GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Happy Birthday, Ethel Merman!

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Today marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of Ethel Merman, one of the great Broadway stars of the last century, perhaps the only woman who never had a flop.  Alas, that we missed her centennial last year.

As I read this great lady’s biography, I learned with delight that she had her debut (at age five) singing at the Astoria Republican Club.  I knew there was a reason I always liked the diva with the iron lungs.  It wasn’t just that she reminded me of my great aunts and adoptive grandmother.  Ethel appears to have been a Republican.

So this is one diva we gay Republicans love without being embarrassed by her politics.

Indeed, she sang for Ronald Reagan as, I believe, he was about to take office.  So, what better way for a gay Republican blog to honor this diva than to provide a clip of her singing for the Gipper.

She was right.  He was swell.  He was great.

And so was she.  Thanks to youtube, you can see this diva with all her class, sass and brass without leaving your home or waiting for the next TCM retrospective of her limited film work.

Comments

  1. I’ve always had a soft spot for the belters — Judy, Ethel, Betty Buckley.

    And I’ve always admired someone who could laugh at herself, as evidenced by Miss Merman’s fabulous cameo in AIRPLANE.

    Happy Birthday, Ethel Merman! You are, indeed, one of a kind.

  2. Of course, she was a republican. She was married four times (once for 32 days); she consistently swore like a sailor; she upstaged her colleagues nightly; and Arthur Laurents called her the performing dog. You told her how to do it and that’s what she died for 8 performances a week.

  5. What a coincidence, I didn´t know it was her birthday. Last night I played my video of Airplane II in which she cameo appearance singing Everything Is Coming Up Roses. Ethel, Judy and Lisa are the greatest to have ever sung on Broadway.

  6. What a coincidence, I didn´t know it was her birthday. Last night I played my video of Airplane II in which she cameo appearance singing Everything Is Coming Up Roses. Ethel, Judy and Lisa are the greatest to have ever sung on Broadway.

  9. I spent many happy teenage hours in my room singing Everything’s Coming Up Roses to my soundtrack of Gypsy. My Mom talked about seeing Call Me Madam on Broadway and how Merman had to sing “You’re Just In Love” several times since it brought the house down. This perhaps explains the lack of surprise when I started discussing my feelings about men.

  12. Bravo, GayPatriotWest!! She’s may favorite female singer of all time; no one else in my lifetime has equalled her.

    Many years ago I was introduced to her at a little political gathering by Forrest Tucker. And, yes, she was a Republican and quite proud of it.

  13. I’ve had my copy of “The Ethel Merman Disco Album” for several years now. I never listen to it, but it warms my heart to know it’s in my collection, ready to be played whenever I need to boogie down or drive the cockroaches from my house.

    Now if I could just get a copy of that special musical episode of The Love Boat, my Merman kitsch collection would be complete. She played Gopher’s mother, you know! Seems kind of appropriate.

  15. I’ve never understood why people think this is a happy-go-lucky, optimistic song.

    In context, it’s about a mother who is so self-absorbed and obsessed with vicarious success that she’ll impose humiliation, grief, and suffering on her own daughter.

    It’s an odd song to sing as a tribute at the beginning of a presidency, since it portends ill-will.