Mary Martin and Ethel Merman - Their Legendary Appearance on the Ford 50th Anniversary Show

Rating:
Summary: At least a TEN star program
Review: A fantastic classic has been released on DVD. It is a magnificent record of one of the most magical nights on televison and in musical theater. There have never been and will never be two such wonderful talents an Mary Martin and Ethel Merman. Although their styles were completely different they compliment each other perfectly. There is an electric feeling that seems to come through the screen as they perform both individually and together. Their duet is MAGNIFICENT.
This is a DVD that any lover of theater, great performances and magical happenings must have for their collection.

The magic that each lady created in a theatre comes through wonderfully in this production even if it is in black and white and not the razor sharp image that would be available today. To have seen either one live was unforgettable and that comes through in this program. They end the duet with both singing "No Business Like Show Business" from "Annie Get Your Gun" which both starred in - Merman on Broadway and Martin on tour and on TV.

I have long cherished the original 10 inch LP that was issued at the time of the original telecast and now I have both the picture and sound.

Unfortunately, both ladies are no longer with us, but they will live forever in this terrific DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Legendary TV
Review: Great; one caveat - why not issue the entire show which included the equally legendary Marian Anderson. The timing is rather skimpy. But for lovers of Broadway, timeless.

Rating:
Summary: "WHY NOT THE WHOLE SHOW"?
Review: I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED IN THE ABOVE REVIEWS. YES, THE WHOLE SHOW IS AVAILABLE. BACK IN 1980 A SECOND RATE COMPANY RELEASED THE WHOLE SHOW ON TAPE (REMEMBER VHS) ALONG WITH "AN EVENING WITH MARY MARTIN AND NOEL COWARD" AND MANY MORE. THEY WERE TOTALY ILLEGAL AND WERE PULLED WITHIN A FEW MONTHS OF RELEASE. I BOUGHT THEM BOTH AND HAVE ENJOYED THEM EVER SINCE. I STILL ORDERED THE DVD AS THE QUALITY OF WHAT THEY RELEASED WAS NOT GREAT. REMEMBER THESE WERE MADE ON KINESCOPE, THIS WAS DONE BY FILMING TV SETS. SO ALL THE LIMITATIONS OF TV BROADCASTING IN THE 1950'S ARE EVIDENT ON THE TAPE. BESIDES THE GREAT PERFORMANCES ON THE SHOW, IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW A BIG LIVE PRODUCTION WAS DONE IN THE 1950'S. THE CAMERA'S WERE HUGH AND DID NOT MOVE VERY EASILY, THIS IS PARTICULARY INTERESTING DURING DANCE NUMBERS WHEN THEY TRIED TO MOVE THE CAMERA'S. A DVD OF THE WHOLE SHOW WOULD BE AN INTERESTING HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE BEGINNING OF TELEVISION. I HAVEN'T SEEN THIS TAPE IN YEARS AND I THINK I'LL TAKE A LOOK AT IT AGAIN. SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON MY BIG HDTV SCREEN.

INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THIS SHOW AIRED ON BOTH NBC AND CBS ON THE SAME NIGHT AT THE SAME TIME. I DON'T THINK THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE. I'M SURE THE MAIN REASON THE WHOLE SHOW WAS NEVER RELEASED WAS DUE TO THE NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES AND THE MUSIC THAT WAS USED. ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN WERE HOSTS OF THE SHOW, ALSO ED MURROW AND MANY MORE. MUSIC RIGHTS ARE PROBABLY THE REASON THIS SHOW HAS NEVER BEEN RELEASED. SAME WITH THE MILTON BERLE SHOWS. PUBLISHERS WHO HOLD THE RIGHTS TO THE MUSIC CAN DEMAND ANY FEE THEY SEE FIT TO CHARGE. IF YOU ARE PUTTING TOGETHER A VIDEO WITH LOTS OF MUSIC IT WOULD PROBABLY COST A FORTUNE TO GET ALL THE RIGHTS. REMEMBER THE VERY FUNNY MOVIE "LOVE AT FIRST BITE". IN THE FILM THEY USED THE SONG "I LOVE THE NIGHT LIFE". WHEN THE TAPE AND LASER DISC WERE RELEASED A DIFFERENT SONG WAS USED AS THEY NEVER GOT THE RIGHTS FOR USE ON VIDEO. TO ME THAT SONG MADE THE MOVIE AND JUST WASN'T THE SAME ON LASER AND VIDEO WITHOUT IT.

IN THE LAST QUARTER CENTURY MUSIC RIGHTS COMPANIES HAVE BEEN FORMED THAT CLEAR ALL MUSIC FOR FILMS AND SUBSEQUENT VIDEO RELEASES. THAT WAS NOT THE CASE BACK THEN AND I ASSUME THE COST OF RELEASING "THE FORD 50TH ANIVERSARY SHOW" ON DVD WOULD BE ASTRONOMICAL. ESPECIALLY SINCE ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEINS MUSIC WAS INVOLVED. THEY KEEP A VERY TIGHT REIGN ON THEIR MUSIC. I SUGGEST WRITING THE COMPANY THAT PUT OUT THIS DVD AND REQUESTING THE WHOLE SHOW. IT CAN'T HURT.

HOPE YOU FOUND MY COMMENTS INTERESTING.



Rating:
Summary: The Lengendary Duet
Review: I saw this duet live on television when I was 12 years old. It was the most thrilling thing I had ever seen on television. I bought the record album and wore it out. It is absolutely thrilling that it has finally been released on DVD. Whatever the cost of the DVD, it is priceless.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Duet from Two Legends!
Review: Some may quibble at the short length of this DVD, but as far as I am concerned the second half, with the famous duet between these two divas - that lasts 13 mnutes! - is worth the price of the DVD.

