Slumming With the Merm
There’s so much detritus to be found on Ethel Merman: The World Is Your Balloon that you might be tempted to dismiss this compilation of singles recorded in 1950 and ’51 by one of the greatest stars in the history of the American musical theater. But Decca Broadway’s new CD edition of the album does include five songs from Broadway shows, at least three of which you would never have expected to hear Merman sing. This, plus the fact that Ray Bolger and Jimmy Durante make guest appearances here, means that it’s worth your while to give the disc a listen even if you don’t necessarily need to add it to your permanent collection.
The album consists largely of novelty songs, the titles of which pretty much tell you what you’re going to get before you get it — e.g., “I Said My Pajamas (And Put On My Prayers),” “She’s Shimmyin’ on the Beach Again,” “If You Catch a Little Cold (I’ll Sneeze for You),” and “The Lake Song (Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg).” These and most of their ilk are credited to folks whose names have not entered the pantheon of great songwriters; for example, “She’s Shimmyin’ ” was co-written by one Joe Greene, whom I must assume was not actually Giuseppe Verdi. But the terminally silly “Hawaii” has music by Jule Styne, who wrote Bells Are Ringing, Funny Girl, and the Merman starrer Gypsy. For that matter, the best known of the novelty numbers included here — “(If I Knew You Were Coming) I’d’ve Baked a Cake” — was co-authored by Bob Merrill, who wrote the lyrics for Funny Girl and both music and lyrics for such other shows as Carnival and New Girl in Town. Oh, and “Ukulele Lady” is the work of no less a team than Richard Whiting and Gus Kahn!
Still, let’s face it: You’ll want this album not for the items noted above but for Merman’s renditions of two songs from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Jule Styne/Leo Robin), two from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Arthur Schwartz/Dorothy Fields), and one — the album’s title cut — from Flahooley (Sammy Fain/E.Y. Harburg). A daughter of Astoria, Merman isn’t entirely credible as “A Little Girl from Little Rock,” despite her attempt at a rural accent. On the other hand, one could argue that this incongruity only adds to the humor of the song. (Just listen to her deliver these hilarious Robin lyrics: “Like a little lost lamb I roamed about / I came to New York and I found out / The one you call ‘daddy’ ain’t your pa.”)
The other selection from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” is arguably a better choice for The Merm. Though she doesn’t exhibit the innocent-like-a-fox personality that we normally associate with Lorelei Lee, she brings her own unique verve and comic timing to the number, reveling in the couplet “Romance is divine, and I’m not one to mock it…Romance is divine, yeah, but where can you hock it?” (This recording was made in 1950, which means that it post-dates Carol Channing’s rendition on the original cast album of Blondes but pre-dates Marilyn Monroe’s mind-boggling performance of the song in the film version.)
Merman’s brass is not quite right for the whimsical “The World is Your Balloon” from Flahooley. But she offers an effective, idiomatic performance of the lovely ballad “Make the Man Love Me” from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and she’s completely at home in “Love Is the Reason,” Aunt Cissy’s comedy number from the same show — with choral backup, thank you very much! This and the other Broadway selections on the CD are what may keep it from being consigned to the clearance bin at your local record store.
