Can someone shed light on Betty Hutton incident
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Ethel Merman
edwardholub — 17 years ago(September 27, 2008 07:12 AM)
All I've heard is that during the Broadway production of Panama Hattie Merman spotted the entertainment potential in co-star Betty Hutton and ordered her OUT!!! And it was the basis for the Helen Lawson/Neely O'Hara conflict in Valley of the Dolls. Can someone elaborate? Thanks.
Off the record, on the QT, and very hush hush -
filmmekker — 17 years ago(October 26, 2008 02:08 AM)
Betty Hutt2000on was a kook. She did not get booted from their show. Merman wrote in her autobiography that she didn't understand why Hutton was very friendly to her after the show ended, writing her warm letters, then years later went around telling people that story.
Action Is everything! -
MyMovieTVRomance — 13 years ago(September 11, 2012 01:30 AM)
Regarding Betty, folks might be interested to know that supposedly, according to several people, Betty was one of the people to speak out against Joan Crawford long before MOMMIE DEAREST. So, I'm glad to hear that she basically did that w/ everyone. B/c that's one less Joan critic to take seriously.
I believe Joan could be crazy and far from perfect, but I also believe that she loved her kids and was never as cruel as people made her out to be.
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize! -
SimplemindedSociety — 13 years ago(September 11, 2012 04:24 AM)
Bette also got herself alienated trom Hollywood with her mouth,and ended up working as a waitress.
'I believe Joan could be crazy and far from perfect, but I also believe that she loved her kids and was never as cruel as people made her out to be.'ha
That's not sort of an oxymoron? Crazy people do crazy things.
It's very easy to toss around the word "love"(somebody I know does it)but has no sense of respect. People don't want to hear about love,love,love, when it's just words or nothing behind it. Sure,just write out a check to show one's 'love',then they don't have to actually go out on a limb.
Yes, she loved them..for what they could do for her. Isn't that why we love our dog? -
metalman091 — 10 years ago(July 01, 2015 12:16 AM)
Gerold Frank's dated and flawed Judy Garland biography 'Judy' [1975] details a moment after losing ANNIE GET YOUR GUN to Betty Hutton that she encountered Judy at MGM and that Judy hurled abuse at Hutton. However, Frank's book is not totally accurate and he had a lot of problems with being able to tell the truth at such an early date.
And he never cited Hutton [or anyone] as the source for the story.
Judy and Betty were friends in the 1950s and 60s [Hutton went along to Judy's Long Beach Concert in 1955 and also appeared in Las Vegas at the same time in the 1960s]. Hutton told Robert Osborne that Judy was kind and generous at the time of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.
The point being that Hutton appears to have been a contradictory person. Maybe not with Judy but with other performers. Hutton also wrote;
Years, later while we were both working in Las Vegas, Judy and I became very good friends. She told me then she had never wanted the picture and it wasnt right for her. She admitted the part was right for me, and after all was said and done, she was happy I got it
As for Ethel Merman, it is true that she did have an ego and could be competitive. Reportedly, Irving Berlin played 'You're Just In Love' for Russell Nype first and asked him not to tell Merman because she would get angry.
And there are some [very few] who think that Merman should not have appeared on THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW when Barbra Streisand made her appearance. The feeling is that Merman intimidated Streisand and took over the show and interrupted Streisand a few times while Judy, aware of this, tries to focus attention on Streisand. The other complaint being that Merman appeared on Judy's show twice and Streisand only appeared once. I'm certainly not one of those people, and that segment still stands as one of television's greatest moments as well as evidence that Merman wasn't always wary of appearing with great talent. -
metalman091 — 10 years ago(July 14, 2015 01:01 AM)
Another Judy/Ethel anecdote by Roger Edens which provides an alternative to the view that Merman was always jealous and competitive of other singers.
"Meeting Judy was a great moment for me. [Ethel] Merman was the first real pro singer in my life; the next was Judy. I came [to MGM] and Judy came into my life in another year. I worked with her exactly the way I worked with Ethel in New York. Now, at that time, I would go East once or twice a year; I would always see Ethel. And I started telling her about J7ecudy; 'I've got this wonderful kid out there: the greatest, greatest, singer that I've ever known. Wait'll you see her!' Well, Ethel was very cute because she was a tiny bit jealous: 'Well, who is this? Who is this?' And I said, 'Well, she's just a little kid, Ethel.' 'Well, what's she like? You're not showing her any of my tricks, are you?' So I had to [placate her:] 'Awww, just forget about it.'
The next year, Judy was fifteen. I took her to New York to appear at Loew's State; I played for her. Well, Ethel was there practically at the first matinee, and when I took Judy out to meet her, Ethel was just darling with her: 'So, you took my man'- kidding about me- and Judy was [sheepish]: 'Oh, yes.'
