“Hello Ma Baby” Made Popular Thanks to Michiganian Thomas Edison
One of the most popular songs from the turn of the 20th Century (1899-1900) was not written by a Michigander, nor sung by a Michigander. But if it wasn’t FOR a Michigander, maybe it wouldn’t have been as successful as it became.
I think most people are familiar with Michigan J. Frog, the star of the Warner Brothers cartoon, One Froggy Evening. One of the songs he sings in that cartoon is one of the most memorable, “Hello my baby, hello my honey hello my ragtime gal” - it’s a line from the song Hello Ma Baby, written in 1899 by Howard & Emerson.
The song was first recorded by Arthur Collins in 1899, produced by Michigan-raised Thomas Edison on an Edison phonograph cylinder.
Although first produced by Edison, the sheet music was purchased by Warner Brothers after the stock market crash of 1929 just as talking films were on the rise. Thus, they were legally free to use that song in their 1955 cartoon.
Was the cartoon character named 'Michigan J. Frog' because of that particular song’s Michigan ties, or due to another song the frog sang, The Michigan Rag?
I’m saying it was a combination of the two and I’m stickin’ to it. (By the way “The Michigan Rag” was co-written by Warner Brothers animator Chuck Jones specifically for that cartoon.)
Looney Tunes | One Froggy Evening | Classic Cartoon | WB Kids
Hello Ma Baby
