Mary Martin ANNIE GET YOUR GUN 1957 TV version part 1

[damone77]

an anecdote: So Irving Berlin was playing the score for "Annie" for it's producers Rodgers and Hammerstein. He plays "There's no Business like show Biz" and meekly asks...is that alright? I can write something else. Just goes to prove we don't sometimes know our own genius.

[kbmrcampbell]

@rapture1987 her timbre was a lyric soprano just ask Enzio Pinza about her in the wings singing the last note to his Some Enchanted Evening when he didn't have the note. Voice is determined more by timbre than range. She did not have the range of a Cook...but who does, but she had a light crystal clear soprano and her diction and clarity where unmatched. Now my former neighbor the late John Lombardi was a operactic bass-baritone and had an A flat, perhaps he was a beautiful lyric soprano.

[paulostroff99]

Lovely singing. TY lf for posting.

[cullicocopop]

can you post her singing "sun int he morning moon at night?" - my favorite song and I'll bet her version is great!

[bRDwyAnnIe]

Not to take away from all the ladies who have portrayed "Annie Oakley", but I personally think Reba McEntire was absolutely the best Annie. She didn't even have to change her "accent"...........LOL!

[Rapture1987]

Even the orchestrations are ostensibly different here from the studio recording - on that, the orchestra soothingly caresses lines like 'With a gun! With a gun!' , with STRING rather than BRASS instruments, because Martin sang them in a very subdued and caressing manner.

In the live version here, Martin BELTS those words out all the way - recapturing Merman and Hutton's styles. The orchestra reflects the changes Martin made in her singing, emphasising the BRASS instruments in those sections.

[feminumystic]

she sounds like a cat singing,i like betty's version

[broadwayFan28]

Did this TV show have MM doing "Anything you can Do"? I would really like to see her doing what I consider one of the funniest Broadway skits.

Wish someone could YouTube it if they have it.



[caddyismygirl]

She has no accent, which i think takes away from the song. Betty Hutton is alot better. Although, she has a great voice, it just doesn't seem to suit this part.

[MrsProdos]

@caddyismygirl - S'funny, because Mary Martin was a Texas girl and did have a bit of Texas twang at times. But the real Annie Oakley was from Southwestern Ohio (like me), and probably did not sound like Betty Hutton's version, but more like... what Mary sounds like in this clip! I do think that Betty Hutton's all-out, full-on, uber-feisty film version is more entertaining, and the accent adds to the entertainment value. But I *love* Mary Martin and enjoy her on her own terms.

[redbsh]

BORING BORING BORING

[UncleCharlieOakley]

@redbsh Yes, indeed you are.

[fromthesidelines]

There were TWO video adaptations of "Annie Get Your Gun" on NBC; the first, with Mary Martin and John Raitt, was staged as a live two-hour special on November 27, 1957- the second featured Ethel Merman [and Bruce Yarnell as "Frank Butler"] in a 90 minute adaptation of her 1966 Lincoln Center revival of the musical, telecast on March 19, 1967...however, no kinescope or videotape of that version is currently available for viewing.

[steph42uk]

It was Mary Martin's performance in the 1946 touring version of Annie Get your Gun, that Rodgers and Hammerstein who were the original producers on Broadway, decided to cast her as Nellie Forbush in their New Musical South Pacific in 1949.

[jard170]

She reminds me of kirsten dunst

[MissusKaiba16]

She has a great voice but she's too calm to be Annie. I think Annie should be feisty. XD

[MusicWoman55]

@MissusKaiba16

I agree about the "feisty," but one must consider that the venue wasn't a large theater, but rather a television studio of dubious size. Perhaps that is a reason for her "calm" performance, and relatively subdued delivery. It's food for thought, anyway.

[nami345]

Yes but Betty Hutton did Annie in a move version and she was a feisty Annie on this song.

[broadwayFan28]

Good point, MusicWoman55. I like to add that TV at the time was live, no bloopers and no do overs.

Everyone has a right to their favorite performances and actors/actresses but Mary Martin in on everyone's A-List whether it be this performance or her many other LIVE performances in SP or my favorite, Peter Pan.

[pudgeuncle]

@broadwayFan28 Do you realize how contradictory your comment is? 

[broadwayFan28]

@pudgeuncle you mean the no bloopers and no do overs? What I meant was there was no blooper editing.

[MrsProdos]

@MusicWoman55 We were told in acting class that what seems natural on stage seems like overacting on screen - which is actually not always true. Betty Hutton's Annie works onscreen, and yet is as "big" as any stage performance should be. Mary's usual Annie may have been feistier than it is here, but she toned it down for fear of overacting. I saw Mary Martin do three different musicals onstage (but not AGYG), and she was much "bigger" in those than how she comes across here.

