In 1929, when she was just 21 years old, Ethel Merman contracted a severe case of tonsillitis. For the young singer, who dreamed of singing professionally in the theatre, this was a great concern. Incredibly, and against all odds, Merman recovered. And her powerful mezzo-soprano voice was stronger than ever.
Ethel Merman's voice was renowned, not only for its raw, earthy tones and immense power, but also for its remarkable pitch and precise enunciation. In the early days of theatre stage performers didn't use microphones, so Merman's voice gave her a great advantage in the sometimes fickle world of show business. Incredibly, Merman never had a singing lesson in her life.
Born in her grandmother's house in Astoria, Queens in 1908, Ethel Agnes Zimmermann lived near the Famous Players-Lasky's studios. She used to watch the silent movie stars driving past her home in their large cars, and dream of joining their ranks when she was older. She began singing at her family's Episcopalian church, and before long she was singing at local concerts.
Ethel's parents were supportive of their daughter's musical aspirations, but were concerned at the unreliable nature of show business. They told her she needed to complete her education and train for secretarial work in case her dreams were never realised. After graduating, Ethel worked as a stenographer at a local factory during the day, supplementing her $28 weekly salary by singing at night at clubs and private parties. As her popularity increased, she was able to relinquish her secretarial work and concentrate on singing full time.
Despite being contracted at $200 per week by Warner Brothers, the studio was trying to adjust to the recent development of sound films. The lack of regular work frustrated Ethel, who negotiated an early release from the studio to concentrate on live performances. She also adopted a shortened version of her surname, because "Merman" fitted better than "Zimmermann" on theatre playbills and newspaper advertisements.
Merman's big break came in 1930. Legendary Broadway producer Vinton Freedley saw her performing at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre. He immediately offered her a role in his next musical "Girl Crazy", conditional upon the approval of songwriters Ira and George Gershwin. At her audition Merman sang "Sam and Delilah" and "I Got Rhythm" for the brothers. When she finished George Gershwin, mistaking Merman's thoughtful expression as an indication of her disapproval of their songs, offered to change the songs to suit her.
Surprised, Merman answered Gershwin in her traditional, non-nonsense fashion: "They will do very nicely, Mr Gershwin". The Gershwins were delighted at the somewhat unorthodox and unexpected response, and Ethel began rehearsing her role.
The opening night of "Girl Crazy" was a resounding success. After Merman sang "I Got Rhythm", which included her holding a C note for 16 bars, the enthralled audience demanded encore after encore. At interval, Gershwin left the orchestra pit and went to Merman's dressing room. He asked her if she knew what she was doing, and she shook her head. He told her to never go near a singing teacher, and also to "never forget your shorthand".
A star was born. Her subsequent performances caught Hollywood's attention, and after a couple of appearances in forgettable films she returned to Broadway. In Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" she sang the title song, as well as the now classic "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "Blow Gabriel Blow". She was the only member of the cast to appear in the 1936 screen version of the show, which starred Bing Cosby. Not only did Merman star in the show, she was also instrumental in its development. The original script was rewritten during rehearsals, and Merman put her secretarial skills to practise by taking down the dialogue as the writers improvised the script. She then typed out the final, approved material herself.
Despite her formidable stage presence and outstanding voice, Merman did not have the traditional glamorous looks of a traditional Hollywood leading lady. A well received role in 1938's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" did not bring other film roles, so Merman returned to the stage. By the end of the 1930s she was the most popular female star on Broadway. Roles in Cole Porter's hits "Red, White and Hot" and "DuBarry was a Lady" helped cement her reputation.
While Merman's energy and talent were legendary, she was infamous for her reluctance to meet her fellow performers' eyes while on stage. Her only focus was her audience, and while this trait would not have been endorsed by any acting teacher, it delighted the public, who flocked to her shows.
Two more Cole Porter shows followed in the next decade. She played a tough bar owner who decides to change her life when she falls in love with a high society diplomat in "Panama Hattie". Porter's musical "Something For the Boys" was a deliberately light-hearted piece of wartime entertainment, with Merman playing a girl who discovers her fillings can detect radio signals when she and two cousins inherit a ranch located next to a military base. Her character helps save a stricken plane, while winning the heart of a bandleader turned soldier.
