MARY MARTIN&ETHEL MERMAN

On June 15, 1953, the Ford Motor Company sponsored a two-hour television special to celebrate its 50th year of existence that was broadcast live on both CBS and NBC. Guests included Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallée, and Eddie Fisher, but the highlight of the show was a medley performed by Broadway's two leading female stars, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman. The 39-year-old Martin had made her Broadway debut in 1938 in Leave It to Me and since starred in One Touch of Venus and South Pacific; the 44-year-old Merman's Broadway career dated back to Girl Crazy in 1930 and included Anything Goes and Annie Get Your Gun. The two were a study in contrasts, Merman a brassy belter and Martin a warm, understated charmer. But they made a terrific team, beginning separately with signature songs for each, "There's No Business Like Show Business" for Merman and "A Wonderful Guy" for Martin, then trading choruses, or just lines, from a series of old Tin Pan Alley songs, followed by a series of "I" songs, leading into more signature songs ("You're Just in Love" and "I Get a Kick Out of You" for Merman, "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" for Martin) and finishing with some old standards. Shortly after the broadcast, Decca Records issued a 10" LP with the medley on one side and a few studio recordings made separately by the two on the other. Fifty-one years later, VAI has produced this 16-and-a-half-minute CD as well as a lengthier DVD companion. The medley is more complete (the Decca recording edited out two songs) and, instead of the studio tracks, the CD includes two other performances from the TV special by Merman, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "Mademoiselle From Armentières." ~ William Ruhlmann|