[MrsProdos]

@MrsProdos Ooops! Musicwoman... I meant to say "I agree with you" and then go on with my comment about stage versus screen acting. But in paring down my comment so that it was small enough, I cut out the "agree with you" bit, which made it seem like I was rebutting you rather than further expanding your point. Sorry! :)

[Rapture1987]

@MrsProdos It's very interesting that you comment on how much "bigger" Mary Martin was in those other productions. I think, in this TV version, Martin was trying her hardest to *STRIKE A BALANCE* between Ethel Merman & Betty Hutton's big, brassy styles and an alternate approach to the part.

On the one hand, she obviously didn't want to recreate Ethel & Betty's "large-than-life" approaches, but on the other hand, she realised the role of Annie required some of Ethel & Betty's brassy qualities.

[youngvictheatre]

Can anyone tell me where I can find this on DVD or VHS?

[austexguy64]

I believe it's availabe to rent from NetFlix. Also, there's a listing for this on DVD on ebay for about $20. Amazon has the CD, but no DVD. I have the CD and DVD for Rodgers & Hammerstein Cinderella with Julie Andrews, which is also a television production from 1957. The CD is excellent. The DVD is in the black and white Kinescope like this version of Annie Get Your Gun. I prefer the CD. Both Cinderella formats are available new and used through Amazon.

[5150Mil]

Love Mary Martin!

[spongebobmusicals]

This is fantastic. With all due respect to Betty Hutton, Bernadette Peters, and all the other Annies out there, Mary Martin is the ONLY person who can rival Ethel Merman in this role.

[Chriswren9]

I think you right...

[aquariumpirate]

Woah what a great find. Any chance the whole show can posted.

[bingo90272]

She's the best!

[kbmrcampbell]

Mary Martin is my all time Broadway favorite leading lady. Yes there were bigger voices (Merman) and better voices (Barbara Cook) but she was the best actress with a beautiful lyric soprano that certainly Rodgers & Hammerstein appreciated.

[Rapture1987]

@kbmrcampbell Mary Martin wasn't a "beautiful lyric soprano". She was a MEZZO soprano belter. A Lyric Soprano is someone like Marni Nixon or Carol Lawrence or even Barbara Cook.

Martin's songs were generally placed in the range between F below Middle C and the F below High C. The classic Mezzo and Belter range. Even Ethel Merman, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand sang in comparable ranges - because like them, Mary Martin wasn't a SOPRANO.

Voice type is determined by range and also TIMBRE.

[DeanLeonard1]

Mary Martin rocks.

[bitcherybitcherton]

oh, i like bernadette peters the best...

[hoodriver77]

Betty Hutton was number one in this number...

but thank you for this wonderful piece. Mary was

amazing.

[rockanoarkennels]

I think Ethel Merman Did better

[Rapture1987]

@rockanoarkennels Yes, because Mary Martin couldn't seem to make up her mind about the characterisation of Annie. Ethel Merman was bold and brassy, true to her stage personality, albeit with a meltable heart. Betty Hutton was feisty and sassy, again in keeping with her screen persona, albeit with an aching vulnerability. Both Merman and Betty were very believable as Annie.

Mary Martin seems to be conscious of both Merman's and Hutton's performances, but failed to make FIRM CHARACTER CHOICES.

[Rapture1987]

@rockanoarkennels On the Studio Recording of this 1957 TV version, Mary Martin characterises Annie *TOTALLY DIFFERENTLY*. She barely attempts any kind of accent, and renders all the songs in very *SOFT*, SUBDUED, *MELLIFLUOUS* tones. It's as if she was thinking: "I'm going to remove myself from Ethel Merman's brass belting style as FAR as I can, and render Annie's songs the classic Mary Martin way!"

It didn't work on the recording because she was singing the songs as Mary Martin, not as Annie

[Rapture1987]

However, the Studio recording was done before they even started REHEARSING for this TV version - and by the time what you see here was shot, Mary Martin had clearly decided to abandon the subdued, mellifluous approach and reclaim more of Ethel Merman and Betty Hutton's brassy and brazen characterisations.

I just don't think it worked here, because while Merman and Hutton's brash Annies reflected their own personas (at the time) somewhat, Mary Martin is clearly *FORCING IT UPON HERSELF* here.

[FerretMIke]

I love her fill the theater voice that made her such a great Broadway preformer. Thanks for posting this, she was one of a kind.

[lobbiesforme]

well, i have the whole show.... so more will be coming.

[tmsenzig]

This is just phenomenal to see; I happen to be watching the Betty Hutton movie version right now and it doesn't hold a candle to this. Hopefully this will appear on DVD sometime.

[Rapture1987]

@tmsenzig Betty Hutton's performance doesn't hold a candle to this? Even though both Hutton's and Martin's performances were obviously "staged" (or "choreographed" if you will), Betty *LIVED AND BREATHED* the role of Annie - with every note she sang and every gesture she made. Mary Martin is simply going through the motions here. While Betty made the character her *OWN*, Martin is neither here nor there - it just comes across as a 2nd or even 3rd rate version of Ethel Merman's Annie.

[kamilhrodin]

i used to listen to this song on vynil record, now I can't believe I'm actually watching Mary Martin. This is really a collector's item. Here in the Philippines we don't get stuff as good as this one