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There is probably no other name in show business that connotes the power and vitality of a singing voice than that of the inimitable Ethel Merman. I can remember back in 1984 when I worked for a short time at the Lighthouse Gift Shop in New York City. They auctioned off some of her things, which were willed in her estate to benefit that organization after her death. I remember looking at the vinyl tote-bag and faux-fur coat and thinking about how such ordinary items were suddenly transformed by their mere association with a woman who had such an extraordinary voice and talent. She stands alone in the annals of the American musical; a legend for all time.

Ethel Agnes Zimmermann was born on January 16, 1908, in the third floor bedroom of her grandmother's house at 359 4th Avenue in Astoria, Queens. Her father, Edward, was an accountant of German heritage and her mother Agnes, who was a school teacher, came from a Scottish Presbyterian background. Many presumed her to be of Jewish origin, although her last name would only be considered so if it contained one "n." She was baptized Episcopalian, and as a young girl would stand outside the Famous Players-Lasky Studios and wait to catch a glimpse of her favorite Broadway star, Alice Brady. Her father encouraged her love of song and her dreams of singing on stage, and often accompanied her on the piano as she sang "By The Light of The Silv'ry Moon" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

She began her singing career while working as a secretary for the B-K Booster Vacuum Brake Company in Queens, New York. Her love of song and performing lured her into the world of vaudeville where she reached the pinnacle of success when she performed at the Palace Theater in the heart of New York City. In "Girl Crazy," a musical with songs written by George and Ira Gershwin, which also starred a very young Ginger Rogers, Ethel received third billing. Her rendition of "I've Got Rhythm" catapulted her to fame. By the late 1930s, she became the first lady of the Broadway musical stage, a position she would hold for many years to come. There are many who consider Ethel Merman to be the leading Broadway performer of the twentieth century with her signature song, "There's No Business Like how Business."

In an era when stage singers performed without benefit of microphones, Ethel and her powerful alto voice had a distinct advantage. She never took a singing lesson in her life and according to Broadway lore, George Gershwin himself warned her never

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