"Buttons and Bows" is a

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

with music written by

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

and lyrics by Ray Evans. The song was published on by Famous Music Corp., New York. The song was written for and appeared in the

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

and

Jane Russell Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films. Russell moved from th ...

film '' The Paleface'' and won the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

. It was originally written with an Indian theme, but was changed when the director said that would not work in the movie. It was a vocal selection on many radio programs in late 1948. It was reprised in the sequel, ''

Son of Paleface ''Son of Paleface'' is a 1952 American Comedy Western film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, and Roy Rogers. The film is a sequel to '' The Paleface'' (1948). Written by Tashlin, Joseph Quillan, and Robert L. Welch ...

'', by Roy Rogers, Jane Russell and Bob Hope. In 2004 it finished #87 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema. The most popular version of the song was recorded by

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

on November 30, 1947, but wasn't released until the following year. It reached the number one spot in November 1948, which it held for ten weeks, into January 1949. It beat out Peggy Lee's " Manana" (number one for nine weeks) for the number one record of 1948. Charting versions of the song were also recorded by

The Dinning Sisters The Dinning Sisters were an American sisters singing group, active from the late 1930s to 1955. They made a handful of film appearances and had several hit records at the height of their popularity in the late 1940s. The trio originally consiste ...

Betty Rhodes Betty Jane Rhodes (April 21, 1921 – December 27, 2011) was an American actress and singer, most active in film during the late 1930s and the World War II era. She was also known as Jane Rhodes. Early years Rhodes was born in Rockford, Illin ...

Evelyn Knight Evelyn Dawn Knight (born 5 November 1942) is an English woman known for her involvement in the Abscam sting operation of the 1970s, with her ex-husband Mel Weinberg. A character inspired by her was portrayed on film by Amy Adams in '' American ...

, and

Betty Garrett Betty Garrett (May 23, 1919 – February 12, 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She originally performed on Broadway, and was then signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She appeared in several musical film ...

the same year.

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

recorded his version for Columbia in December 1947, reaching #6 on both the Best Selling Retail Folk Records and the Most Played Juke Box Folk Records charts, and #17 on the Pop chart.

Recording and chart history

*The

version was recorded on November 30, 1947, and released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as catalog number 38284. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on September 17, 1948, and lasted 24 weeks on the chart. It was the biggest hit of her career, selling one million units. *

' version was recorded on December 29, 1947, and released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

as catalog number 15184. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on October 22, 1948, and lasted 16 weeks on the chart, peaking at number seven. *The

version was recorded on December 29, 1947, and released by MGM Records as catalog number 10244. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on November 5, 1948, and lasted two weeks on the chart, peaking at number 27. *The

version was released by

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

as catalog number 20-3078. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on November 12, 1948, and lasted six weeks on the chart, peaking at number 15. *The

version was recorded on November 29, 1947, and released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

as catalog number 24489. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on November 12, 1948, and lasted six weeks on the chart, peaking at number 22. *The

version was recorded in December 1947, and released by

as catalog number 20469. *

and The Clark Sisters recorded the song on October 14, 1948. It was released on Capitol 15292. *The Geraldo/

Doreen Lundy Doreen may refer to: *Doreen (name), a woman's name, usually found in English-speaking countries *Doreen (given name), any of several people In arts and entertainment Fictional characters *Doreen Corkhill, on the British soap opera ''Brookside'' * ...

version was recorded on November 10, 1948, and released by

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

as catalog number F 2326. *

The Browns The Browns were an American country and folk music vocal trio best known for their 1959 Grammy-nominated hit, " The Three Bells". The group, composed of Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Maxine and Bonnie, had a close, smooth harmony characteristic ...

' version was released on RCA 7997 in 1962. It entered the ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart the week of April 7, 1962, where it spent two weeks, peaking at number 104. *The

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

version was recorded on April 27, 1962, at RCA Italiana Studios in Rome. It was originally intended for inclusion on the album ''Connie Francis Sings Award Winning Motion Picture Hits'' on MGM Records E-/SE-4048. However, before the album was released in March 1963, the song was shelved and remained in the vaults unreleased until 1996. *The Sum Sum 森森 (

