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"Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow Wow" is a song written in 1892 by prolific English songwriter Joseph Tabrar.
It was written for, and first performed in 1892 by, Vesta Victoria at the South London Palace, holding a kitten.[1] The same year it was recorded by Silas Leachman for the North American Phonograph Co. of Chicago (Talking Machine Company of Chicago/Chicago Talking Machine). In 1895 Toulouse-Lautrec painted May Belfort singing it. The comedian Arthur Roberts also had success in the 1890s with the song.[2]
The song featured in the 1934 musical movie Evergreen, sung by Jessie Matthews, and was also revived after World War II.
The chorus was sung by Helen Mirren and Peter Sellers in the 1980 movie The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. It is also the tune Sarah Jane Smith whistles when she leaves the Doctor at the end of the Doctor Who episode "The Hand of Fear". It is sung by the EastEnders cast, led by Anna Wing (Lou Beale, as part of the 1985 EastEnders Sing Along. In the first episode of the 1983 BBC series Reilly, Ace of Spies, one of Sidney Reilly's mistresses performs a striptease to a phonograph recording of the song.