On the Good Ship Lollipop

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"On the Good Ship Lollipop" was the trademark song of child actress Shirley Temple. Temple first sang it in the 1934 movie Bright Eyes. Contrary to popular belief, the ship in the song is an aircraft. In the song, the "Good Ship Lollipop" travels to a candy land. There is a direct reference to an airplane in the song: "Someday I'm going to fly/I'll be a pilot, too...". The song was composed by Richard A. Whiting and lyrics were supplied by Sidney Clare. 500,000 copies of the song were sold.

[edit] Pop Culture References

  • The song has been parodied twice on The Simpsons. In the Season 4 episode "Treehouse of Horror III", a King Kong parody has Homer as the big ape. He is captured and brought to the United States, whereupon he escapes into a theatre where Shirley Temple is performing the song. King Homer listens for a few verses, and then eats her. In the Season 11 episode "Last Tap Dance in Springfield", Lisa enrolls in a tap dancing class headed by the Temple-esque Lil' Vicky Valentine. In a big finale dance number, the class performs to the song "On the Spaceship Lollipop", a parodical version of the song.
  • "Good Ship Lollipop" also appeared in the Family Guy episode Road to Rhode Island when Stewie distracts airport security staff by singing the song. After he retrieves his bag undetected, he bemuses to himself, "Let's hope Osama bin Laden doesn't know show tunes". Following this comment, Osama Bin Laden enters the scene and distracts the airport security by singing the lyrics to the second and recurring verse of the song 'I hope I get it'. This scene was deleted from airings of the episode following the September 11th attacks.
  • In the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled "The Arsenal of Freedom", Cmdr. Riker tells Capt. Paul Rice (whom he suspects of actually being a hostile alien) that his ship is not the U.S.S. Enterprise, but the "Lollipop". He then adds, "It's a good ship."
  • In the That 70's Show episode "My Wife", Fez asks the gang to sing because he didn't want them to hear him use the bathroom. Jackie Burkhart and the others began to sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to drown out the sound.
  • In Shrek the Third, Gingy sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to himself after seeing his life flash before his eyes.
  • The Season One episode "Good Shit Lollipop" of the television show Weeds is an eponymous reference to the song.
  • In an episode of M*A*S*H, Colonel Flagg visits the camp to visit a sick CID agent, and eventually ends up joining a poker game set up by Hawkeye, Trapper, Colonel Blake, Klinger, and some visiting officers. Frank expresses his dismay at the "corruption" of a good officer, and Hawkeye leans over and says, "Hurry Frank, the Good Ship Lollipop is leaving!"
  • In an episode of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore gets herself a Shirley Temple Black and her daughter Rory Gilmore a Shirley Temple. After allowing her Rory to sniff the Shirley Temple Black, Lorelai remarks, "I got your good ship lollipop right here, mister."
  • In Episode Number 115, Season 5 of the Brady Bunch, entitled, “The Snooperstar,” (aired Friday, February 22, 1974), Marcia plants a bogus story in her diary to bait Cindy after she gets fed up with Cindy's nonstop snooping. The bait is a story about Marcia contacting a talent scout after submitting a picture of Cindy and the talent scout wants Cindy to be the next Shirley Temple. 11-year-old Cindy then tap-dances and sings “The Good Ship Lollipop” to a talent scout (played by Natalie Schafer).

[edit] Other References

The Gateway Clipper Fleet of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania consists of 5 riverboats, one of which is the "Good Ship Lollypop".

[edit] External links