Product Details

• Actors: Marian Anderson, Wally Cox, Bing Crosby, Eddie Fisher, Henry Ford II
• Directors: Jerome Robbins
• Writers: Howard Teichmann
• Producers: Leland Hayward, Lawrence White
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Video Artists Int'l
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002ERWZA
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,624 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Mary Martin and Ethel Merman - Their Legendary Appearance on the Ford 50th Anniversary Show" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The unique record of a historic event, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman's appearance on The Ford 50th Anniversary Show on June 15, 1953, united two of the 20th century's greatest musical stars, both of whom are underrepresented on film. Merman stars things off with "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in front of a combo and sings "Mademoiselle from Armentières" (best known for the line "Hinky dinky parlez-vous") among a line of World War I Doughboys. Martin appears in a fashion-show pantomime comedy sketch, then both together lip-synch to an old Vaudeville number "Your Folks and My Folks." The last line of that song is the first time Martin utters a sound. The pièce de resistance is the closing 13-minute medley with the stars side by side. They begin with solo renditions of two signature numbers ("There's No Business Like Show Business" and "A Wonderful Guy") before trading off snippets of older songs such as "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie." More compelling is their series of "I" songs, which leads to more signature numbers ("I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" and "I Get a Kick Out of You"). From there, the medley closes in a rush, with the women singing in counterpoint then together on a reprise of "There's No Business Like Show Business." The stars have very different styles, of course, but appear to be enjoying their time together. It would have been nice to have more than 27 minutes of the two-hour show (which included, among others, Marian Anderson, Rudy Vallee, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie), but Merman and Martin were clearly the most interesting segment, and their duet takes its place among the historic TV musical events such as the duet between Judy Garland and a young Barbra Streisand 11 years later. --David Horiuchi

Product Description

The famed June 15, 1953 television special brought together two of the greatest leading ladies Broadway has ever known. The highlight of the program is Merman and Martin's 13-minute duet medley, where they sing the songs that made them famous, plus much more. On their own, Merman sings two numbers and Martin performs a brilliant comedy routine about changes in fashion over the first half of the 20th century. 27 min.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the rest of the telecast?, August 26, 2004

By	K. Walsh (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The musical excerpts on this DVD of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin are nice. But, for $18, I'd like more than 27 minutes of excerpts from a historic 1953 telecast that likely was one-to-two hours in length. If these musical excerpts survive, I suspect the remainder of the telecast (including other guest stars, dialog, opening and closing credits, etc.) likely survive too, and the entire program is what I assumed I would be getting when I purchased this DVD. In the past, I have purchased other vintage TV variety programs on DVD only to discover that the programs had been edited (in the case of The Milton Berle Collection, the musical numbers performed by guest stars have been deleted from the 10 shows in the collection). I don't understand why. In these times of wanting to restore movies to their original released version and including extra material and/or cut scenes, why should we have to settle for 27 minutes of "highlights" from a historic telecast?

65 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "WHY NOT THE WHOLE SHOW"?, August 28, 2004

By	Donald C. Graff "FAN OF BROADWAY" (HENDERSON, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED IN THE ABOVE REVIEWS. YES, THE WHOLE SHOW IS AVAILABLE. BACK IN 1980 A SECOND RATE COMPANY RELEASED THE WHOLE SHOW ON TAPE (REMEMBER VHS) ALONG WITH "AN EVENING WITH MARY MARTIN AND NOEL COWARD" AND MANY MORE. THEY WERE TOTALY ILLEGAL AND WERE PULLED WITHIN A FEW MONTHS OF RELEASE. I BOUGHT THEM BOTH AND HAVE ENJOYED THEM EVER SINCE. I STILL ORDERED THE DVD AS THE QUALITY OF WHAT THEY RELEASED WAS NOT GREAT. REMEMBER THESE WERE MADE ON KINESCOPE, THIS WAS DONE BY FILMING TV SETS. SO ALL THE LIMITATIONS OF TV BROADCASTING IN THE 1950'S ARE EVIDENT ON THE TAPE. BESIDES THE GREAT PERFORMANCES ON THE SHOW, IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW A BIG LIVE PRODUCTION WAS DONE IN THE 1950'S. THE CAMERA'S WERE HUGH AND DID NOT MOVE VERY EASILY, THIS IS PARTICULARY INTERESTING DURING DANCE NUMBERS WHEN THEY TRIED TO MOVE THE CAMERA'S. A DVD OF THE WHOLE SHOW WOULD BE AN INTERESTING HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE BEGINNING OF TELEVISION. I HAVEN'T SEEN THIS TAPE IN YEARS AND I THINK I'LL TAKE A LOOK AT IT AGAIN. SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON MY BIG HDTV SCREEN.

INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THIS SHOW AIRED ON BOTH NBC AND CBS ON THE SAME NIGHT AT THE SAME TIME. I DON'T THINK THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE. I'M SURE THE MAIN REASON THE WHOLE SHOW WAS NEVER RELEASED WAS DUE TO THE NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES AND THE MUSIC THAT WAS USED. ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN WERE HOSTS OF THE SHOW, ALSO ED MURROW AND MANY MORE. MUSIC RIGHTS ARE PROBABLY THE REASON THIS SHOW HAS NEVER BEEN RELEASED. SAME WITH THE MILTON BERLE SHOWS. PUBLISHERS WHO HOLD THE RIGHTS TO THE MUSIC CAN DEMAND ANY FEE THEY SEE FIT TO CHARGE. IF YOU ARE PUTTING TOGETHER A VIDEO WITH LOTS OF MUSIC IT WOULD PROBABLY COST A FORTUNE TO GET ALL THE RIGHTS. REMEMBER THE VERY FUNNY MOVIE "LOVE AT FIRST BITE". IN THE FILM THEY USED THE SONG "I LOVE THE NIGHT LIFE". WHEN THE TAPE AND LASER DISC WERE RELEASED A DIFFERENT SONG WAS USED AS THEY NEVER GOT THE RIGHTS FOR USE ON VIDEO. TO ME THAT SONG MADE THE MOVIE AND JUST WASN'T THE SAME ON LASER AND VIDEO WITHOUT IT.

IN THE LAST QUARTER CENTURY MUSIC RIGHTS COMPANIES HAVE BEEN FORMED THAT CLEAR ALL MUSIC FOR FILMS AND SUBSEQUENT VIDEO RELEASES. THAT WAS NOT THE CASE BACK THEN AND I ASSUME THE COST OF RELEASING "THE FORD 50TH ANIVERSARY SHOW" ON DVD WOULD BE ASTRONOMICAL. ESPECIALLY SINCE ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEINS MUSIC WAS INVOLVED. THEY KEEP A VERY TIGHT REIGN ON THEIR MUSIC. I SUGGEST WRITING THE COMPANY THAT PUT OUT THIS DVD AND REQUESTING THE WHOLE SHOW. IT CAN'T HURT.

HOPE YOU FOUND MY COMMENTS INTERESTING.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lengendary Duet, September 9, 2004

By	Mr. Elliott F. Porter (Burbank, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this duet live on television when I was 12 years old. It was the most thrilling thing I had ever seen on television. I bought the record album and wore it out. It is absolutely thrilling that it has finally been released on DVD. Whatever the cost of the DVD, it is priceless.