1-5-1920 Ruth Wallis, He 'd Rather Be A Girl

Ruth Wallis (January 5, 1920 - December 22, 2007) was a novelty popular cabaret singer.
Born Ruth Shirley Wohl in Brooklyn, New York, Wallis began her career singing jazz and cabaret standards - with such bands as Isham Jones and Benny Goodman on road tours for a couple of months; but gained fame in the 1940s and 1950s for her risqué, satirical songs, rife with double entendres that she wrote herself. She did have a mainstream hit with "Dear Mr. Godfrey," a song about Arthur Godfrey's public firing of Julius La Rosa, that reached #25 in late 1953.
She sang with a studio orchestra and often took on an accent for songs about characters from other countries. Her music was occasionally featured on the Doctor Demento show in the 1970s.
She started singing in lounges and cocktail bars, where she met her husband Hy Pastman. Eventually it became clear that her novelty songs, which relied mostly upon double entendres, were the most popular. These songs discussed a number of topics that were taboo in 1950s America, such as homosexuality and infidelity. For this reason, her songs were banned from Boston radio stations. She often had difficulty securing distribution for her works, so she started her own record label, Wallis Original Recordings. When she arrived in Australia for a tour customs agents seized her records. Rather than ruin her career, this only brought out crowds.
Wallis retired in the 1970s to spend more time with her husband and two children, but continued to work on material for Broadway shows. Some of her most famous songs were collected and became the Off-Broadway hit, BOOBS! The Musical: The World According to Ruth Wallis. BOOBS! opened at the Triad Theater in New York City on May 19, 2003; by closing date it had played nearly 300 performances. Produced and choreographed by Lawrence Leritz, it has had subsequent runs in New Orleans and Wichita.
In March 2007 Wallis was honored by the National Archives of Australia. Memorabilia of hers was included in 'Memory of a Nation', a permanent exhibition opening in Canberra.
Wallis died on December 22, 2007, in South Killingly, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.
Wallis Original Records was a record label which was started in 1952 by Joel Leibowitz and Hy Pastman to release records by Ruth Wallis, the "queen of the double entendre". Their last release was Ruth Wallis' Greatest Hits - Boobs on December 1, 1998.
Wikipedia
Recording information:
Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s Ruth Wallis was the queen of the risqué record. Known then as a saucy singer she made innumerable albums containing songs loaded with sexy double-entendres which made them unplayable on radio but immensely popular with her cabaret audiences who would track down the albums and buy them from the very few record stores that would dare to stock them. Listening to her songs today, you wonder what all the fuss was about. Take this one called “He’d Rather Be A Girl”. It’s all rather innocent and amusing today but at the time it would have caused uproar.
Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to this recording. This video is for historical and educational purposes only.

[@rememberourmusic440]

Always thought when I got married that my life would be a whirl.
Then I discovered I´d married a boy who´d rather be a girl.
I met him one night in Miami and I wed him one night in Miami.
His name was Tommy but he said call me Tammy.
´Twas then I knew he´d rather be a girl.
I recall when we tied the knot. He said I do but he didn´t say what.
And I noticed he danced with the best man a lot. The best man´s name was Pearl.
Oh why did I wed a gay pretender who doesn´t do what is on the groom´s agenda?
How in the world can I surrender to a boy who wears my negligee?
He cooks for me and he sews for me. He even mends my hose for me.
But he never curls my toes for me like a boy should do a girl.
You should see the queer things that he does. Now he's modelling my jewels and my furs.
And our towels are all marked hers and hers and I'm getting real confused.
He looks like a boy and he acts like a boy. He's positively stacked like a boy.
But in the boudoir he don't attack like a boy. He'd rather do his hair.
Oh it hurts me down deep inside cause I don't really feel like I'm the bride.
And the zipper on his pants is on the side. Now don't that prove he'd rather be a girl?
Oh I have offered him my everything: my furs and my jewels and my diamond ring.
I said do right by me, you can be a king but he'd rather be a queen.
Now honestly I'm very broad-minded and I take my love where I can find it.
But all he does is pantomime it and this I can't enjoy.
This is really a catastrophe. This capon's no good for a chick like me.
I guess that I'll just have to set him free for what else can I do?
Now maybe you folks cannot observe this but a gal who isn't getting service
starts walking 'round mighty nervous. Gotta get him out of my life.
I'll find some place where I can send him. I'll even go as far as to recommend him.
He'll make some boy a darn good wife.