Baby Face: A Song History

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“Baby Face” was written by Benny Davis and Harry Akst and published in New York by Remick in 1926.[1] The Discography of American Historical Recordings credits Davis as lyricist and Akst as composer on a 1926 Columbia recording of the song.[2] The Songwriters Hall of Fame counts the song as one of Davis’s lasting standards,[3] and it inducted Akst in 1983, recording that during World War II he played for Al Jolson and led his band when Jolson toured abroad.[4]

Miniature painting of a baby in a white dress seated on a red cushion with a small dog

Mrs. Moses B. Russell (Clarissa Peters), Baby with Rattle and Dog, watercolor and gouache on ivory, 1842. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown in fun; it has no connection to the song.

Jan Garber’s orchestra recorded the tune for Victor on June 29, 1926, and the disc, Victor 20105, was issued that September with Davis listed among its singers.[5] A 2025 uDiscover Music history names Garber’s record as the song’s first hit, with Davis himself on the vocal.[6] Rival versions followed within months, among them a Victor side by Whispering Jack Smith, recorded on September 22,[7] and a Columbia side by Charles Kaley, made in New York that November with Rube Bloom at the piano.[2]

In June 1948 Billboard named it as the follow-up to bandleader Art Mooney’s million-selling “Four Leaf Clover” on MGM Records, and the magazine took the pair of hits, along with the label’s Good News album, as a sign that the young label had become a serious force.[8] Portions of it are heard in the medleys of Columbia’s 1950 film Jolson Sings Again, for which Jolson supplied the singing voice.[9] Little Richard turned it into rock and roll in 1958,[6] and his single reached No. 2 on the UK chart early in 1959.[10] In Universal’s Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), it is sung by Julie Andrews’s character, Millie.[11]

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Sources

  1. UW–Madison Libraries, Popular Sheet Music Collection: "Baby face".
  2. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Columbia matrix W142933. Baby face / Charles Kaley".
  3. Songwriters Hall of Fame: "Benny Davis".
  4. Songwriters Hall of Fame: "Harry Akst".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor 20105 (Black label (popular) 10-in. double-faced)".
  6. uDiscover Music: "'Baby Face': A Hit For Little Richard, Bobby Darin, And Many Other Faces".
  7. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor 20229 (Black label (popular) 10-in. double-faced)".
  8. The Billboard (June 19, 1948), via World Radio History: "The Record Year".
  9. AFI Catalog of Feature Films: "Jolson Sings Again (1950)".
  10. Official Charts: "Baby Face – Little Richard".
  11. AFI Catalog of Feature Films: "Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)".