Saturday, January 8, 2011

At the Music Hall: “Hands, Knees and Boomps-a-Daisy,” 1936

Hands, knees, and boomps-a-daisy,
I like a bustle that bends;
Hands, knees, and boomps-a-daisy,
What is a boomp between friends?
Hands, knees, oh don’t be lazy,
Let’s make the party a wow!
Now then, hands, knees, and boomps-a-daisy,
Turn to your partner and bow.

Annette Mills, the sister of actor Sir John Mills and aunt of Hayley and Juliet Mills, was embarking on a successful career as a dancer when a broken leg ruined the chance of realizing her dreams. She turned her attention to song-writing and penned two popular songs, one of which was “Hands, Knees and Boomps-a-Daisy” which quickly became extremely popular in music halls and night clubs of the late 1930’s. The dance associated with the song—which involved the bumping of posteriors—was a successful and enduring novelty.

Here’s a rendition of “Hands, Knees and Boomps-a-Daisy” as performed by Joe Loss and his Band.

5 comments:

Jonjas said...

Fascinating. I was reading a Graham Greene
Short story where this song was
Mentioned. So I thought I would
Look this up. Thanks for th
Background story.

Don said...

It was prominently featured in the 1947 film The Locket with Robert Mitchum.

Pennyaline said...

"Don said...

It was prominently featured in the 1947 film The Locket with Robert Mitchum."

Yes, prominently, to the point where I was ready to stick my knitting needles into my ears. I laughed out loud when "His Lordship" remarked that she'd sung that song all through the Blitz and "even the Germans couldn't silence her;" I sympathized with their frustration.

Anonymous said...

Mentioned in Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth.I had to look it up to find out what time period that part of the book was set in.

Anonymous said...

This song and it's dance provides the alibi for a murder suspect in Ngiao Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman.