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[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now, the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the conclusion of a three-part series taking a listen to the extraordinary work of the late, great Ethel Merman. This program originally aired in 1984 and covered Merman's entire Broadway career, from her debut in the Gershwin's Girl Crazy to her final show, Hello, Dolly. You're listening to Anything Goes. I'm Paul Lazarus with a tribute to the late, great Ethel Merman. Probably your most famous production was Gypsy, of course, by Julie Stein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Lawrence. I'm very pleased to bring you a very rare tape of Ethel Merman rehearsing a very early draft of the song, Have an Egg Roll, Mr. Goldstone. It's just Ethel and piano accompaniment, and of course, this is an earlier version of Stephen Sondheim's lyric.

[1:09] ♪ Musical number: "Have an Egg Roll, Mr. Goldstone" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[6:25] Paul Lazarus: In an interview with Ira Weitzman, Stephen Sondheim spoke about his experience working with Ethel Merman on Gypsy.

[6:34] Stephen Sondheim: When we wrote Gypsy, none of us had any idea that Ethel could act as well as she could. And so when we came to the end of the first act and Arthur had written this very stirring speech for her when her daughter has run away, it obviously had to be topped with a song, but I had to work on the assumption that Ethel couldn't act, because I had no idea she could. I'd only seen her play her traditional roles. So I, very pleased with myself, I thought rather cleverly, wrote her a blow-Gabriel-blow kind of song, which was designed for the other two people on stage to act. The other daughter and the man could act in horror while she sang this very uptune. And I thought, well, that'll be effective and that protects us from the fact that she can't act.

Well, of course, it turned out that Ethel Merman could act perfectly marvelously, and she invested that song with so much more feeling. If I'd known then what I know now, I don't think I would have written Everything's Coming Up, Roses. I would have written something more difficult. By that, for example, Rose's turn was written after we were in rehearsal. By then I knew how terrific she was and that one could challenge her with, you know, a very dramatic song.

[7:34] ♪ Musical number: "Rose's Turn" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[10:47] ♪ Musical number: "Rose's Turn" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[13:03] Paul Lazarus: You are listening to Anything Goes, featuring the late, great Ethel Merman. Funny thing happened in Gypsy. We went on the road, as I told you, for nine months. I think it was Cleveland we were playing a matinee, and Betty Bruce was one of the gals, one of the strippers in the dressing room scene.

[13:22] Ethel Merman: Gotta have a gimmick.

[13:24] Paul Lazarus: And then Dame blew the trumpet through her legs and everything, backwards at the audience and everything. Poor Betty. May her soul rest in peace. She was a wonderful gal. I have to preface my story by saying that she didn't wear waterproof mascara. I tell that for a reason. We're out there and we're doing the Wednesday matinee. I think it was Cleveland. It doesn't make any difference. And in the second row, there's three little ladies sitting there with the little hats with the flowers on, you know. And they have their programs up like this. They wouldn't look at us. It was too much for them. Covered their whole face. Wouldn't even look at it. So I started, Betty started to go, and she was laughing so, that black tears from the mascara, the whole thing was running down there.

It was so funny. Gypsy was two years and then nine months on the road. That's where, after I was almost finished with the Gypsy tour, that's when I was approached to do Hello Dolly. And I didn't want to go into another show. I mean, two years and nine months is a lot of work, you know. And then nine months traveling, living out of suitcases and so forth and so on. So I turned down Dolly. In 1970, David Merrick approached me and asked me, would I do three months of Dolly? So I said, okay. So I did three months. And then at the end of three months, he twisted my arm. And he said, look, if you play it another six months, at that time, he said, we will be the longest running musical on Broadway.

So I played it until a few days before Christmas, 1970. So I always say I didn't open Dolly, but I closed Dolly. Jerry Herman gave me two new songs for Hello Dolly, which he had written for me if I had done it originally. Yeah, but no Dolly before me ever sang those songs. Look in my window and a world take me back.

[15:40] ♪ Musical number: "World, Take Me Back" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[19:35] Paul Lazarus: Ethel Merman, towards the end of her career as Dolly, a show that was originally written for her by Jerry Herman. You've been listening to a tribute to late Ethel Merman here on Anything Goes. We'll end with Ethel Merman's last New York appearance at Carnegie Hall on May 10th of 1982, singing one of her most classic numbers. What else is there to say but...

[20:04] ♪ Musical number: "There's No Business Like Show Business" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[21:34] ♪ Musical number: "There's No Business Like Show Business" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[22:32] Paul Lazarus: We have time today to feature three additional Merman rare recordings. These were provided to me by Stephen Cole, who has helped me in every way with this three-part tribute to Ethel Merman.

[22:48] ♪ Musical number: "Old Enough to Know Better" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[25:23] ♪ Musical number: "Just a Moment Ago" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[28:10] ♪ Musical number: "That's the Kind of Dame I Am" — performed by Ethel Merman ♪

[30:52] Paul Lazarus: That's the Merman we love. And oh, that goes up and stops every show, show, show. Stop! Ethel Merman belting out "Old Enough to Know Better," just a moment ago, which was interpolated into "Happy Hunting," and "That's the Kind of Dame I Am," a song written by Julie Stein and George Weiss to promote Merman's first autobiography.

[31:38] Paul Lazarus: You've been listening to the conclusion of a look at the Broadway shows of the late, great Ethel Merman, Associate Producer Jeff London. Anything Goes! Backstage with Broadway's Best is produced and hosted by Paul Lazarus. For more information, visit anythinggoespl.com. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and follow us. Thanks for listening.