Some Enchanted Evenings ─ The Glittering Life and Times of Mary Martin

A fascinating new biography of Mary Martin, the girl whose heart belonged to daddy, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Janet Gaynor, and Peter Pan. Mary Martin’s life spanned the twentieth century and dominated the golden age of American musical theater. After an unsuccessful attempt at Hollywood stardom, she found herself auditioning for Cole Porter’s Leave It to Me! in 1938. After winning the part and singing the bawdy My Heart Belongs to Daddy, stardom was hers. Just over a decade later, she created the role of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. After that, she flew as Peter Pan, created the role of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, and took Hello, Dolly! on the road. Martin’s uncanny ability to make everyone in the audience feel as if she were communicating directly to them turned each of her performances into an event.Beginning with the abandonment of her only son, Larry Hagman, to kickstart her career, Martin’s personal life was the exact opposite of the homespun, fairy-tale lives she evoked on stage. Rumors of lesbian relationships swirled around her. Her second husband, Richard Halliday, was a closeted, haughty homosexual who, as her manager, brought glamour, sophistication, and a will of iron to Mary’s life. Peopled with legends like Ethel Merman, Ezio Pinza, Noël Coward, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Robbins, Hedda Hopper, Yul Brynner and a starry cast of thousands, Some Enchanted Evenings is the delectable story of the one and only Mary Martin—the little girl from Texas who captured America’s heart.