman Fell , Jim Backus , Joe E. Brown , Stanley Clements , Howard DaSilva , Larry Fine , Moe Howard , Allen Jenkins , Harry Lauter , Mike Mazurki , Roy Roberts , Terry-Thomas , Doodles Weaver , Jerry Lewis
- Stage Door Canteen with Judith Anderson , Tallulah Bankhead , Ralph Bellamy , Edgar Bergen , Ray Bolger , Virginia Field , Helen Hayes , Katharine Hepburn , Hugh Herbert , Jean Hersholt , Sam Jaffe , Allen Jenkins , George Jessel , Otto Kruger , Gypsy Rose Lee , Aline MacMahon , Harpo Marx , Ralph Morgan , Alan Mowbray , Paul Muni , Merle Oberon , George Raft , Martha Scott , Ned Sparks , Ethel Waters , May Whitty , Ed Wynn , Elliott Nugent , Helen Broderick , Sunset Carson , Jane Darwell , William Demarest , Billy Gilbert , Roscoe Karns , June Lang , Charlie the Dummy McCarthy , Franklin Pangborn , Ruth Roman , Johnny Sr. Weissmuller , Lloyd Corrigan , Xavier Cugat , Peggy Lee
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood with Bruce Dern , Madeline Kahn , Art Carney , Phil Silvers , Ron Leibman , Teri Garr , Edward Ashley , Billy Barty , William Benedict , Edgar Bergen , Janet Blair , Joan Blondell , John Carradine , Jack Carter , Cyd Charisse , Jackie Coogan , Broderick Crawford , Yvonne DeCarlo , Gloria DeHaven , William Demarest , Andy Devine , Alice Faye , Fritz Feld , Stepin Fetchit , Rhonda Fleming , Eddie Jr. Foy , Shecky Greene , Huntz Hall , Dick Haymes , Sterling Holloway , Dorothy Lamour , Peter Lawford , Keye Luke , Guy Madison , Victor Mature , Virginia Mayo , Mike Mazurki , Ann Miller , Ricardo Montalban , Dennis Morgan , Patricia Morison , Louis Nye , Walter Pidgeon , Aldo Ray , Ann Rutherford , Dean Stockwell , Regis Toomey , Rudy Vallee , Doodles Weaver , Jesse White , Henny Youngman , Milton Berle , Rory Calhoun , Tab Hunter , George Jessel , Fernando Lamas , Ken Murray , Henry Wilcoxon
Ethel Merman Trivia
