Hi,one can never be too rich or have too many friends. Does anyone know if this movie was a hit or flop? I read in one book it was a hit,another said it was a disappointment and that was the reason Ethel didn't do too many films. I'd like to know the answer
Well, it was a hit with the critics. Ethel Merman even won a Golden Glode for this film. However, not much was said about its commercial performance. Since this was Merman's 1st film since 15 years ago, I don't think she really attracted much crowd, and in the same year, Audrey Hepburn's entry into Hollywood in the same year through "Roman Holiday" almost totally overshadowed Merman's Hollywood comeback.
The critical success of this film led to her being teamed up with Walter Lang, Irvin Merlin and Donald O'Connor in "There's No Business Like Show Business". But they decided to pull in Marilyn Monroe to boost its box office potential. Again, not much was said about its commercial performance, but the reviews were mixed and there were a lot of on-set tensions, penetrated mostly by Monroe.
In contrast, the pairing of Donald O'Connor and Vera Ellen was a hit with the public, so much so that there were subsequents attempts to bring them together in film. In fact, they almost did for "White Christmas". Too bad, Donald had a bad flu at the wrong timing.....
All in all, Call Me Madam was a much more successful film than "There's No Business Like Show Business". So in that sense, I call it a hit! :)
Hi,one can never be too rich or have too many friends. Hey,thanks for info. I think There's No Business Like Show Business cost about $5 million to make and didn't earn it back. Did u know Roman Holiday wasn't the huge hit legend makes it ? It did average business in it's first release,after Audrey's oscar win it was re-released and did a bit better the second time.
Call Me Madam made a nice profit, so it should be recalled as a commercial success. Based on the highly favorable reviews, however, Fox was hoping it was going to be a HUGE hit. The dissapointment was based on the film not quite reaching those expectations. There's no question the studio was taking a gamble on Merman as an untested box office draw.
shareAccording to ETHEL MERMAN: A LIFE, the new biography by Brian Kellow, the film of CALL ME MADAM did well, but not as well as we've been led to think -
CALL ME MADAM was generally branded an enormous success as a movie musical. In later years Ethel took great pains to portray the movie as a smash, but although it did well, playing to great business in the metropolitan areas, it underperformed in smaller towns and rual areas. (Again Ethel's refusal to tour in her Broadway shows may have been a factor.) In the end, CALL ME MADAM was 20th Century Fox's fourth-biggest grosser for 1953, with a take of $2.85 million (though that figure is less impressive when one takes into account the production cost of $2.46 million).
Seems like folks always looked to MGM for the musicals and didn't appreciate the Fox outings as much. Maybe they were just a touch less lush and smooth or something.
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