Ethel Merman Quotes
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Music, in the past few years... anything singable or understandable is square.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that's the way it will always be.
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Who's happy these days?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I've made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character - the professional brassy dame.
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There's such a thing as theater discipline. One player doesn't appropriate another's inventions.
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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.
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I told her that there was something about Christmas carols that always brought tears to my eyes. I added that I also cry at weddings. To me weddings are very solemn occasions. I should have cried at a couple of my own.
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Cole Porter sang like a hinge.
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Cole Porter had a worldwide reputation as a sophisticate and hedonist.
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I mentioned that I was thinking of getting out of the business after Call Me Madam. I thought maybe I should become a homebody.
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Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me.
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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.
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I'll admit - I was honored to be on the cover of Time.
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I remember Tallulah (Bankhead) telling of going into a public ladies' room and discovering there was no toilet tissue. She looked underneath the booth and said to the lady in the next stall, 'I beg your pardon, do you happen to have any toilet tissue in there?' The lady said no. So Tallulah said, 'Well, then, dahling, do you have two fives for a ten?'
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The only things I read are gossip columns. If I read three pages of a book, I'm out like a light. When I pick up the book again, I've forgotten what I've read and have to start over again. By page three, even if I've just awakened from a nine -hour nap, I fall asleep again. So if anyone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.
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Be yourself -- it's the one thing you can do better than anyone else.
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I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn't appeal to me.
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I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank.