Ethel Merman Quotes
Quotations and aphorisms by Ethel Merman:
Once I had all the attention, all I had to do was deliver.
~Ethel Merman
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Everything's coming up roses - for me.
~Ethel Merman
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When I'm asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven't the foggiest.
~Ethel Merman
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My career at Warner Brothers consisted of one musical short subject. I was running around in a bear skin. Very chic.
~Ethel Merman
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Of my four marriages, the one to Bob Levitt is the only one I don't regret.
~Ethel Merman
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At one time I smoked, but in 1959 I couldn't think of anything else to give up for Lent so I stopped - and I haven't had a cigarette since.
~Ethel Merman
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I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I'm not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint.
~Ethel Merman
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My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that's the way it will always be.
~Ethel Merman
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I preferred delivering my performance in person. I liked to be in control. You couldn't be in films.
~Ethel Merman
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I've made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character - the professional brassy dame.
~Ethel Merman
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You gotta have a gimmick.
~Ethel Merman
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In my case, things have pretty much been handed to me.
~Ethel Merman
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I don't like to read. The only things I read are gossip columns. If someone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.
~Ethel Merman
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If I feel in need of sleep, I just open a book or turn on the television. Both are better than any sleeping pill.
~Ethel Merman
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Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.
~Ethel Merman
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I wouldn't trust any man as far as you can throw a piano.
~Ethel Merman
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I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank.
~Ethel Merman
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Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.
~Ethel Merman
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Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I've been very good to broadway.
~Ethel Merman
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When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales.
~Ethel Merman
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I'll admit - I was honored to be on the cover of Time.
~Ethel Merman
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Mom and Pop were proud of my popularity, but from their point of view, show business was no way to make a living.
~Ethel Merman
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There have been people who have tried to take advantage of me. They want to be linked to me just because I'm Ethel Merman.
~Ethel Merman
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Legend has it that when God created me, he gave me a big distinctive voice, a lot of boldness and no heart.
~Ethel Merman
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Any audience that gets a laugh out of me gets it while I'm facing them.
~Ethel Merman
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Who's happy these days?
~Ethel Merman
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I am known to be able to take care of myself when I become angry. I don't mince words.
~Ethel Merman
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I Got Rhythm really put me on the map.
~Ethel Merman
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I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.
~Ethel Merman
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I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old.
~Ethel Merman
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Cole Porter had a worldwide reputation as a sophisticate and hedonist.
~Ethel Merman
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I was lucky enough to have the songs in my first show written by George and Ira Gershwin. Then Cole Porter wrote five shows for me.
~Ethel Merman
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The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now.
~Ethel Merman
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I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn't appeal to me.
~Ethel Merman
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I've never cooked. I can't do much more in the kitchen than make a cup of tea and some toast.
~Ethel Merman
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I wasn't straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.
~Ethel Merman
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I was born in my parents' bedroom on January 16. The World Almanac says it was 1909. I say it was 1912. But what difference does it make as long as I feel 33?
~Ethel Merman
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I take a breath when I have to.
~Ethel Merman
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At a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.
~Ethel Merman
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Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.
~Ethel Merman
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My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I'm a natural musician.
~Ethel Merman
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As far as dramas are concerned, it's considered passe for playwrights to turn out anything the average person can understand.
~Ethel Merman
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I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird.
~Ethel Merman
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Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.
~Ethel Merman
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There's such a thing as theater discipline. One player doesn't appropriate another's inventions.
~Ethel Merman
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I wouldn't change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes.
~Ethel Merman
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Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me.
~Ethel Merman
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I'll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
~Ethel Merman
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I've never suffered stage fright. That fascinates people.
~Ethel Merman
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Music, in the past few years... anything singable or understandable is square.
~Ethel Merman
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