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

female singer/artist) versions were recorded in 1971 and 1974. The 1971 version was performed in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

language with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

lyrics written by Szeto Ming (司徒明) and given the title name of 莫奔跑, appearing on her LP album ''一寸相思一寸淚 (Bitter Love In Tears)'', and released by EMI Regal Records as catalog number LRHX-849. For the 1974 version, it was performed in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

language with Chinese lyrics (different from the 1971 one) written by So Yung (蘇翁) and given the title name of 不敢再領教, appearing on her LP album ''森森 Sum Sum'', and released by EMI Regal Records as catalog number S-LRHX-1002. *The Ervinna (

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based female singer) With Charlie & His Boys version was recorded between 1972 and 1974, appearing on her LP album ''Golden Hits Of 20th Century Vol. 4'', and released by White Cloud Record of

as issue number EALP-1231. *The

John Inman Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) was an English actor and singer best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in '' Are You Being Served?'', a British sitcom between 1972 and 1985, and was the only actor from that series to featu ...

version was recorded in 1975, appearing on his LP album ''Are You Being Served Sir?'', and released by

DJM Records DJM Records (also known as Dick James Music) was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, ...

UK catalog number DJLPS 468 and by

Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

catalog number L 35800. *The French singer

Yvette Giraud Yvette Giraud (16 September 1916 – 3 August 2014) was a French traditional pop singer. Career Giraud began singing in 1946 with "Mademoiselle Hortensia", or ''La Danseuse est Créole''. With her husband, former ''Compagnon de la Chanson'' Ma ...

version was recorded in the fifties under the French title "Ma guêpière et mes longs jupons". *Rab Noakes recorded an interpretation on his 2015 album 'I'm Walkin' Here'.http://rabnoakes.com/

In other media

* Livingston and Evans appeared in ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

'' (1950) performing the song in a New Year's Eve party scene. * The haberdashery department is said to perform the song for Mr. Grace's birthday on the episode "Happy Returns" of ''

Are You Being Served? ''Are You Being Served?'' is a British sitcom created and written by executive producer David Croft (Croft also directed some episodes) and Jeremy Lloyd, with contributions from Michael Knowles and John Chapman, for the BBC. Set in London ...

'' * The melody to "Buttons and Bows" was used as a character theme in the 1960s TV

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

F Troop ''F Troop'' is a satirical American television sitcom Western about U.S. soldiers and Native Americans in the Wild West during the 1860s that originally aired for two seasons on ABC. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965, and ...

''. It was frequently heard over the entrance of "Wrangler Jane", played by

Melody Patterson A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

. * The song makes an appearance in "Look Before You Leap," an episode from the third season of ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...

''. He considers the song simplistic, but during a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

pledge telethon,

Frasier Crane Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane (born ) is a fictional character who is both a supporting character on the American television sitcom ''Cheers'' and the titular protagonist of its spin-off ''Frasier'', portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. The character debu ...

(Kelsey Grammer) tries to perform it but forgets nearly all of the lyrics, much to the amusement of his father

Martin Crane Martin Crane (born ) is a fictional character from the American television show ''Frasier'', and was played by actor John Mahoney. An army veteran and retired police detective, he is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane. Biography Although M ...

and his physical therapist,

Daphne Moon Daphne Crane (née Moon; born September 1961) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom ''Frasier'', played by Jane Leeves. An English immigrant from Manchester, Daphne is employed by Frasier as a live-in housekeeper and physical ...

. *

Gisele MacKenzie Gisèle MacKenzie (born Gisèle Marie Louise Marguerite LaFlèche; January 10, 1927 – September 5, 2003)
Accessed April 2010 ...

sang "Buttons and Bows" on ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

'' in the episode "Ghost Town: Western Sketch" S12/Ep17 (1962) where she played a saloon singer. * This song makes an appearance in the '' American Horror Story: Asylum'' episode "Tricks and Treats", in a scene set in 1949 where a character hits a small girl with a car while driving intoxicated. * The song is sung by the characters in ''

Distant Voices, Still Lives ''Distant Voices, Still Lives'' is a 1988 British period drama film written and directed by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular mus ...

'' (1988). * In the episode of Hope's radio show that aired on December 7, 1948, guest

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

contends that, if he had known

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, the composer would have written songs for him. There follows a sketch in which Hope plays Beethoven, and Crosby plays "Herr Bingle von Crosbein", both with comical German accents. The pair perform a parody song set to the tune of "Buttons and Bows", called "Heinie's and Moe's", about a delicatessen.

References

{{authority control 1947 songs 1948 singles Bob Hope songs Dinah Shore songs Gene Autry songs Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songs Number-one singles in the United States Songs with music by Jay Livingston Songs with lyrics by Ray Evans

Recording and chart history

In other media

See also

References