The Impact of Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman is described by PBS as the most successful musical comedy performer of her generation. Merman is known for contributing her loud and clear vocals to the Broadway stage and changing the way that people observed women on Broadway as well (PBS). Appearing and starring in several Broadway blockbusters, her acting career appeared to go through somewhat transitional phases to where she could act less and less like herself in character. Merman left her mark as an entertainer and her voice continues to be a spectacle.
Ethel’s life before Broadway speaks a lot to her career on Broadway. Ethel Agnes Zimmerman was born in the neighborhood of Astoria in New York. Merman showed her love for singing as a child, singing in the church that she went to with her parents. Also, she went to Vaudeville shows to watch stars like Fanny Brice perform (Kenrick). Ethel’s parents believed that she should gain an education because show business was not a viable career choice, especially for women in this period. She became a stenographer but continued to sing as nightclubs in New York for extra money (Kenrick). When her performances began getting recognition and her name more acclaimed, she shortened it to Merman and began performing in the Vaudeville Circuit at the Palace Theater (PBS).
Merman’s first big Broadway musical was in George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy (1930). She made a noticeable vocal performance, the musical produced songs like, “I Got Rhythm,” in which she belted a C note for sixteen bars, something that audience members had never seen before (Kenrick). Merman’s performance was described mainly a singing performance where her lines were kept to a minimum and she let her voice do all the talking...
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...ain supreme over anybody to follow. It makes a point that she was famous in a time that didn’t require media handlers to create stars; she created herself out of self-confidence (Singer). These are the characteristics of her voice and character that catapulted her into stardom on Broadway.
Overall, Ethel Merman has become a historical figure in Broadway history. She has been maintained as the best and most successful musical comedy performer for her vocals and transitional acting. These attributes gave her the key to working with the most notable producers, script writers and musical producers in the history of Broadway. Her many shows gave her the opportunity to understand herself as a Broadway actress and her voice stands alone to all of the people who followed. Her voice will live on in theater and she will continue to remain a pinnacle of Broadway history.
“A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world.” This quote from actress and women’s rights inspiration and icon, Louise Brooks, accurately describes her life. The quote means being independent and relying on your own ability is what will get you ahead in life. This is how Brooks lived her seventy nine year life. She is best known for her many films in Hollywood. Between the years 1925 and 1938 she was in twenty four films. Not only was she a Hollywood actress, she was also a dancer and a Broadway performer. But, Louise Brooks is also known for other things beside her performing. Louise Brooks was the most influential person of all on
After several years with the "Tennessee Ten", Florence joined a new show called "Dixie to Broadway" in 1924. With her widely recognized theme song, "I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird", the show was a phenomenal success. In June of 1925, Florence received vaudeville's highest honor. She was the star attraction at the Palace Theatre. By heading the bill at the Palace, she became the first black performer to have that honor.
Ethel Waters overcame a very tough childhood to become one of the most well known African American entertainers of her time. Her story, The Eye on the Sparrow, goes into great detail about her life and how she evolved from taking care of addicts to becoming the star of her own show. Ethel was born by her mother being raped at a young age. Her father, John Waters, was a pianist who played no role in Ethel’s life. She was raised in poverty and it was rare for her to live in the same place for over a year. Ethel never fit in with the rest of the crowd; she was a big girl, about five nine when she was a teenager, and was exposed to mature things early in her life. This is what helped shape Ethel to be the strong, independent woman she is.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
...ng to this day, she is one of few who could compete with the men of hip-hop, but she never pretended to be anything but a woman. She not only sang about female empowerment, but she wrote about being a woman from the insecurities that we as women sometimes feel to the nirvana of being in love. Sensuality and femininity were always as important to her which was her strength, and message to get out to women especially those of color.
At eleven years old, she was discovered by Gus Edwards and performed in a dinner show called the Vaudeville Kiddie Revue. In her teenage years she could often be found dancing in clubs. Then, she started auditioning for Broadway shows. The reason she started tap dancing was because the fact that every audition she went to, she was asked to tap dance. So, she enrolled in the Jack Donahue School in New York. After her first class, she didn’t want to come back because she felt so behind. Jack called her and told her to come back, so she did. By her seventh lesson, she was finally getting good.
