"Put the Blame on Mame" is a song by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher, originally written for the classic film noir ''

Gilda ''Gilda'' is a 1946 American film noir directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth in her signature role and Glenn Ford. The film is known for cinematographer Rudolph Maté's lush photography, costume designer Jean Louis's wardrobe fo ...

'' (1946) in which it was sung by the title character, played by

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...

with the singing voice of Anita Kert Ellis dubbed in. In keeping with the film character Gilda being "the ultimate femme fatale", the song sung by her in two scenes facetiously credits the amorous activities of a woman named "Mame" as the true cause of three well-known cataclysmic events in American history: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Great Blizzard of 1888 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Mame is also credited with causing the fictional shooting of Dan McGrew during the Yukon Gold Rush, an event derived from a short narrative poem published in 1907 by

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". The middle name 'William' was in honour of a rich uncle. When that uncle neglected to provide for hi ...

. The song was later reprised as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

version in another quintessential noir film, 1953's ''

The Big Heat ''The Big Heat'' is a 1953 American film noir crime film directed by Fritz Lang starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Jocelyn Brando about a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city. William P. McGivern's serial in ''The ...

'', when ''Gilda'' star

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

first meets

Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alt ...

's character in a bar. It is again played in 1954's ''

Human Desire ''Human Desire'' is a 1954 American film noir drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Broderick Crawford. It is loosely based on Émile Zola's 1890 novel ''La Bête humaine''. The story had been filmed twice ...

'', also starring Glenn Ford. It was later also recorded by: * Gypsy Rose Lee in the movie '' Screaming Mimi'' *

Gale Robbins Gale Robbins (born Betty Gale Robbins or Betty Gale Murphy, May 7, 1921 – February 18, 1980) was an American actress and singer. Early years Born in Chicago, Illinois, although one source claims she was born in Mitchell, Indiana and her fami ...

in the movie ''

The Fuller Brush Girl ''The Fuller Brush Girl'' is a 1950 slapstick comedy starring Lucille Ball and directed by Lloyd Bacon. Animator Frank Tashlin wrote the script. Ball plays a quirky door-to-door cosmetics saleswoman for the Fuller Brush Company. The film also sta ...

'' * Nat Gonella & His Georgians *

Barbara Hale Barbara Hale (April 18, 1922 – January 26, 2017) was an American actress who portrayed legal secretary Della Street in the dramatic television series '' Perry Mason'' (1957–1966), earning her a 1959 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting A ...

in the movie ''

The Houston Story ''The Houston Story'' is a 1956 American crime film noir directed by William Castle and starring Gene Barry, Barbara Hale and Edward Arnold. Plot Frank Duncan (Barry), a shrewd oil driller from Galveston, Texas, conceives a plan to sneakily si ...

'' *

Liane Foly Liane Foly (born 16 December 1962, in Lyon) is a popular French blues and jazz singer, actress, presenter and impressionist. Early years Foly was born 16 December 1962Interview in the magazine '' VSD'', p. 98, no 1477, 14–20 December 2005 in ...

* John Williams and His Orchestra *

Milt Herth Milton "Milt" Herth (November 3, 1902 – June 18, 1969) was an American jazz organist, known for his work on the Hammond organ soon after it was introduced in 1935. Herth's work is available from his recordings of the 1930s and 1940s. B ...

Trio *

Somethin' Smith and the Redheads Somethin' Smith and the Redheads were an United States, American vocal group, doing mostly pop standards in the 1950s. Their biggest hit single was "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" in 1955, which reached #7 in the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 1 ...

* Tapio Rautavaara (in

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

) *

Viktor Lazlo The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

(for her debut album, '' She'') * Mark Murphy * Nancy Murphy *

Lynda Carter Lynda Jean Cordova Carter (born July 24, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World USA 1972 and finished in the top 15 at the Miss World 1972 pageant. Carter is best known as the star of th ...

performed the song while playing the title role in '' Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess''. *

Marjorie Lord Marjorie Lord (née Wollenberg; July 26, 1918 – November 28, 2015) was an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" O'Hara Williams, opposite Danny Thomas's character on ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (also known as ''Make ...

in ''

The Danny Thomas Show ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (titled ''Make Room for Daddy'' for its first three seasons) is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show f ...

'', season 5, episode 19 *

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...

in the film '' Prince of Shadows'' A clip of Hayworth singing the song in ''Gilda'' was to be included in

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's performance of "

Smooth Criminal "Smooth Criminal" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 14, 1988, as the seventh single from his seventh album, '' Bad'' (1987). It was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. The lyrics add ...

" in the planned show '' This Is It''; the song was included in the posthumously released

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

. In 2004, "Put the Blame on Mame" finished #84 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema.

References

External links

Hebrew version of the song at Zemereshet.co.il
{{Authority control Songs about fictional female characters Film theme songs 1946 songs Songs written for films Songs written by Doris Fisher (songwriter) Songs about Chicago Songs written by Allan Roberts (songwriter)