On this day in 1984, stage and screen actress and singer Ethel Merman died at age 75. When she was 21 years old, the cabaret and vaudeville performer was cast in George Gershwin’s musical Girl Crazy and she later appeared in many other Broadway musicals, including Gypsy. She recorded at least a dozen hit records, including “You’re the Top,” and her lusty, belting style of singing was often imitated. She was married and divorced four times, once to Ernest Borgnine. Her film appearances included Alexander’s Ragtime Band in 1938, There’s No Business Like Show Business in 1954, and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963.