Put the Blame on Mame
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Put the Blame on Mame" is a song, the classic noir theme from the film Gilda.
"Put the Blame on Mame" is a song by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher, originally made for the film Gilda in 1946 - where it was sung by the title character, played by Rita Hayworth and with the singing voice actually that of Anita Kert Ellis.
In keeping with the film character Gilda being "the ultimate femme fatale", the song sung by her at two scenes facetiously credits the amorous activities of a woman named "Mame" (the name evidently chosen to rhyme with "blame") as the true cause of three well-known cataclysmic events in American history: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Great Blizzard of 1888 in New York City and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Mame is also credited with causing the fictional Shooting of Dan McGrew during the Yukon Gold Rush - an event derived from a short narrative poem published in 1907 by Robert W. Service.
Already in 1946, the song was also recorded by Nat Gonella & His Georgians.
Put the Blame on Mame also appeared as a mini-short film for "Smooth Criminal" for Michael Jackson's This Is It. Shortly after Gilda sings the song, Jackson is chased down the stairs and into a hardware store floor, where he jumps out of the window, and falls. The man chasing him shoots at him, but instead hits the marquee. The marquee reads "Smooth Criminal" and Jackson performs the song. Shortly after the song is finished, the scene is repeated again, except Jackson is seen jumping out of the window.
It was later also recorded by:
- Liane Foly
- John Williams
- Miyuki Koga
- Quinn Lemley
- Milt Herth Trio
- Banu Gibson
- Nancy Murphy
- Somethin' Smith and the Redheads
- Sandra Lawrence
- Tapio Rautavaara (in Finnish)
- Alexia
- Viktor Lazlo
