Don't ever let anyone give you a singing lesson. By the time I'd held that note for four bars the audience was applauding. They applauded through the whole chorus and I did several encores. It seemed to do something to them. Not because it was sweet or beautiful, but because it was exciting.
Few people have the ability to project a big note and hold it.
I'd never trained my diaphragm, but I must have a strong one. When I finished that song, a star had been born. Though she took a commercial course at high school and got a job as a stenographer, Miss Merman never doubted that she would become a singer. Thus, she left one job for another because she had heard that her boss at the second job knew important men in show business. Once her boss gave her a letter to a Broadway producer who offered her a job in the chorus.