Jewish Stereo Types

I bet you thought this was going to be about "Baby, It's Cold Outside," but no. Not tonight. Tonight we're spotlighting "Santa Baby," written by Philip Springer and Joan Javits, which was controversial enough when it came out in 1953 to be banned by some stations, because--*gasp!*--it was too sexy. (One wonders what those stations would have made of, oh, say, "WAP"...ah, well, autre temps and all that.) Here's a cover by Kelly Clarkson singing "Santa Baby," full dressed and doing nothing untoward to her mike: Video posted by The Kelly Clarkson Vault "Santa Baby" was another of the Christmas classics written to order --in this case, it was a record company wanting a Christmas number for Eartha Kitt, who surprised absolutely no one when she later titled her memoir Confessions of a Sex Kitten . Philip Springer, who had written a few hits by then, and Joan Javits, a Brill Building staff writer, came up with a list for S...

After all, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"! Lyrics by Edward Pola, music by George Wyle, sung by The Muppets (with Mindy Kaling, although I have to say you can't hear her): Video from ABC Television Network If that's just too cute for you (it's not for me, but hey, tastes differ), have a version by ...uh. I'm not actually sure. I think they call themselves A Cappella Collab, but that might be a project rather than the group. To be safe, then: the singers are Jean-Baptiste Craipeau, Simon Craipeau, Andrew Kesler, and Evan Sanders. Video by JB Craipeau Although not, perhaps, less cute, I think they did quite a good job of de-treacle-ing the song. But perhaps not quite as good a job as this version: Video thanks to candihanks (Oh, that's the first place your mind went too, don't pretend it wasn't!) *** Both the composer ( George Wyle ) and the lyricist ( Eddie Pola ) of this song-with-the-long-title were Jewish. The two men ...