In Caliente "The Lady in Red" is featured in the soundtrack of the 1935 film
In Caliente. In the film, the song is the subject of an elaborate staging by
Busby Berkeley in the dimly lit title nightclub. Soloist
Wini Shaw lights a series of candles as she sings the lyric, the "
Dancing DeMarcos" (Tony and Sally) perform a specialty dance, and comic singer
Judy Canova uses the chorus to come on to
Edward Everett Horton in her customary aggressively rural
yodeling style.
Merrie Melodies The song was (as was customary at the time) promoted by
Warner through a
Merrie Melodies cartoon entry, "
The Lady in Red". Merrie Melodies composer/arranger
Carl Stalling made use of the tune again in a 1937
Porky Pig cartoon, "
Picador Porky," which like "The Lady In Red" was set in Mexico and which additionally included the title tune from
In Caliente. The song took on a life of its own, becoming a staple of
Warner Bros. cartoons, as Stalling would include it in the underscore anytime a female character would appear in a red outfit (such as the raucous,
red-hooded Bobby soxer in "
Little Red Riding Rabbit"), leading to the joke among the Warners animation staff, "Don't draw anything with a red pencil, or Stalling will give us 'The Lady In Red' again."
Bugs Bunny sang a few bars of the song (changing the lyric to "the
rabbit in red") in 1949's "
The Windblown Hare".
The Twilight Zone The song features in the 1962 episode "
Young Man's Fancy" of the television series
The Twilight Zone as an "oldie" obsessed over by a disturbed man. == References ==