Winners Announced! :'Ethel Merman: The Biggest Star on Broadway'

By: Dec. 22, 2005
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BroadwayWorld.com and Barricade Books are pleased to announce the winners of the book "Ethel Merman: The Biggest Star on Broadway" written by Geoffrey Mark.

For over five decades, Ethel Merman virtually guaranteed Broadway success. Launched by her sensational performance of "I Got Rhythm" in Girl Crazy, Merman's career included such smash hits as Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy, and collaborations with such songwriting greats as Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, and Irving Berlin. Merman also conquered motion pictures, radio and television. Her TV appearances with Mary Martin, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Carol Channing remain classic.

Geoffrey Mark's in-depth portrait of the Broadway legend in his new book, ETHEL MERMAN: The Biggest Star on Broadway (Barricade Legends Series, Dec. 2005, $24.95, ISBN: 1-56980-293-9), traces her incredible career, four disastrous marriages, love affairs, and children. Included are never-before told details of Merman's brief but tempestuous marriage to Ernest Borgnine and the death of her daughter, Ethel Jr.

Merman created 13 roles on Broadway and introduced more than 40 hit songs on stage, including "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and "There's No Business Like Show Business." In this biography, the first published since 1984, Mark takes the reader inside the mind of a true (and fabulous!) pioneer of modern show business.

Congratulations to the following winners:

1. Lee M from Garnerville, NY
2. Bradley C from St. Louis, MO
3. Jason B from Clearwater, FL
4. Lamont R from Las Vegas, NV
5. Kevin D from New Paltz, NY
6. Glen G from NY, NY
7. Jeanette M from Ogden, UT
8. Elizabeth M from Stevensville, MI

The Ethel Merman Quiz

1. The Great Ethel starred in 15 hit Broadway musical productions. Name eight of them. (Everyone got this right)

2. Due to record label conflicts, Ethel did not appear on the original cast album of Call Me Madam. Who replaced her?
DINAH SHORE

3. Who wrote more shows for Merman than any other composer?
COLE PORTER

4. Arguably her greatest show, Gypsy has been revived three times on Broadway since Merman's original production in 1959. Name the women who opened in the revivals.
Bernadette Peters, Tyne Daly and Angela Lansbury

5. Only twice did Ethel re-create her stage roles on film. What were they?
Call Me Madam and Anything Goes

6. Why didn't Merman win the Tony for her legendary leading role in Annie Get Your Gun?
The TONYS didn't exist yet

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