Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Nobody Has Ever Accused Me Of Being Frigid





Portland has been in a deep freeze since Monday, with a record low this morning of 12 degrees. As always, I worry about all the creatures & I have been making sure that the birds have food & water. The Husband, the canines & I really had to snuggle up to make it through the night, nothing warms you like something warm & furry, huh?



Baby It's Cold Outside was written by Frank Loesser ( Guys & Dolls et al). In 1948, after years of informally performing the song at various parties, Loesser sold its rights to MGM, which inserted the song into its 1949 motion picture, Neptune's Daughter. The film featured two performances of the song: one by Ricardo Montalbán & Esther Williams & the other by Red Skelton & Betty Garrett. These performances earned Loesser an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Baby, It's Cold Outside" has been recorded by numerous other artists over the years, including:
Homer & Jethro with June Carter (1949)
Jo Stafford (1956)
Sammy Davis, Jr. & Carmen McRae (1957)
Ray Charles & Betty Carter (1962)
Oliver Reed &Joyce Blair (1962)
Kenneth Connor with Glennis Beresford (1971) on the album Much Ado About Love
Barry Manilow & K. T. Oslin (1990)
Bobby Caldwell & Vanessa Williams (1998)
Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews (1999)
Al Hirt and Ann-Margaret (1964)
Lee Ann Womack & Harry Connick, Jr. (2002)
Brian Setzer & Ann-Margret (2002)
Jessica Simpson &Nick Lachey (2004)
Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton (2004) - Stardust: The Great American Songbook Volume III (2004)
James Taylor & Natalie Cole (2004)
Wheat & Liz Phair (2004)
Alan Cumming & Liza Minnelli
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme 
Holly Cole & Ed Robertson
Jack Nicholson & Meryl Streep, in the 1986 film Heartburn
Bette Midler & James Caan, in the 1991 film For the Boys
Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel in 2003 on the Elf Soundtrack
Michael Bublé & Anne Murray (2008)
Lady Antebellum (2008)
Willie Nelson & Norah Jones (2009) on the album American Classic
Also in 2006, Peter Gallagher & Megan Mullally performed it on The Megan Mullally Show. One of the oddest & most amusing renditions was by husband & wife Charles Laughton & Elsa Lanchester on an American radio show. In his Christmas in New England special, Rod McKuen sings the song with Dusty Springfield, in an instance where the roles of the male & female are reversed in the second verse. Rudolf Nureyev also performed the song with Miss Piggy on the Muppet Show. In this rendition Nureyev was in a sauna with only a towel & Miss Piggy was trying to seduce him. My favorite version is the Stephen Rutledge & Tom Ford duet that opens the  LOGO TV special- A Very Steve Holiday!.

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