"On the Good Ship Lollipop" is a song composed by Richard A. Whiting with lyrics by

Sidney Clare Sidney Clare (August 15, 1892 – August 29, 1972) was an American comedian, dancer and composer. His best-known songs include "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (introduced by Shirley Temple), " You're My Thrill" (recorded by Billie Holiday), and "Ple ...

. It was the

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

of child actress

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

. Temple first sang it in the 1934 film, '' Bright Eyes''. In the song, the "Good Ship Lollipop" travels to a candy land. The "ship" referred to in the song is an

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

; the scene in ''Bright Eyes'' where the song appears takes place on a

taxiing Taxiing (rarely spelled taxying) is the movement of an aircraft on the ground, under its own power, in contrast to towing or pushback where the aircraft is moved by a tug. The aircraft usually moves on wheels, but the term also includes aircr ...

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which ...

. 400,000 copies of the sheet music, published by Sam Fox Publishing Company, were sold, and one recording by Mae Questel (the cartoon voice of

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleisc ...

and Olive Oyl) reputedly sold more than two million copies. It finished at #69 in the survey AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs of top tunes in cinema in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in June 2004. The song was parodied on an episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' from May 2000, the episode being "

Last Tap Dance in Springfield "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" is the twentieth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 7, 2000. In the episode, Lisa decides ...

". It was being sung as "On the Spaceship Lollipop" by Vicki Valentine (voiced by

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

) herself spoofing Temple. The ''actual'' song was used on an earlier episode, " Treehouse of Horror III", which aired in October 1992 in which Shirley Temple was seen singing it during her concert before being devoured by King Homer, the sketch parodying ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

''. The song was also parodied on an episode of ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, afte ...

'' from February 1974, the episode being "The Snooperstar" in which Cindy becomes convinced that Mike's fussy client Penelope Fletcher (

Natalie Schafer Natalie Schafer (November 5, 1900 – April 10, 1991) was an American actress, known for her role as Lovey Howell on the sitcom ''Gilligan's Island'' (1964–1967). Early life and career Natalie Schafer was born on November 5, 1900, in Manhatta ...

) is a

talent scout In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scou ...

and is trying to make her into the next

. The moniker "Good Ship Lollipop" was famously used by

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

underboss Ernest "Rocky" Infelice and his inner circle to refer to the Cicero Crew, which he ran in the mid-to-late 1980's with his second in command, Salvatore "Solly D" DeLaurentis. It is unknown as to how the crew gained the nickname.

Other recordings

*1935:

Rudy Vallee Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

and His Connecticut Yankees, recorded for Victor on December 24, 1934 ( Christmas Eve) (catalog No. 24838). This was ''very'' popular in 1935. *1935:

Ted Fio Rito Theodore Salvatore Fiorito (December 20, 1900 – July 22, 1971),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 95. known professionally a ...

– recorded for Brunswick Records (catalog No. 7364) on August 1, 1935. *1952: Rosemary Clooney – on an unbreakable children’s record Columbia MJV138 *1969: Tiny Tim covered the song, reaching #82 in Canada. *1980: Margaret Whiting (for her album ''Too Marvellous for Words'').

References

{{Shirley Temple Songs from musicals 1934 songs Songs with music by Richard A. Whiting Music published by Bourne Co. Music Publishers Songs with lyrics by Sidney Clare Shirley Temple songs Songs written for films