Skip to main content

Link to Smithsonian homepage

Smithsonian Music

Main menu

  • Calendar
  • Listen
  • Learn
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Collections Spotlights
    • Music Stories
  • Watch
  • Blog

Ethel Merman

Object Details

Exhibition Label
Born Queens, New York
In 1930 the Gershwin musical Girl Crazy opened on Broadway, and toward the end of the first act, an unknown singer named Ethel Merman mesmerized the audience with her rendition of “I Got Rhythm,” in the course of which she held a high-C for sixteen bars. As Merman later put it, by the time the applause died, “a star had been born. Me.” Over the next five decades, her booming voice and brassy style were the main attraction of some of the most successful Broadway musicals ever, including Anything Goes, Gypsy, and Annie Get Your Gun—whose score included her trademark song, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Of her singing technique, Merman once said, “I just stand up and holler and hope that my voice holds out.” This painting shows Merman dressed for the title role in Annie Get Your Gun.
Provenance
The artist; purchased 1971 NPG.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Artist
Rosemarie Sloat, born 17 Mar 1929
Sitter
Ethel Merman, 16 Jan 1909 - 15 Feb 1984
Date
1971
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Ethel Merman
Medium
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 227.3 x 126.4 x 3.2cm (89 1/2 x 49 3/4 x 1 1/4")
Frame: 233.7 x 146.1 x 10.2cm (92 x 57 1/2 x 4")
Type
Painting

Featured In

  • Entertaining Women: American Women on Stage and Screen
  • Hats Off to These Pieces
  • Women in Music
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Link to Smithsonian homepage

  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
Back to Top