One Froggy Evening ~~~~

Did you ever see the cartoon of a corner stone being opened by a man who discovers a small box in which a frog is sleeping. He takes the frog to his office, opens the box and the frog begins to sing and dance "Hello, ma baby! hello, ma honey, hello ma ragtime gal ....? I believe Warner Bros. now owns it and I could not access it on the internet because of copyright claims by them. However, the story goes on - the man puts the frog back in the box and takes it to an agency where, when he gets in to have the frog audition, he carefully puts the frog on the agent's desk. The frog does what all frogs do in strange circumstances: it sits and does nothing. In spite of prodding, the frog does not perform. The disappointed "frogmaster" puts the frog back in the box and takes it away. Once back in the office, he opens the box again and the frog booms out "Hello, my baby --" etc. It really is one of the funnier cartoons, in my opinion, that was ever produced. You never hear the man speak a word, just that darned frog booming out the lyrics and dancing with his top hat and cane, like a vaudeville star.

That song was written around 1899, by a pair of vaudevillians, Joseph Howard and Ida Emerson, and became a huge hit. It was originally about a man who, every day, telephones a girl whom he has never seen and is afraid of losing to someone who lives nearer to her. He eventually learns her name is Bess. "his morning through the hone she said her name was Bess, Here pasted in the lining of my hat.
I am mighty scared 'cause if the wires get crossed,
'Twill separate me from ma baby mine.
Then some other man will win her, and my game is lost.
And so each day I shout along the line :::Hello, ma baby; hello ma honey, hello ma ragtime gal. Send me a kiss by wire,
baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me, Honey, you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone. Oh, baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own.
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello there?

Get out your Hal Leonard catalog and find Hello, Ma Baby and as you play it picture a great green frog with top hat and cane dancing all around your keys. It's bound to make you feel good.

Now, wasn't this a silly topic? No great inspiration to continue your playing, keep your music circle of friends or spread the joy. Just something to help you -------

Keep a song in your heart and keep the music playing.

Jan Major