DESCRIPTION:
With music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Frank Loesser, this is the version as heard in 1938's "Thanks for the Memory," complete with last-second inebriated interjection from veteran screen drunk, Jack Norton.

The wonderfully musical and natural Shirley Ross really shines here, making it all the more puzzling and disappointing to see her career go nowhere fast while her only two leading men of note, Bob and Bing, go on to a long-standing and lazy collaboration of immeasurably less interest than either one's work with Ross. I can only echo Paul Mavis' astute evaluation of her TFTM performance (from his DVD Talk review):

"Ross, though, comes through "Thanks for the Memory" as if her performance was delivered yesterday, not 72 years ago. There's an indescribable 'modernness' to her laid-back, easy performance that seems out-of-time with what we think the typical Hollywood performance was like back in 1938. Physically quite sexy (there's a marvelous shot of her at the film's beginning, all dewy and moist, as she steam-irons her husband's shirt), Ross' knowing banter plays perfectly in-synch with Hope's (no small feat), creating that devastating combo in a woman of sexy and smart. And of course, she's quite dishy singing her Two Sleepy People duet with Hope out on their fun NYC apartment balcony--probably the only scene that most people remember from this film (that particular clip was referenced quite often in news stories when Hope died in 2003). It's just a shame Ross' film career didn't reach the front ranks; she has a Carole Lombard quality here that's very attractive in this slight but charming little film."

Moreover, to quote the late Roy Hemming's invaluable chapter devoted to Ross in his 'Discovering Great Singers of Classic Pop,' "Ross had the creamiest, warmest, most instinctively lilting alto of them all... [Her] voice had a natural loveliness and musicality like no other. And she had few equals among women singers in the mid- to late 1930's in applying the intimate, conversational style of classic pop to roles in movie musicals. That she never became either a major film store or a major recording star is a regrettable testament to the vagaries and inconsistencies of show business."

To access Hemming's entire chapter on Ross, simply go to Google Books and do a "Shirley Ross" search.