"I Wanna Be Loved by You" is a song written by Herbert Stothart

Herbert Stothart

Herbert Stothart was a song writer, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for nine Oscars, winning Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz.-Biography:...

 and Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby was a Jewish American songwriter and screenwriter.After failing in his early ambition to become a professional baseball player,...

, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar

Bert Kalmar

Bert Kalmar was a Jewish American lyricist.He was born in New York, New York. He ran away from home at the age of 10 to become a magician at a tent show, and retained an interest in magic all his life. He never got much of an education, but decided to make a career in show business...

, for the 1928 musical "Good Boy". It was chosen as one of the Songs of the Century

Songs of the Century

The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools...

 in a survey made by the RIAA in which 200 people responded (out of 1300 asked). One of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

's most famous musical performances is her singing it in Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...

's classic farce Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....

.

The song was first performed in late 1928 by Helen Kane

Helen Kane

Helen Kane was an American popular singer; her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved By You". Kane's voice and appearance were a likely source for Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick when creating Betty Boop, although It-girl Clara Bow is another possible influence.-Early life:Born as Helen...

, who became known as the 'Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl' because of her baby-talk, scat-singing tag line to that song. This version was recorded right when Kane's popularity started to reach its peak, and became her signature song

Signature song

A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...

. Two years later, a cartoon character named Betty Boop

Betty Boop

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...

 was modeled after Kane.
Betty Boop performs this number in the 1980s animated film The Romance of Betty Boop (1985)

The Romance of Betty Boop (1985)

-Plot:The story is set in 1939 New York. The opening credits start off with Betty singing "Just Give 'Em Your Boop Oop a Doop". Betty Boop is a girl who is adored by her neighborhood. Betty sells shoes by day, and performs in her Uncle Mischa's club by night. While working at Club Bubbles Betty...

.

The song has also been recorded by Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon

John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Rhonda Towns, Rose Murphy

Rose Murphy

Rose Murphy was a pianist and vocalist most famous for the song 'Busy Line'....

, Tina Louise

Tina Louise

Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...

, Verka Serduchka

Verka Serduchka

Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko , better known as his drag character Verka Serduchka , is a Ukrainian comedian and pop and dance singer. In the role of Serduchka, he represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and finished in second place...

, Patricia Kaas

Patricia Kaas

Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...

, Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

, Annette Hanshaw

Annette Hanshaw

Catherine Annette Hanshaw was born at her parents' residence in New York City on October 18, 1901. [Ed. While Annette sometimes gave her birth date as 1910, nephew Frank W. Hanshaw III confirms 1901 as the date on Annette's birth certificate.]-Biography:...

, Shiina Ringo

Shiina Ringo

, known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer-songwriter, music composer and music producer. She is also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen.She describes herself as ""....

 and Lorraine Allan (formerly Lorraine Gray).

Actress Rue McClanahan

Rue McClanahan

Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.-Early life:McClanahan was born Eddie Rue...

 performed humorous rendition of the song while portraying Blanche Devereaux

Blanche Devereaux

Blanche Elizabeth Devereaux is one of the four main fictional characters on the 1985-1992 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its CBS spin-off The Golden Palace. In the pilot episode her last name was given as Hollingsworth, but this was somewhat "corrected" in later episodes by making this her...

 in the popular sitcom The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...

.