Beginnings -- From stenographer to star -- The early thirties -- To Hollywood and back again -- Broadway's brightest : the early forties -- Forging a family -- What comes natur'lly : Annie get your gun -- Call me madam -- A more complex image -- Madam in Hollywood -- Life with Six -- There's no business like show business -- From Mrs. Six to Mama Rose -- Gypsy : Ethel Merman's musical fable -- It's a mad, mad schedule -- The sixties and the art of love -- After the big stem; the seventies -- Twilight and transformation -- Afterlife.