Ethel Merman sings Cole Porter (vaimusic.com)

http://vaimusic.com/VIDEO/DVD_4299_Co...
Ethel Merman sings "Do I Love You"; "You Do Something to Me"; "I Get A Kick Out of You" (Cole Porter)
From: VAI DVD 4299 Cole Porter: An All-Star Tribute

A treasure from the Bell Telephone Hour series! A glorious tribute to a great songwriter and a feast for fans of the best that Broadway has to offer. Program stars Ethel Merman, John Raitt, Martha Wright, Gretchen Wyler, Peter Nero, and Jillana in performances of 52 Cole Porter classics. The Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra is under the direction of Donald Voorhees. Originally telecast January 28, 1964.
As a bonus, Merman sings a selection of ragtime and dixieland favorites in a January 29, 1960 telecast.
Color, 65 minutes, Playable in all regions.
TO BUY THE COMPLETE VIDEO PROGRAM GO TO www.vaimusic.com OR CALL TOLL-FREE IN THE US 1 (800) 477-7146 (OUTSIDE OF THE US, CALL 914-769-3691).

• Category

  Music

[andrebreton4]

When I look at this stuff, I wonder why we gave up an interest in talent over....what ever it is most actors are vomiting over us. Do any of them possess any talent? For Hollywood, which (traditionally) is supposed to be a community of artists, I haven't seen much in my lifetime (80's, kid). Can any of them dance, sing, write, choreograph or live with out CG. I might actually pay for a movie again if they did.

[54spiritedwill54]

Fantastic words can't even explain how good she is....

[nastypiece0saurus]

Why couldnt I have been born 50 years earlier?

[filmmekker]

She actually wanted a film career but she never came off on film the way she did live. She was too big. The same with many of the greatest stage performers.

[MithraMusic]

There are a million examples of Patti Labelle on the stage right here on YouTube, including ones where she walks away from the mic and you hear her powerful vocal carry through the entire hall--just as Ethel's voice was known to do. You seem to be interpreting my statement that there is still talent in musical theatre as a slight against Ethel's talent, which is quite far from the truth.

[MithraMusic]

This is clearly the video to comment on if you'd like your comments to be misconstrued time after time and your words to be twisted to prove someone else's point. Clearly, TWaileka, you missed my whole point that big-name film actors and actresses are not as talented as they used to be. Thank you for commenting back as though you're arguing with me while simultaneously agreeing with my entire point. Theatrical talent today, however, is as strong as ever.

[TWaileka]

Soooo true! I feel very sad for people who have only seen movies and not experienced live stage performances... they just do not know what they are missing and life is too darned short to miss out on the stage!

[TWaileka]

Her movie career 'never really took off'??????!!! Are you insane? Do you think that a stage presence as big as Ethel particularly WANTED a movie career? The Stage is always going to be a better proving ground for REAL talent than a movie... do you actually think that someone like Angelina Jolie or her paramour would be stars on stage? Have you met this pair? HA HA HA HAH

[TWaileka]

MithraMusic... Patti Labelle (whom I know) 'as good as Ethyl'??? Hardly. You need to hear these singers on the STAGE not in recordings where their voicings can be electronically manipulated... I was a session musician and frankly today (and for the past 30 years) there is NO talent as BIG as Ethel and her compatriots... music is not the same when modified by electronic engineers. RIP Ethel, I look forward to meeting you again in Heaven. There is none of your kind here on earth, anymore.

[MithraMusic]

She still is one-of-a-kind. I never said that there are singers today who sound like her, just that there are people today who are just as talented. When it comes to range, power, and talent, a lot of singers are in her league today, people as varied as Patti Lupone, Stephanie J. Block, and Kate Pazakis, even Patti Labelle. And each one of those singers is completely different and beyond comparison but still an unbelievable level of talent.

[filmmekker]

Who today has the unique quality of Merman? She was one of a kind even in her own time.

[MithraMusic]

That's a bit of a poor comparison between the old and the new considering Ethel Merman's film career never really took off. She was a theatrical woman. So though big talents in the movie world are obscure and hidden behind big-budget garbage, the current talent in the world of theatre is extremely high today, in my opinion sometimes even exceeding the great Merman's talent.