"Paper Doll" was a hit song for The Mills Brothers. In the United States it held the number-one position on the Billboardsingles chart for twelve weeks, from November 6, 1943, to January 22, 1944. The success of the song represented something of a revival for the group, after a few years of declining sales. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide. Harry Mills recalled that he and his brother Herbert did not initially like the song, although their brother Donald did. However, Harry said, "as we went along rehearsing it, we got to feeling it". The song has been named one of the Songs of the Century and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Many artists have recorded it, including Bing Crosby for his album Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around, Frank Sinatra for the albumCome Swing with Me! and Pat Boone for his album I'll See You in My Dreams. In 1975, British actors Don Estelle and Windsor Davies recorded a novelty version of the song. It reached number 41 in the UK Singles Chart in 1975. As with their cover of "Whispering Grass", they sung in character. It has appeared in various films and in the British television miniseriesThe Singing Detective. Four lines of it are sung by Rodolfo in the first act of Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge. It is also referenced in stage directions of the third scene of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Film appearances
1944, Two Girls and a Sailor – This presented the unusual situation of Lena Horne's singing "Paper Doll", in which the lyrics express a man's regret that his girlfriend has left him. Gail Lumet Buckley wrote in her book about the Hornes, "Lena... sang 'Paper Doll' and 'hated it'."
1987, Radio Days – The Mills Brothers version is used.
2001, The Majestic – The Mills Brothers version is used.
Author and inspiration
The song was written in 1915 by Johnny S. Black, whose greatest success would come with his song "Dardanella", which sold 5,000,000 copies in a recording by bandleader Ben Selvin in 1920 and a further 2,000,000 copies of sheet music. Black died in 1936, six years before his second greatest success, "Paper Doll", swept the country. Black was apparently inspired to write the song after he was jilted by a girlfriend. The author Jack London Riehl wrote that Black was "a pianist, who augmented his income by boxing. His girlfriend ran off with another boxer, and he wrote this song, which began, 'I'd like to buy a paper doll that I can call my own...' and ended 'I'd rather have a paper doll to call my own than have a fickle-minded real live girl."
