Ten Cents a Dance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Ten Cents a Dance" is a popular song whose persona is that of a taxi dancer.

The music was written by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart. The song was published in 1930.

The song was originally written for Lee Morse who was acting in the musical Simple Simon, but when Morse showed up intoxicated at the Boston opening of the musical, Florenz Ziegfeld fired her. She was replaced by Ruth Etting in the show, and Etting popularized the song as well in a Columbia recording made in 1930. This recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

In the biographical film about Etting, Love Me or Leave Me, the song is sung by Doris Day. The Day recording was also released by Columbia.

Michelle Pfeiffer also performs the song in the film The Fabulous Baker Boys.

In the stage play Some Men, by Terrance McNally, the character Angel Eyes claims that the song was written with him in mind, although he never mentions Lorenz Hart by name.