Not many know how to achieve success in all categories, but Tina Fey didn’t have any problems figuring that out. Tina fey, television writer, screenwriter, actress, comedian, and mother, has taken the world by storm. Tina Fey has a powerful influence on our world today and she has become a worldwide icon in the eyes of many young women. Tina Fey may have been THE woman to make it stylish to wear glasses in the mid-2000s, but there is more to this multi-talented woman then those trademark black-rimmed spectacles.
Aretha Franklin is a well known pop, R&B, and gospel singer. She has been nicknamed “The Queen of Soul” and is an internationally known artist and a symbol of pride in the African American community. Her popularity soared in 1967 when she released an album containing songs “I Never Loved a Man”, “Respect”, and “Baby I Love You.” Throughout her career she has achieved fifteen Grammy Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Legend Awards, and many Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. In 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Time magazine chose her as one of the most influential artists and entertainers of the 20th century. She sang at Dr. Martin Luther King’s funeral and at former President Bill Clinton’s inaugural party. Although she has all these accomplishments and awards there are other reasons that have driven Franklin to fame and landed her on the front cover of Time magazine on June 28, 1968. The reasons I believe allowed Aretha Franklin to become so successful are the following: Her family’s involvement with religion, the inspiring people that surrounded her, and the pain she suffered.
Entitled "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most famous female jazz singer in the United States for about more than half a century. In her life time, she won more than 10 Grammy Awards, and also earned the title “The First Lady of Song.”Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, prefect and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, jazz, blue, and imitate every several instruments. She worked with all the jazz musicians, like Duke Ellington,Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and even Benny Goodman. She performed at top places all over the world. Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal rangeand they all loved her.
During this time her mother passed away and she started living with her aunt due to the abuse from her stepfather. Forced to live on the streets at times, she would try to listen to the radio every chance she got and would sneak into movie theaters to absorb the popular music of the day. Listening to singers such as Louis Armstrong, Conne Boswell, and Bing Crosby. She continued to dance with her friends for pennies and would enter multiple amateur contests in Harlem on a
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally and in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers; by 1969, when she acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing and musical training predisposed her to the popular music of her day, rather than the blues and jazz genres more commonly associated with African-Americans, and her photogenic looks were sufficiently close to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration and raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, she could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.
Josephine Baker Josephine Baker was an African American woman who had to overcome discrimination and abuse in achieving her dream of becoming a singer and dancer. She did this during the 1920s, when African Americans faced great discrimination. She had a hard childhood. Her personal life was not easy to handle. Furthermore, she overcame poverty and racism to achieve her career dream.
Lucille Ball, a beloved Hollywood actress, overcame difficulties in childhood and adulthood, becoming a successful actress and studio head. She portrayed the relatable character “Lucy” in “I Love Lucy,” making her an American Icon.
Bessie was born April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to a part time Baptist preacher, William Smith, and his wife Laura. The family was large and poor. Soon after she was born her father died. Laura lived until Bessie was only nine years old. The remaining children had to learn to take care of themselves. Her sister Viola then raised her. But it was her oldest brother, Clarence, who had the most impact on her. Clarence always encouraged Bessie to learn to sing and dance. After Clarence had joined the Moses Stokes Minstrel Show, Bessie got auditions. Bessie's career began when she was 'discovered' by none other than Ma Rainey when Ma's revue, the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, was passing through Chattanooga around 1912 and she had the occasion to hear young Bessie sing. Ma took Bessie on the road with the show and communicated, consciously or not, the subtleties and intricacies of an ancient and still emerging art form. (Snow).
...as won throughout her singing and acting career are countless. Even Dolly’s physical appearance and voice have made such a statement in the entertainment world. There have even been many other entertainers that have tried to follow her footsteps of fashion and image but no one can pull it off like Dolly can. I’m certain that this famous pop culture icon is not done yet entertaining and giving more to our society. I don’t imagine there will be another entertainer that will be more famous in the pop culture world as Dolly Parton.