Ethel Merman: A Life (49 page)

“It’s me, Ethel,”
Sandra Church, interview with author, August 3, 2003

“Oh, stupid window,”
Barbara Geary, interview with author, January 15, 2004

“It wasn’t really her cup of tea,”
ibid.

“I wasn’t really into doing commercial theater…”
ibid.

“DID I EVER ASK YOU TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT NAMING A THEATER FOR ME?”
Bob Schear, interview with author, July 26, 2005

“Dear Bob—,”
Bob Schear to Ethel Merman, letter, personal collection of Bob Schear

“shit,”
Eileen Farrell, interview with author, April 16, 1997

“What was better tonight—my head voice or my chest voice?”
Robert Gardiner, interview with author, March 21, 2005

“the beginning of the end,”
ibid.

“She always thanked Eric,”
ibid.

“Miss Merman’s performance was, as it always has been,”
New York Times,
May 12, 1982

“P.P.S—Do you know—I heard and understood every damn word you sang,”
New York Post,
May 11, 1982

“WANNA GO?”
Tony Cointreau, interview with author, November 17, 2004

“JEEZUS!”
Donald Pippin, interview with author, February 22, 2005

“Bacall was, for the first time…”
ibid.

“In those days,”
Paula Palma, interview with author, February 1, 2006

“How dare you allow them to sleep in the same bedroom?”
Barbara Geary, interview with author, September 8, 2005

“We thought she was just being monstrous,”
Barbara Geary, interview with author, September 8, 2005

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“
THERE’S NO DAY LIKE A BIRTHDAY
,” telegram from Ronald Reagan to Ethel Merman, January 14, 1983, personal collection of Bob Schear

“Millions of people will miss seeing us on the ‘Emmys,’”
Ethel Merman to Mary Martin, letter, September 7, 1982, personal collection of George Dansker

“I’m very anxious about this performance,”
Dr. Albert Attia, interview with author, September 28, 2005

“delighting fellow patients,”
New York Times,
April 26, 1983

“going smoothly,”
ibid.

“How could this happen to me?”
Carole Cook, interview with author, July 31, 2005

“terrible,”
Tony Cointreau, interview with author, February 1, 2006

“not mature enough,”
Barbara Geary, interview with author, September 8, 2005

“She couldn’t speak,”
ibid.

“
ETHEL MERMAN, CLARION VOICE OF MUSICAL COMEDY FOR DECADES, IS DEAD AT
76
,”
New York Times,
February 16, 1984

“Beginning in 1930, and continuing for more than a quarter-century thereafter,”
New York Times,
February 16, 1984

“her delighted customers…”
ibid.

“prize graduate,”
New York Times,
February 27, 1984

“We were not only proud of her…”
ibid.

“ETHEL MERMAN—YOU’RE THE TOP,”
Bob Schear, interview with author, December 2, 2006

“Merman belonged to an era that is gone,”
Donald Pippin, interview with author, February 22, 2005

“One look at that Christmas tree,”
Margaret Whiting, interview with author, November 11, 2003

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