The Ethel Merman reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Ethel Merman

Time you got around to sponsoring a child
Ethel Merman (January 16, 1908 - February 15, 1984) was a star of stage musicals.

She was born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, in Astoria, Queens, New York, of a German Lutheran father and Scottish Presbyterian mother, although many people assumed she was Jewish.

She was known for her powerful alto voice, exact enunciation, and accurate pitch. Because stage singers performed without microphones when she began singing professionally, she had great advantages in show business.

She began singing while working as a secretary. She eventually became a full time vaudeville performer, and played the pinnacle of vaudeville, the Palace Theater in New York City. She had already been engaged for Girl Crazy, a musical with songs by George and Ira Gershwin. Her rendition of "I Got Rhythm" in the show was popular, and by the late 1930s she had become the first lady of the Broadway musical stage. Many consider her the leading Broadway musical performer of the twentieth century.


		


Table of contents 








1 Theater performances

2 Film performances

3 Television performances

4 External links




Theater performances


Film performances


Television performances


External links