During most of World War II Merman worked on Broadway, appearing in war bond concerts and performing for troops in the New York area. She appeared in the film "Stage Door Canteen", about the Manhattan nightclub where stars performed for military audiences during the war.
The simple, uncomplicated musical comedies of pre-war Broadway gave way to shows like Rogers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" which incorporated a detailed storyline with music, song and dance. Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun" cast Merman as the title character, Annie Oakley, in 1946, and became her signature role. The show's theatrical anthem "There's No Business Like Show Business" became synonymous with Merman, and she performed it to critical acclaim during her entire career.
She soon became the highest paid performer on Broadway, earning a salary of $4,700 a week. Broadway's top composers wrote some of their best work for her, delighted with the way she brought their writing to life. Irving Berlin once commented: "You'd better not write a bad lyric for Merman because people will hear it in the second balcony." Cole Porter called her "La Merman", because to him she sounded "like a band going by".
Irving Berlin continued to work with Merman, who won a Tony Award for her role as Sally Adams in his 1950's musical "Call Me Madam." As an American socialite who finds romance after being appointed ambassador to a small European principality, Merman proved irreplaceable, and appeared in a successful film version of the show in 1953.
Despite her success as Gypsy Rose Lee's mother in "Gypsy", she was not cast in the film version of the show. The role went to Rosalind Russell, much to Merman's disappointment. A theatrical version of the show with Merman reprising her role was taken on a tour across America, resulting in the motion picture achieving mediocre reviews.
Ethel Merman's stage success was not reflected on the silver screen, perhaps because her real life persona was so powerful it was more suited to the stage than to celluloid. In 1953 a television special with Mary Martin was so well received it resulted in a best-selling album. It also turned Merman into a popular television star, and she appeared on many variety shows and television specials.
In 1970 Merman retired from the stage, with her final performance as Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly!" The lead role was originally written for Merman, who had initially declined the part, claiming she was too tired to take on another show. Her initial three month run was so popular her contract was extended to nine months. It was a fitting farewell to the theatre for "The Grande Dame of the Broadway Stage".
While Ethel Merman's public life was an unqualified success, her personal life was not smooth. All four of her marriages ended in divorce. Her last marriage, to Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine, lasted 32 days. Neither Borgnine nor Merman ever spoke about the marriage, although Merman dedicated a blank page in her autobiography to the chapter about her fourth marriage. She had two children Bobby and Ethel - with her second husband, newspaper executive Robert Levitt. In 1967 her daughter died from an overdose of prescription drugs.
Merman continued to perform in nightclubs, film and television. She voiced the evil witch Mombi in the 1971 animated feature film "Journey Back to Oz" and appeared in the 1976 comedy "Ron Ton Ton". She made a memorable and successful appearance as difficult mother in law in Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Television work included a role as a singing missionary in "Tarzan", and an appearance as the comic criminal Lola Lasagna on "Batman". She played herself on "The Lucy Show" and "That Girl", and sang with Kermit and the regular characters on "The Muppet Show". Her unpretentious attitude and straightforward opinions gave her regular roles on both national and local talk shows. She also spoofed herself very successfully in the classic comedy film "Airplane".
Ethel Merman's final New York performance was in a benefit for the Museum of the City of New York's theatre collection at Carnegie Hall in 1982. For over one hour the 74 year old Merman's powerful voice filled the theatre, thrilling her audience with its character and intensity.
In April the following year Merman experienced a sudden flash of pain while relaxing at her apartment. She believed she had suffered a stroke. Her doctors told her she had an inoperable brain tumour. Her friends gathered around her and gave her great support, but her health steadily declined. For such an independent woman this enforced helplessness was surely the ultimate nightmare. Her son Bobby looked after his mother, and was with her when she died on February 15, 1984.
In her second autobiography, published shortly before she fell ill, Merman said: "I don't want to sound pretentious, but in a funny way I feel I'm the last of a kind. I don't mean that there aren't some girls out there somewhere who are just as talented as I was. But even if they are, where will they find the shows like 'Girl Crazy', 'Anything Goes', 'Annie Get Your Gun', 'Call Me Madam' and 'Gypsy'? They just don't produce those vehicles anymore."
Nor do they make singers like Ethel Merman anymore.