My review of Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman, by Caryl Flinn

Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman

by Caryl Flinn

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It was when I heard an old industry anecdote that I became as interested in the woman as 'that' voice I'd played over and over as a mere stagestruck slip of thing lip synching into a hairbrush in my bedroom mirror:

Scene:

Ethel Merman's dressing room.

Time:

Production briefing after first dress rehearsal.

Junior Producer (timidly, as he backs out of her door):

Oh, and what, um, were you thinking of ... doing with your hair, Ms Merman?

Ethel Merman:

Washin' it!

Needless to say, when I noticed this book luring me like a siren on a shelf, I snatched it away without hesitation.

This straight-talking stenographer from Queens, NYC, started out singing in 1920s midtown Manhattan clubs, after working her office day job. Inspired by vaudeville shows she watched as a youngster, at home she had practiced emulating the voices of stars like Fanny Brice and Sophie Tucker. Her own belting mezzo-soprano voice, however, turned out to be undisguisable.

As singers performed without microphones when Ethel started out, she had an advantage later. She famously never took a singing lessons and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin advised her never to.

She became tagged the 'First Lady of musical comedy' after launching many now standard Broadway musical numbers, including showstoppers crafted for her by greats like Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim.

Her signature repertoire included: 'I Got Rhythm', 'Everything's Coming Up Roses', 'Some People', 'Rose's Turn', 'I Get a Kick Out of You', 'It's De-Lovely', 'Friendship', 'You're the Top', 'Anything Goes' and her eventual theme song, 'There's No Business Like Show Business'.

Merman was one of a kind, salt of the earth, a grafter and a trooper who never lost touch with her humble origins. Even so, she paradoxically somehow became the ultimate Broadway diva. Like others before and since, she had earned this status, this special place in theatrical history and, once on her throne, she defended her creative prerogative as does a lioness her cubs. 

This is a thorough, well penned biography, not a fast or trashy read. It gives an extensive history of an unlikely diva, including her formative phase, long before she had any inkling of her legendary destiny.

A great book about a fierce and funny woman you'd never want to have in your ear.