Yet another great from the Cole Porter songbook. It’s about someone who has loved and lost and they’re asking the profound question of what it’s all really about. Porter wrote it for his musical Wake Up and Dream in 1929 where it was introduced by Elsie Carlisle, a wonderful light singer. Tilly Losch, who had a prestigious Broadway career but only made a few films, also performed the song in the Broadway version of the play. Although it became a popular standard and was performed by such singing luminaries as Libby Holman and Segar Ellis, the song didn’t appear in films until Columbia’s delightful The More the Merrier (1943) with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea. The song was played through a record and integrated as part of the score. The song appeared next in the Allan Jones vehicle You’re a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith (1943). It was also one of several songs Ginny Simms sang for Night and Day (1946), the film biography of Porter’s life told with mostly fiction. It’s one of several songs Simms sang in the film that have been covered in this blog. She also performed, ‘I Got You Under My Skin’ and ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’. Like what Warner Bros. has done with plenty of songs featured in their movies, they embraced it and featured it in some more of their pictures.
The non-musical drama Humoresque (1946) had the song being performed by Peg La Centra of Artie Shaw’s band fame, who was dubbing it for Joan Crawford (another topic we’ve discussed). The song appeared in the James Cagney comedy/drama The Time of Your Life (1948) where Cagney’s real-life sister Jeanne Cagney performed the number. It was also used as background band music for the heavily-filled music film Young Man with a Horn (1950). It also was played in the musical short Jerry Gray and the Band of Today (1950) where Beryl Davis provided the vocals. Gene Nelson and Janice Rule also danced to Dennis Morgan and Lucille Norman’s performance of the song in Starlift (1951), a musical about stars entertaining soldiers during the Korean War in the vein of Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) and Hollywood Canteen (1944) minus the WWII period sparkle. The dance segment, however, was one of the clear highlights of the film. Fran Jeffries, with support of Count Basie’s orchestra, did a big number of the song in Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and the song was later briefly sung by Lauren Bacall. In the entertaining Two on a Guillotine (1965) the able voice of Connie Stevens performed the song. After the classic movie era, the song still found a place in some films such as ‘Round Midnight (1986), New York Stories (1988), Husbands and Wives (1992), and De-Lovely (2004).
~Bianca
The Tinseltown Twins 