"Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson". Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone. At the time, telephones were relatively novel, present in fewer than 10% of U.S. households, and this was the first well-known song to refer to the device. Additionally, the word "Hello" itself was primarily associated with telephone use—"Hello Girl" was slang for a telephone operator even through the First World War—though it later became a general greeting for all situations. The song was first recorded by Arthur Collins on an Edison 5470 phonograph cylinder. It was originally a "coon song", with African-American caricatures on the sheet music and "coon" references in the lyrics. The song may be best known today as the introductory song in the famous Warner Bros. cartoon One Froggy Evening, sung by the character later dubbed Michigan J. Frog and high-stepping in the style of a cakewalk.
Influence
In Charles Ives's 1906 composition Central Parkin the Dark, it is quoted frequently. The short piano pieceThe Little Nigar by Claude Debussy from 1909 features a melody very similar to "Hello! Ma Baby", and may have been inspired by the song.
Sheet music and the Warner Bros. acquisition of the song
The sheet music was published by T. B. Harms & Co., which was acquired by Warner Bros. before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
In the classic Chuck Jones directed Merrie Melodies cartoon One Froggy Evening, a singing, dancing frog sings a number of songs from before the era the 1955 cartoon was made, with this song being the most remembered by viewers.
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs
In The Virginianseason one episode "The Exiles", the song is performed by actress Tammy Grimes.
In the 1973 Disney filmCharley and the Angel, when asked about his life as a mortal, the angel Roy sings the song.
In Mel Brooks' 1987 film Spaceballs, parodying Alien, a chest-bursting alien escapes John Hurt's chest, homaging the Chuck Jones cartoon by dancing down a space-diner's counter while singing the song, prompting Barf and Lone Starr to get their bill and leave.
In The Simpsons' fifth-season episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" from 1993, Homer, Skinner, Wiggum and Apu sing a barbershop quartet rendition of the song.
In the 2004 TV seriesWonderfalls, episode 1, the wax lion sings the song to irritate Jaye into doing what she is told.
In the Mad Men season three episode "My Old Kentucky Home", Paul Kinsey performs the song after being confronted about his singing skills.
In Red Dead Redemption 2, Polish singer Robin Koninsky performs the song in Saint Denis during a vaudeville show.