JUST BRILLIANT. I see now why they were so appreciated, and it really shows more on here than ever!

Rating:
Summary: Where's the rest of the telecast?
Review: The musical excerpts on this DVD of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin are nice. But, for $18, I'd like more than 27 minutes of excerpts from a historic 1953 telecast that likely was one-to-two hours in length. If these musical excerpts survive, I suspect the remainder of the telecast (including other guest stars, dialog, opening and closing credits, etc.) likely survive too, and the entire program is what I assumed I would be getting when I purchased this DVD. In the past, I have purchased other vintage TV variety programs on DVD only to discover that the programs had been edited (in the case of The Milton Berle Collection, the musical numbers performed by guest stars have been deleted from the 10 shows in the collection). I don't understand why. In these times of wanting to restore movies to their original released version and including extra material and/or cut scenes, why should we have to settle for 27 minutes of "highlights" from a historic telecast?


Rating:
Summary: THE MERM + THE MARTIN = GREAT MUSICAL MUST-HAVE MEMORIES
Review: They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway, but these days the damn things are blazing. Revivals are still king: Alfred Molina is wowing them with his performance as milkman Tevye in the 40th anniversary revival of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway - we haven't seen the show, but the cast recording, now on PS Classics, is so brilliant that it has replaced the Zero Mostel version as our fave Fiddler. Boston audiences just got a chance to plunk down $75 to see a revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, The King and I, starring former Triscuit queen Sandy Duncan (in the title role - no, not the King, but the "I," as in Anna Leonowens, the schoolteacher who "tamed" the King of Siam.). Perhaps the most interesting thing about this revival is that it's being directed by Baayork Lee, the diminutive actress best known for her role as Connie in the original production of A Chorus Line and who appeared as Princess Yaowlak, opposite Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner, in the original Broadway production of The King and I back in 1951.
Also in Beantown: bombastic broad Elaine Stritch, appearing in her Tony-winning one-woman show, Elaine Stritch At Liberty. It's a raucous and honest look at her life and love and career highs and lows - especially the booze-sodden episodes so reminiscent of those ladies who lunch - and worth every vodka stinger forfeited to pay for a ticket.
Those who yearn to watch moments of standing-room-only grandeur from the Great White Way - and wish to do lying down - can opt for a selection of DVDs. Acorn Media Group recently released Broadway's Lost Treasures, a trove of 22 show-stopping numbers, and is about to release a sequel. Video Arts International has released the long-forgotten, eagerly-anticipated Mary Martin and Ethel Merman: Their Legendary Appearance on the Ford 50th Anniversary Show, the famed June 15, 1953 television special whose highlight is M & M's 13-minute duet medley, where they sing the songs that made them famous ... plus much more. Follies in Concert (Image Entertainment) captures the historic, star-studded, one-night-only 1985 concert version of Sondheim's gem; not a great show but more memorable than not, if just for the chance to see Carol Burnett, Barbara Cook and Lee Remick warble. Image, by the way, has also unleashed Elaine Stritch At Liberty on DVD, but we strongly suggest catching the lady live and not relying on a filmed performance. Yes, the DVD is cheaper than a ticket. Yes, the material's the same, and the laughs and tears can be heard. But since when is low-carb as good as the real thing?
And then there's Broadway: The American Musical, the ambitious PBS documentary miniseries that takes viewers on a six-hour, three-night journey through the world of Broadway musicals. Narrated by Julie Andrews - PBS honchos have dubbed her their "Unofficial Ambassador for the Broadway Musical" - and crammed with historians and authors and writers and stars and directors and chorographers (some of which, frankly, are legends in their own minds), Broadway; the American Musical hit nthe TV airwaves in mid-October.
Don't get us wrong: Any show that helps introduce audiences to Broadway musicals or reacquaint theatergoers, any show that educates and entertains gets a standing O from us. But Michael Kantor's film is too long, too ambitious. It tells the tale of two stories - the 100-year history of musical theater and the story of its relationship to 20th-century American life. The interviews are assembled in a haphazard fashion, clips are rarely identified, scenes are often drama tized and recreated ... or are they? We are never told. And there are too many film clips!
Still, it's fascinating to hear Kitty Carlisle tell of going to Harlem with George Gershwin "dressed in ermine and pearls," then stopping by his apartment to help him with orchestrations for the work he was writing, Porgy and Bess. It's always interesting to hear Sondheim discuss the state of the Broadway musical. The segment of Jack Benny attempting to get a discount on a $6.60 orchestra seat for the Rodgers and Hammerstein smash Oklahoma! is hysterical. And the segment on long-forgotten comic Bert Williams - discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld and a man who still needs to be rediscovered and embraced by members of his African-American community - is heartbreaking.
So expansive is the miniseries that there are three companion items: a lavishly illustrated companion book, to be published by Bulfinch Press, and a tome so heavy it very well may be used as a murder weapon; a five-CD box set to be released by Sony; and a single CD featuring highlights from the miniseries (Decca).
Take your seats, please. The show is about to start.


Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Broadway's Finest Night
Review: What female singer would dare agree to a live television 13 minute duet with Ethel Merman in 1953, when Merman was at the very top of her form? Mary Martin, that's who and Mary more than holds her own. The ladies alternate songs, but electic sparks really fly when they sing together (especially when they are each singing different songs -- sounds strange, but they hit a home run every time). This a magical duet that set the style and tone for every television duet that followed. But, you will soon forget that you are watching history in the making and listen and watch these two extraordinary women do what they do better than just about anyone else --- sing and entertain an audience. Some would argue that Broadway's finest night was June 15, 1953 in a NBC studio where this duet was sung, they would not be far wrong!