"Personality" is a popular song with lyrics by Johnny Burke and music by

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Awards for ...

. It was written for the 1946 film ''

Road to Utopia ''Road to Utopia'' is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, ''Road to Utopia'' is the fourth film of the "'' Road to ...''" ...

'', and

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the ''Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing C ...

performed it in the movie. Van Heusen said that he wrote the song with a limited

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

to accommodate Lamour. In a slightly longer version, the song became a number one ''

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 ...

'' hit for

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

and

the Pied Pipers The Pied Pipers are an American popular singing group originally formed in the late 1930s. They had several chart hits throughout the 1940s, both under their own name and in association with Tommy Dorsey, with Johnny Mercer and with Frank Sin ...

with Capitol Records in 1946.

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

also recorded it around that time. Lamour was between record contracts at the time of the film's release, so she did not record the song herself until years later. The song employs tongue-in-cheek, slightly bawdy lyrics and an ironic use of the word "personality." The lyrics suggest that men are often attracted to a woman because of her shapely figure (called euphemistically her “personality”) rather than other beauty traits or any other admirable qualities she might possess.

Cover versions

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 ...

recorded the song with

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. He also owned a self-named night club in New York City. Early ...

and His Orchestra in January 1946 and it reached the No. 9 spot in the Billboard charts in April 1946. *

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java (instrumental), Java" and the accompanying album ''Honey in the Horn (album ...

and

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

released a version on their 1964 album, '' Beauty and the Beard''.Al Hirt, ''Beauty and the Beard''
Retrieved April 10, 2013.

Song in popular culture

*Rewritten versions of the song have been used as commercial jingles. The most notable was "Wessonality," an advertisement for Wesson cooking oil sung by

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American singer and actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson ...

. *The Johnny Mercer version features in the 2015 videogame ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...

'' on the in-game radio station Diamond City Radio. *The song plays on the soundtrack during the screen test preparation montage in episode 4 of Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood miniseries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Personality (1946 Song) 1946 songs 1946 singles Songs written for films Songs with lyrics by Johnny Burke (lyricist) Songs with music by Jimmy Van Heusen Dorothy Lamour songs Dinah Shore songs Al Hirt songs Johnny Mercer songs