Merman

"Ethel Merman, a living legend who was long Broadway's undisputed queen of musical comedy, tells about her fascinating life in this fast-moving autobiography packed with surprising anecdotes and brimming with humor. 'If you are interested in hearing about me, my career, my ups, my downs and some of my mistakes,' she says early on in the book, 'I think you'll get it straight from the shoulder because that's the kind of woman I am.' Born Ethel Zimmermann in Astoria, Queens, and once a secretary for a vacuum booster brake firm, she rose to fame in such unforgettable musicals as Girl Crazy, Panama Hattie, Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Madam and Gypsy.^ She became the favorite singer of the Gershwins and of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter; they wrote for her such songs as 'I Got Rhythm,' 'You're the Top' and 'There's No Business like Show Business.' 'You'd better not write a bad lyric for Merman,' said Irving Berlin, 'because people will hear it in the second balcony.' Her unique personality brought her such glamorous friends as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mary Martin, Judy Garland, Joshua Logan, Tallulah Bankhead, Jimmy Durante, Mike Todd, Stephen Sondheim and Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. But Merman tells not only of her triumphs on and off the stage, but also of the touching devotion that existed between her and her parents and of the lifelong religious underpinning that helped her through the tragedy of losing the daughter she cherished. She also discusses her four tempestuous marriages. Her first one, to agent Bill Smith, was short-lived, but her second one, to newspaperman Bob Levitt, was made in heaven, while it lasted.^ The following one, to airline executive Robert Six, turned into a costly mistake; and the last one, to Ernest Borgnine, was a headlined fiasco, about which she talks uniquely and freely here for the first time. Here is her personal view of a great glittering world, where today she still reigns supreme, doing television shows and concerts throughout the world. A very special, very honest lady."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.