"Paper Doll" was a hit song for

The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed The Four Mills Brothers and originally known as Four Boys and a Guitar, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and g ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

it held the number-one position on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' singles chart for twelve weeks, from November 6, 1943, to January 22, 1944. The success of the song represented something of a revival for the group after a few years of declining sales. It is one of the fewer than 40 all-time

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.

Author and inspiration

The song was written in 1915 (although it was not published until 1930) by Johnny S. Black, whose greatest success would come with his song "

Dardanella "Dardanella" is a popular song published in 1919 by McCarthy & Fisher, Inc., a firm owned by Fred Fisher, lyricist, for music composed by Felix Bernard and Johnny S. Black. Bandleader Ben Selvin (1898–1980) recorded "Dardanella" for several ...

", which sold 5,000,000 copies in a recording by the bandleader

Ben Selvin Benjamin Bernard Selvin (March 5, 1898 – July 15, 1980) was an American musician, bandleader, and record producer. He was known as the Dean of Recorded Music. According to ''The Guinness Book of World Records,'' Selvin recorded more musical si ...

in 1920 and a further 2,000,000 copies of

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

. In 1922, Black played "Paper Doll" to the music publisher

Edward B. Marks Joseph W. Stern & Co. was a music publisher in New York City. The Library of Congress has dozens of their songsheets including numerous coon songs in its collection. History Joseph W. Stern (January 11, 1870 - March 31, 1934) was a self taught ...

on the violin, after which Marks bought it for $25 in advance royalties. Marks put "Paper Doll" on the market, but it was a flop. In 1936, Johnny Black died after a fight with a customer at his Hamilton, Ohio, roadhouse. Black was apparently inspired to write the song after he was jilted by a girlfriend. The author Jack London Riehl wrote that Black was "a pianist, who augmented his income by boxing. His girlfriend ran off with another boxer, and he wrote this song, which began, 'I'd like to buy a paper doll that I can call my own ...' and ended 'I'd rather have a paper doll to call my own than have a fickle-minded real live girl."

Recording and slow chart climb

On February 18, 1942,

recorded " I'll Be Around" by

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer and author. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four ...

as their new single, with "Paper Doll" as the B-side. It is rumored that it took less than fifteen minutes to record the latter. Harry Mills recalled that he and his brother Herbert did not initially like the song, although their brother Donald did. However, Harry said, "as we went along rehearsing it, we got to ''feeling'' it". It was released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

in May but generated little interest. A review in ''Billboard'' on May 16 called the song "more pleasing" than the A-side of the record but ended, "Little here save for Mills fans at particular locations." It did make number 9 in the South Region on October 24, 1942, for one week, then reappeared on May 22, 1943. It finally hit number 10 on August 7 and number 1 on November 6, which is where it stayed through January 22, 1944, charting forty weeks in all.

Chart performance

Other recordings

The song has been named one of the

Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical an ...

and has been inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. Many artists have recorded it, including *

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

for his album '' Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around'' (1956) * Perez Prado for the album ''Pops and Prado'' (1959) *

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

for the album '' Come Swing with Me!'' (1961) *

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, television personality, radio host and philanthropist. He sold nearly 50 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and has acted in many films. Boone ...

for his album ''I'll See You in My Dreams'' (1962). In 1975, British actors

Don Estelle Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was an English actor and singer, best known as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum''. Early life Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russe ...

and

Windsor Davies Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted ...

(both known for the sitcom ''

It Ain't Half Hot Mum ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' is a British television sitcom about a Royal Artillery concert party based in Deolali in British India and the fictional village of Tin Min in Burma, during the final months of the Second World War. It was written by ...

'') recorded a novelty version of the song. It reached number 41 in the UK singles chart in 1975. As with their cover of " Whispering Grass", they sung in character.

Film appearances

*1944, '' Two Girls and a Sailor'' – This presented the unusual situation of

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

's singing "Paper Doll", in which the lyrics express a man's regret that his girlfriend has left him. Gail Lumet Buckley wrote in her book about the Hornes, "Lena ... sang 'Paper Doll' and 'hated it' ('It's a ''boy's'' song,' she complained)." *1944, ''Hi, Good Lookin'!'' – starring

Harriet Nelson Harriet Nelson (formerly Hilliard; born Peggy Lou Snyder; July 18, 1909 – October 2, 1994) was an American actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. Early life and career Nelson was b ...

. *1971, '' Red Sky at Morning'' *1973, ''

The Way We Were ''The Way We Were'' is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Arthur Laurents adapted the screenplay from his own 1972 novel of the same name, which was based on his ...

'' – played on piano and sung by all at a party. *1974, ''

The Execution of Private Slovik ''The Execution of Private Slovik'' is a nonfiction book by William Bradford Huie, published in 1954, and an American television movie that aired on NBC on March 13, 1974. The film was written for the screen by Richard Levinson, William Link ...

'' – The Mills Brothers version is used. *1987, ''

Radio Days ''Radio Days'' is a 1987 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a nostalgic look at the golden age of radio during the late 1930s and 1940s, focusing on a working-class family living in Rockaway Beach, New York. ...

'' – The Mills Brothers version is used. *2001, '' The Majestic'' – The Mills Brothers version is used.

Popular culture

*In addition to its film appearances, the Mills Brothers version of the song appears in the British television miniseries ''

The Singing Detective ''The Singing Detective'' is a six-part BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It". ...

''.Stephanie Zacharek,
A Singing Detective Plays It Again
, ''New York Times'', 20 April 2003. *Four lines of it are sung by Rodolfo in the first act of

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's play ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with '' A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, ...

''. *It is mentioned (as the song being played by a Negro band in a bar near the Kowalskis' home) in stage directions of the third scene of

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

's play ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...

''. * Several lines of this song are sung by a Frank Sinatra impersonator on '' Law and Order SVU'', season 19, episode 22.

References

{{Authority control 1915 songs 1942 songs 1943 singles Number-one singles in the United States Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients