No. 18. ”There’s No Business Like Show Business”
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1946). By Irving Berlin (music and lyrics) and Herbert Fields & Dorothy Fields (book).
Summer 1946. You’re at Annie Get Your Gun, the first Irving Berlin musical in a post-Oklahoma! age (and produced by Rodger and Hammerstein themselves). Berlin has been America’s most popular tunesmith for 35 years, since “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” debuted. He’s had countless hits, mostly written for reviews, but this marks his first score for a “Golden Age” musical. The show opens near a Cincinnati, Ohio hotel in the late 19th century. The townspeople are excited about the arrival of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show. It’s star, Frank Butler, is a handsome f***boy and expert marksman. Enter Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley, a poor-as-dirt sharpshooter who falls in love with Butler the minute she sees him. The audience falls in love with Merman just as quickly, and she gets two great numbers (“Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly” and “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun”) within 15 minutes. The New York Times was right when they said she “takes Irving Berlin's latest score and lyrics and tosses them at the rafters in such a fashion they must rain down on the balcony like hail.” Butler makes a $100 bet that he can beat the best shot in town—a bet he loses to Oakley. Buffalo Bill realizes he needs Annie for his show and enlists Butler and the tour’s manger (Charlie Davenport) to convince her, explaining “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” is one of Irving Berlin’s (and American music’s) most popular songs. It celebrates the grit and determination of going “on with the show” against all odds. Annie Get Your Gun, meanwhile, has a less sturdy reputation. On one hand, it marked Berlin’s initiation into the integrated Musical Play, and was a rare Broadway musical co-authored by a woman (co-librettist Dorothy Fields, writing with her brother Herbert). But it also felt a bit quaint and old-fashioned even in 1946. And while it remains a known and popular title—and is surely a major reason why Annie Oakley is still known today—it’s its shockingly dated characterizations of Native Americans and sexist ending (Oakley loses a climactic shooting match to soothe the ego of her beloved Frank Butler) make it difficult to revive. But the sore is hit after hit, and it’s a great showcase for a spectacular leading lady. Oddly, while “There’s No Business Like Show Business” is perhaps Merman’s most signature number, Oakley only sings half a verse and a Disney-princess-esque sad reprise. The bulk of the song is just three guys mansplaining in a dressing room. Still, you wouldn’t trade it for a sack of gold.
Recommended Recording: ”There’s No Business Like Show Business,” There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954 Film Soundtrack)
There are many Annie Get Your Gun recordings to choose from, so selecting a whole different movie is moderately chaotic. But we deserve to hear Merman sing “…Show Business” as a brassy solo. Merman starred in 1954’s There’s No Business Like Show Business with Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O’Connor, and Marilyn Monroe. This Irving Berlin jukebox movie musical centers on a family performing act, with most of the songs shoehorned in as diagetic performances. Among the more bizarre is a duet between Merman and Mitzi Gaynor in sailor drag singing about tattoos. The finale starts with Merman singing “…Show Business” in a lovely white gown. This is followed by her family (and an army of ribbon dancers) joining in a Berlin medley that ends with everyone singing “…Show Business” one more time. (The track below is just the Merman solo part.)
Alternate Performances
Annie Get Your Gun has received ~28 cast recordings. “There’s No Business Like Show Business” has appeared in a diverse array of films including All that Jazz, Mirror Cracked, Little Voice, and Maxxxine.
1946 and 1966 Broadway Cast Recordings - Annie Get your Gunproduced one of the earliest true cast recordings of a Merman production. It’s heavily edited and reflects the limited technology of its time. Merman returned to the role in a revival 20 years later—dubbed “Granny Get You Gun,” by some—which featured a new duet by Berlin (the delightful “An Old Fashioned Wedding”). The 1966 revival produced a more comprehensive cast album that is the definitive recording of the show. An edited version was taped and broadcast in 1967, but all tapes have tragically been lost to time.
1950 Film - Bubsy Berkeley was supposed to direct Judy Garland in a film version of Annie Get You Gun. As happened with Girl Grazy, Garland and Berkeley didn’t get along, and the latter was fired. Then Garland was fired due to her behavior and absenteeism on set. George Sidney came on to direct and Betty Hutton replaced Garland. Everyone does a capable job, and it was a hit at the time, but the movie lacks spark or really anything interesting beyond knowing what it could have been. In the 1970s MGM got into a feud with the Irving Berlin estate that kept the movie from public view until 2000
1957 TV Movie - Mary Martin, Broadway’s biggest star besides Merman, led the original Broadway tour to great success. Ten years later, she led a more limited tour culminating in a TV adaptation, opposite John Raitt, that has far more charm and personality than the 1950 film. A kinescope has survived and is available to buy.
1999 Broadway Revival - Graciela Daniele directed this updated revival that uses “…Show Business” as a big opening number establishing the story of Annie Oakley as a show-within a Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Peter Stone wrote a new book that aimed to address the racism and sexism. Bernadette Peters starred to great acclaim (and likely the great annoyance of Patti LuPone, who had previously played Oakley in a concert presentation of the new book). However, the show really became a sensation when Reba McEntire took over. McEntire tried for years to get an Annie Get Your Gun movie made, and it’s really shameful that no one was able to figure out how to make that happen.
Is it Covered by The Rat Pack, Audra McDonald, or Glee?
The Rat Pack - Frank Sinatra recorded “There’s No Business Like Show Business” in 1946. Sammy Davis Jr. performed in in a ca. 1978 tv medley of Irving Berlin songs.
Audra McDonald has not recorded “…Show Business,” but she does sing “Moonshine Lullaby” (a lullaby Annie sings to her many siblings) in her 2024 special Audra McDonald at the London Palladium. Yes, this is the 3rd time this special has come up so far. Support your local PBS station!
Glee: Surprisingly, Glee never does “There No Business Like Show Business.” But another Annie Get Your Gun song— “Anything You Can Do,” a musical game of one-upmanship between Annie Oakley and Frank Butler—appears in “The Purple Piano Project” (season 3, episode 1). Rachel and Kurt are at a mixer for the New York Drama Academy where other aspiring applicants sing a mash-up of “Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do.” RachelKurt are horrified to learn other talented people exist.
In the Wings
Song No. 19 drops next week. Until then, you may want to see what you can find about a 1970s revival of Annie Get Your Gun starring Debbie Reynolds and directed and choreographed by Gower Champion. It was a conplete reimaging of fhe material that saw “…Show Business” as an epic dream ballet. The wonderul biography of Champion, Before the Parade Passes By, by John Anthony Gilvey, includes a lengthy and detailed description pf the number. It sounds amazing, and it’s a damn shame a Broadway production never materialized.
