Baby, It's Cold Outside!
I can’t stop singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
Two members of the high school chorus did a cute duet the other night as part of the high school holiday band/chorus concert, and ever since then I keep hearing the song wherever I go.
In my head, out loud, on the radio, in Starbucks. Just about everywhere.
Of course, it really is cold outside right now, so maybe that has prompted the sudden popularity. There was even a post about the song and different versions of it on Monkey See, NPR’s pop-culture blog.
Whenever I hear the song, though, I always think of the 1949 movie Neptune’s Daughter, where – I kid you not! – Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams sing the duet in the traditional version, where the woman feels she should leave and the man wants her to stay. [I am not sure why, but I can no longer find a video version of this online to share with you, but it is priceless!] Later in the same film, Red Skelton and Betty Garrett sing a reprise, but this time with the roles reversed. You can see this version online, but it’s just not the same as when Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams sing it.
The song, by Frank Loesser, went on to win an Academy Award for Most Original Song. The irony of it all is that Neptune’s Daughter had nothing to do with Christmas – or it being cold outside. It was set in Florida, where Esther Williams is a swim suit designer and there are synchronized swimming musical numbers mixed in with the movie’s other song and dance routines. Ricardo Montalban is a playboy captain of a South American polo team! Williams falls (reluctantly) in love with Montalban, and I guess he sings the song to her so she won’t leave but will stay and... look at his etchings. Or something.
You can see a trailer for the film online, and it does include a clip from Montalban and Williams’s version of the song.
[More info and a complete synopsis of the film are available on Turner Classic Movie’s website.]
I think most recently the song has regained a bit of popularity because of the version in the movie Elf where Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell sing it . In fact, at the high school concert, I commented that the song always reminded me of the Ricardo Montalban movie, and the mom sitting next to me said, “Really? It always reminds me of Elf.”
Sure, Elf is cute, but how can you beat synchronized swimming bathing beauties, Latin music bands and dancers, polo, comedy, and Ricardo Montalban?
I mean, really now?
Two members of the high school chorus did a cute duet the other night as part of the high school holiday band/chorus concert, and ever since then I keep hearing the song wherever I go.
In my head, out loud, on the radio, in Starbucks. Just about everywhere.
Of course, it really is cold outside right now, so maybe that has prompted the sudden popularity. There was even a post about the song and different versions of it on Monkey See, NPR’s pop-culture blog.
Whenever I hear the song, though, I always think of the 1949 movie Neptune’s Daughter, where – I kid you not! – Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams sing the duet in the traditional version, where the woman feels she should leave and the man wants her to stay. [I am not sure why, but I can no longer find a video version of this online to share with you, but it is priceless!] Later in the same film, Red Skelton and Betty Garrett sing a reprise, but this time with the roles reversed. You can see this version online, but it’s just not the same as when Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams sing it.
The song, by Frank Loesser, went on to win an Academy Award for Most Original Song. The irony of it all is that Neptune’s Daughter had nothing to do with Christmas – or it being cold outside. It was set in Florida, where Esther Williams is a swim suit designer and there are synchronized swimming musical numbers mixed in with the movie’s other song and dance routines. Ricardo Montalban is a playboy captain of a South American polo team! Williams falls (reluctantly) in love with Montalban, and I guess he sings the song to her so she won’t leave but will stay and... look at his etchings. Or something.
You can see a trailer for the film online, and it does include a clip from Montalban and Williams’s version of the song.
[More info and a complete synopsis of the film are available on Turner Classic Movie’s website.]
I think most recently the song has regained a bit of popularity because of the version in the movie Elf where Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell sing it . In fact, at the high school concert, I commented that the song always reminded me of the Ricardo Montalban movie, and the mom sitting next to me said, “Really? It always reminds me of Elf.”
Sure, Elf is cute, but how can you beat synchronized swimming bathing beauties, Latin music bands and dancers, polo, comedy, and Ricardo Montalban?
I mean, really now?
posted by delta at 5:08 PM
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