Makin' Whoopee" is a jazz and blues song, first popularised by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 comic musical “Whoopee”.
"Makin' Whoopee" is a jazz and blues song, first popularised by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 comic musical “Whoopee”. Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics and Walter Donaldson composed the music for the song as well as for the entire musical. At that time, the show was a euphemism for sexual intimacy, and was described as a dire warning to men, about the "trap" of marriage. The musical “Makin' Whoopee" begins with the celebration of a wedding, honeymoon and marital bliss, but moves on to babies and responsibilities, and ultimately on to affairs and possible divorce, ending with a judge's advice. The musical was based on Owen Davis's play, “The Nervous Wreck”. The song has been recorded by numerous esteemed artists such as Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington who sang an arrangement by Quincy Jones.
Walter Donaldson (1893–1947) was a prolific and popular American songwriter, composing many hit songs during the 1910s right through the 1940s. Not to be confused with Walter Donaldson the famous Scottish World Champion snooker player, Donaldson the composer was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a piano teacher. While still in school he wrote original music for school productions and had his first professional songs published in 1915. The following year he had a hit with "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady". After serving in the United States Army in World War I, Donaldson was hired as a songwriter by the Irving Berlin Music Company. He stayed with Berlin until 1928, producing many hit songs, then in 1928 established his own publishing company. Donaldson is primarily known as a composer, rather than as a lyricist, although he wrote words and music for dozens of songs and published more than 600 original songs. He died in Santa Monica, California in July 1947 aged 54.
