Ethel Merman

Trivia

• The song, sung in her inimitable way, "There's No Business Like Show Business."
• The character "Helen Lawson" in Jacqueline Susann's salacious novel Valley of the Dolls is based on Ethel Merman
• The British Psychobilly band The Meteors recorded an instrumental called "Return Of The Ethel Merman" for their 1986 album Sewertime Blues.
• In the play "Red Herring" by Michael Hollinger, one of the lead characters comments on his marriage to a 'different' Ethel Merman than the one who sang "There's No Business Like Show Business."
• Merman is mentioned a lot in the musical series Forbidden Broadway making fun of the wireless microphones and soft singing used in The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical).
• In the Musical Taboo by Boy George, during the song Ich Bin Kunst, he states "I dressed up in the wardrobe of my mother (Ethel Merman)'[citation needed]
• In the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam, Army radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer (played by Robin Williams) alluded to Merman's distinctive, brassy style and powerful voice during one of his improvised comic news bulletins. "Ethel Merman has been used to jam Russian radar systems. {belting in imitation of Merman} 'I've got a feeling that love is here to stay!' When asked for a reply, the Russians said 'Vat de hell vas dat?'"
• In the 1990 Seinfeld episode "The Robbery", Elaine complains about her actress roommate by telling Jerry she is "living with Ethel Merman without the talent."
• In the early 1990s the television programme Sesame Street created a parody character called "Miss Ethel Mermaid" (voiced and puppeteered by Louise Gold) she sang "I Get A Kick Out Of U" (a parody of Merman singing I Get A Kick Out Of You.
• In the 2005 film The Producers, the actor playing the part of Adolf Hitler calls himself "the German Ethel Merman."

Quotes

• "You'll never prove you're too good for a job by not doing your best.."
• "Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I've been very good to Broadway."
• "I take a breath when I have to."
• "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."
• "I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them."
• " She's okay, if you like talent.
• "In the second chorus of "I Got Rhythm", I held a high C note for 16 bars while the orchestra played the melodic line - a big, tooty thing - against the note. By the time I'd held that note for four bars the audience was applauding. They applauded through the whole chorus and I did several encores. It seemed to do something to them. Not because it was sweet or beautiful, but because it was exciting. Few people have the ability to project a big note and hold it. It's not just a matter of breath;
• "You can't buck a nun."