Mae West: Frank Loesser

How cold could it be when MAE WEST is singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" a pop standard with words and music by Frank Loesser?
• • In 1944, Loesser wrote the contrapuntal duet and premiered the song with his wife at their Navarro Hotel house-warming party. The female voice in the song is called "The Mouse" and the male "The Wolf." The lyrics consist of The Wolf's attempts to convince her to stay with him at the end of a date; her indecisive protests reveal that although she feels obligated to go home, she is tempted to stay, partially because, as the title suggests, "it's cold outside."
• • In 1958, the most memorable rendition of Loesser's duet was performed (and televised) at the annual Oscar ceremony when MAE WEST and Rock Hudson teamed up.
• • In 1948 — — after years of informally performing the song at various events — — Loesser finally had sold the rights to MGM, which inserted the song into its motion picture, "Neptune's Daughter" [1949]. The film featured two performances of the song: one by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams, and the other by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. These performances earned Loesser an Academy Award for Best Song.
• • Many vocalists have paired up to record this light-hearted duet including Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer, and Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton.
• • A native New Yorker like Mae West, Frank Henry Loesser [29 June 1910 — 26 July 1969] was a versatile composer and lyricist.
• • Frank never studied music formally, though he couldn't help coming under its influence in his childhood. His father was a distinguished German-born teacher of classical piano and his older brother, Arthur, was a renowned concert pianist, musicologist, and music critic. Frank wrote his first song at the age of six.
• • During World War II, he wrote 1942's "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." Formerly a successful lyricist in collaboration with other composers, this was the first song for which Loesser composed the melody in addition to the lyric.
• • Frank Loesser was awarded a Grammy Award in 1961 for Best Original Cast Show Album for "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."
• • However, he wrote well-known number for several Broadway musicals including hits for "Guys and Dolls" (1950).
• • A lifelong smoker, Frank Loesser died of lung cancer at age 59.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1958 • •
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Mae West.