Mary Martin

Mary Martin (1913-1990) was a Broadway star in musicals for over two decades, best known for her two Rodgers and Hammerstein hits and as the title role in Peter Pan. Her recordings were sometimes used on Sam and Friends.
Martin made her Broadway debut in the 1938 Cole Porter musical Leave It to Me! in the principal supporting role of flirtatious Dolly. She became an instant success, signed to a recording contract with Decca the next year. In between her brief 1940s dalliances with the movies (most often as herself), she headlined the musicals One Touch of Venus and Lute Song (with Yul Brynner). In 1949, fully cemented her Broadway reputation in the original run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific as Nellie Forbush, winning her first of three Tony Awards. She originated Maria in the team's The Sound of Music in 1959, but by then she had developed another signature role: Peter Pan in the musical version. First playing the role on Broadway in 1954, she reprised it several times on television, notably a frequently rebroadcast 1960 version. In 1966, she starred in the two-person Tom Jones musical I Do! I Do!
Outside of Broadway, Martin took the leads in national tours of Annie Get Your Gun and Hello, Dolly!. She teamed with longtime friend and fellow musical legend Ethel Merman for a 1977 Broadway benefit, and other later performances included guest roles on Hardcastle and McCormick and, inevitably, The Love Boat.
==Records used on Sam and Friends==
*"You're Just in Love" (1951) with Larry Hagman (her real life son). March 29, 1960 broadcast.Shemin, Craig. Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show. p. 445
*"I've Got to Crow" (1954) from the Peter Pan Broadway cast album. August 4, 1960.ibid. p. 478
==Sources==
 
==External links==
*Internet Broadway Database
*IMDb
*Discogs.com listing
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Category:Musical References