Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman by Caryl Flinn Page B
Authors: Caryl Flinn
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two different
ways). The tales are predictable fare for Depression-era theatergoers, who
might identify with the first Ethel, down-and-out, only to be cheered up by
the second one.
Her Future (1930) takes place in one location: at the side of a judge's
podium. A young Ethel stands with downcast eyes, awaiting a verdict for an
unnamed crime. She wears a dark dress and cap and the long, knotted pearls
of a flapper. In this short's rare moments of dialogue, the lawyer of Ethel's
character tells the judge that this is her first crime and that his client has confessed to it. The judge looks down and instructs her, "Explain to the court, in
your own way, why [you are] here." Merman responds by singing "My Future
Just Passed," a tale of broken illusions that makes numerous references to God.
The judge decides to release her, and when he asks her her plans, she launches
into "Sing, You Sinners," recounting a trip to Dixie, where the "darkies" know
how to harmonize. "Bless mah song," she sings. "If you wanna be saved, you
gotta behave." Merman, who has respectfully removed her hat for the performance, maintains a persistent animated smile, raises her arms overhead and
to the side, turning her hands inward at the wrists in an evangelical delivery
she will perfect four years later with Cole Porter's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow."
The next short, Devil Sea (1931), starts off on an equally grim note: an
older man reports to Ethel's character that her man has been lost in a sea
storm. She responds by performing Vernon Duke's bluesy "Devil Sea." In
midsong she addresses the sea directly in the spoken song popular at the time
(think Al Jolson): "What's another tear to you/ It's just another drop of
water." Merman moves her hands slightly here, as if to mimic the undulating waves of the sea. And then, the same man returns with the good news that
her lover is alive, and Merman bursts into the jazzy, upbeat "I've Got My
Man" with much more animated hand movement, entering into a call-andresponse with undepicted horns.
Director Casey Robinson (1903-79) had made two-reelers with Helen
Kane before he directed Merman in Roaming (1931), a film for which young
Johnny Green supplied two songs. Ethel plays Mary Rock, daughter of Colonel Rock, whose traveling medicine show she shills. It opens with Mary
guiding a horse-drawn wagon through a wooded area singing "Hello, My
Lover, Goodbye," in which she laments her inability to find love because of
her life on the road. Her second number is an exuberant "Shake Well Before
Using," in which Mary invites a grumpy audience to buy the family product,
so that they can smile as she does.
When a local man flirts with Mary, he is ordered away by her father, who
chides her for her romantic yearnings: "Remember, you're a show girl, and to
these yokels that means you're an indecent girl." The prediction proves true
when the same man pounces on Mary after the show. Yet as the Rocks leave
town the next day and he stows away on their wagon, Ethel/Mary forgives him just as abruptly as Merman discovered that her partner was still living in Devil Sea. Sophisticated, these things are not; delightful, they are.
Old Man Blues (1932) is the least Mermanesque of the shorts. This is the
one that evokes operetta, with all dialogue sung and Merman nearly trilling
several lines. Once again the action occurs on a single set, a fog-shrouded
woods with an eerily ethereal quality. (Max E. Hayes did set design.) Beginning with a close-up of "Helen and Paul" carved into a tree and then revealing to us that the tree no longer stands, this is Ethel's only one-reeler that
shows the passage of time and, in that regard, offers a bit more complexity
than the others. A tall enigmatic man in a long dark robe and hat (Hal Forde)
appears beside Helen, Ethel's character, and the two duet in "Old Man
Blues," in which this villainous figure tells her that now that her man is gone,
he will always be there to laugh
ways). The tales are predictable fare for Depression-era theatergoers, who
might identify with the first Ethel, down-and-out, only to be cheered up by
the second one.
Her Future (1930) takes place in one location: at the side of a judge's
podium. A young Ethel stands with downcast eyes, awaiting a verdict for an
unnamed crime. She wears a dark dress and cap and the long, knotted pearls
of a flapper. In this short's rare moments of dialogue, the lawyer of Ethel's
character tells the judge that this is her first crime and that his client has confessed to it. The judge looks down and instructs her, "Explain to the court, in
your own way, why [you are] here." Merman responds by singing "My Future
Just Passed," a tale of broken illusions that makes numerous references to God.
The judge decides to release her, and when he asks her her plans, she launches
into "Sing, You Sinners," recounting a trip to Dixie, where the "darkies" know
how to harmonize. "Bless mah song," she sings. "If you wanna be saved, you
gotta behave." Merman, who has respectfully removed her hat for the performance, maintains a persistent animated smile, raises her arms overhead and
to the side, turning her hands inward at the wrists in an evangelical delivery
she will perfect four years later with Cole Porter's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow."
The next short, Devil Sea (1931), starts off on an equally grim note: an
older man reports to Ethel's character that her man has been lost in a sea
storm. She responds by performing Vernon Duke's bluesy "Devil Sea." In
midsong she addresses the sea directly in the spoken song popular at the time
(think Al Jolson): "What's another tear to you/ It's just another drop of
water." Merman moves her hands slightly here, as if to mimic the undulating waves of the sea. And then, the same man returns with the good news that
her lover is alive, and Merman bursts into the jazzy, upbeat "I've Got My
Man" with much more animated hand movement, entering into a call-andresponse with undepicted horns.
Director Casey Robinson (1903-79) had made two-reelers with Helen
Kane before he directed Merman in Roaming (1931), a film for which young
Johnny Green supplied two songs. Ethel plays Mary Rock, daughter of Colonel Rock, whose traveling medicine show she shills. It opens with Mary
guiding a horse-drawn wagon through a wooded area singing "Hello, My
Lover, Goodbye," in which she laments her inability to find love because of
her life on the road. Her second number is an exuberant "Shake Well Before
Using," in which Mary invites a grumpy audience to buy the family product,
so that they can smile as she does.
When a local man flirts with Mary, he is ordered away by her father, who
chides her for her romantic yearnings: "Remember, you're a show girl, and to
these yokels that means you're an indecent girl." The prediction proves true
when the same man pounces on Mary after the show. Yet as the Rocks leave
town the next day and he stows away on their wagon, Ethel/Mary forgives him just as abruptly as Merman discovered that her partner was still living in Devil Sea. Sophisticated, these things are not; delightful, they are.
Old Man Blues (1932) is the least Mermanesque of the shorts. This is the
one that evokes operetta, with all dialogue sung and Merman nearly trilling
several lines. Once again the action occurs on a single set, a fog-shrouded
woods with an eerily ethereal quality. (Max E. Hayes did set design.) Beginning with a close-up of "Helen and Paul" carved into a tree and then revealing to us that the tree no longer stands, this is Ethel's only one-reeler that
shows the passage of time and, in that regard, offers a bit more complexity
than the others. A tall enigmatic man in a long dark robe and hat (Hal Forde)
appears beside Helen, Ethel's character, and the two duet in "Old Man
Blues," in which this villainous figure tells her that now that her man is gone,
he will always be there to laugh
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