# Searching for Robert Merrill/Richard Tucker anecdote



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

There was a funny story I read--perhaps on this site--years ago about baritone Robert Merrill being over at tenor Richard Tucker's house (or maybe it was the other way around) and either Merrill or Tucker's son making a funny comment about Merrill's costume for some role he sang. The role might have been Enrico in _Lucia di Lammermoor_, but I can't remember, nor can I remember what the son said that was so funny. Can anyone fill me in on the details of this anecdote? I've been trying to recall it for hours now; it's driving me crazy. (I happen to be writing a piece about Merrill and Tucker and wanted to include the story if possible.)


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Can't help you but I hope you intend to add Tucker's glib response to Franco Corelli when Corelli went to Tucker's dressing room to ask him how he was able to do a certain role.
(The answer is hilarious)


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Can't help you but I hope you intend to add Tucker's glib response to Franco Corelli when Corelli went to Tucker's dressing room to ask him how he was able to do a certain role.
> (The answer is hilarious)


"You've got to be Jewish, kiddo!":lol:


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I'd look here for your story. I've read excerpts and it's joyful:
https://www.amazon.com/Between-irreverent-opera-other-madness/dp/0070415013 
It's full of delightful stories about his celebrity friends.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> "You've got to be Jewish, kiddo!":lol:


Bingo!!! Hahaha


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Larkenfield said:


> I'd look here for your story. I've read excerpts and it's joyful:
> https://www.amazon.com/Between-irreverent-opera-other-madness/dp/0070415013
> It's full of delightful stories about his celebrity friends.


I have that book and haven't come across the anecdote I want yet. I know I originally read it online--maybe even on this site--but haven't been able to locate it yet.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Well, on vacation I read Robert Merrill's memoirs _Once More from the Beginning._ The anecdote I was thinking of involved Merrill's son, David, saying goodbye to him before Merrill left the house for a performance of _Lucia di Lammermoor_. David inquired, "Are you the rat again tonight, Dad?" And Merrill replied, "The baritone is _always_ the rat, my boy!" I don't think Richard Tucker was actually present.

There are numerous other hilarious anecdotes in Merrill's book. One that comes to mind right now is the way his parents, with their Polish/Yiddish accents, pronounced Bing Crosby's name as "Pink Cruspy." Since that's how Merrill wrote it out in the book, it took me half the vacation to realize who "Pink Cruspy" was!:lol:


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