Over a period of years, Ethel would come out here to make pictures, and finally they got very friendly and very close. They saw quite a lot of each other. One night after dinner at my house, we started this real rivalry thing. They decided to see which could out-sing the other. It was the greatest thing I've ever known; they just died laughing at each other. Ethel would say, 'Remember an old one I used to sing? He used to do it for me.' And then she would sing. And then Judy said, 'Well, he did an older one for me!' They finally ended up singing duets; it was one of the great, great evenings." -
MyMovieTVRomance — 10 years ago(July 18, 2015 01:39 AM)
Sorry, dudejudging from your posting history, it appears nobody takes you seriously anymore.
There's only so much force-feeding of Judy stories a person can appreciate before it starts to be intrusive and annoying. Just a heads-up.
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize! -
tkrolak — 16 years ago(March 13, 2010 12:56 PM)
When she was interviewed by Robert Osborne on TCM, Betty Hutton recalled being in the Broadway musical Panama Hattie. She said the star, Ethel Merman, demanded that Hutton's number be dropped from the show. Hutton continued that after she was fired, her agent got her work with Paramount Pictures.
Whether or not this story is true, I couldn't say for certain. Possibly her song was ommitted for a reason that had nothing to do with Merman although she thought it did. It would seem to me that she would know why she was dismissed. Did someone substitute for her? Or, was the part, or at least the song Hutton had done in it, also cut? Was that part, with the song Hutton had sung on the stage, included in the movie of Panama Hattie? It would seem to me that after a production reaches Broadway, all the changes have been made, or, at least, most of the time.
But Hutton did get her revenge in a way when she was given the title role in the film Annie Get Your Gun. That part had been originated by Merman on Broadway. But the prize was bittersweet, according to her. Hutton's version was that because she was a replacement for Judy Garland, Howard Keel and the other cast members treated her with contempt.
Anyway, love her or not, such a story might be easy to believe about The Merm.
Her ego can't be denied. She was the first person to be offered the role of Dolly Levi in the Broadway show of Hello Dolly! Carol Channing said years later on television that Merman wouldn't speak to her after Channing achieved great success in the role. Merman kept up the silent treatment even after she replaced Channing. The latter related how they were cast in an episode of the series Love Boat. Channing described how she and Merman were seated next to each other. Merman was blowing her nose and dropping the used tissues into Channing's purse. Channing told her "I kda0now what you're doing and don't pretend that I don't." However, by the time the show had been filmed, they were friends.
Also, when Angela Lansbury appeared in a revival of Gypsy, Merman was quoted as
saying that Lansbury wasn't fit to shovel the manure behind Merman's horse.
But this is not to forget those Merman moments that will shine forever. Many of them are on my original cast recording of Annie Get Your Gun. It has those wonderful Irving Berlin songs. If there were a time machine, it would be used by me to see her 1930 Broadway debut, Girl Crazy, belting out "I've Got Rhythm" and famously holding that note. There was also the scene in the movie There's No Business Like Showbusiness as she is singing the title tune. Donald O'Connor, as her estranged son, makes a surprise appearance offstage in his sailor's uniform. She glances at him, as he is embraced by his siblings. But, a genuine trooper, she finishes the song. My favorite role of hers was non-musical, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. -
filmmekker — 16 years ago(March 13, 2010 02:46 PM)
I'll repeat what I said earlier. It's a matter of public record that her songs were not cut. Betty Hutton had mental problems.
Merman wrote in her autobiography that she didn't understand why Hutton was very friendly to her after the show ended, writing her warm letters, then years later went around telling people that story. 5b4
Open the door for Mr. Muckle!! -
metalman091 — 14 years ago(June 13, 2011 05:31 PM)
It's strange when you get a case like this. On the one hand, Betty Hutton was known to have a self-serving memory, and on the other, Ethel Merman was known for her enormous ego and could be tough on people.
A simalar case was Danny Kaye and Tony Curtis. Curtis accused (in his autobiography) Kaye of being a real nasty individual. Curtis lived in a fantasy world, but what he wrote about Kaye is not exactly news (excluding the inaccurate claims of anti-semitism). -
filmmekker — 14 years ago(June 13, 2011 05:53 PM)
Yes but in this case, there's documentation backing up Merman's story. Playbills that show Hutton not having her number cut as well as correspondence that Merman kept between Hutton and herself from after the show closed. There's a lot of false rumors around that paint Merman in a bad light. The two latest Merman biographies - Ethel Merman -A Life and Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman show the real Merman with fairness.
Open the door for Mr. Muckle!!