The Lady in Red is a 1935 song with lyrics by Mort Dixon

Mort Dixon

-Biography:Born in New York, Dixon began writing songs in the early 1920s, and was active into the 1930s. He achieved success with his first published effort, 1923's "That Old Gang of Mine". His chief composer collaborators were Ray Henderson, Harry Warren, Harry M...

 and music by Allie Wrubel

Allie Wrubel

Allie Wrubel was an American composer and songwriter.-Biography:Born in Middletown, Connecticut, Wrubel attended Wesleyan University and Columbia University before working in dance bands. He began his musical career in Greenwich Village, New York where he roomed with his close friend James Cagney...

.

In Caliente and beyond

It is a Latin-sounding tune featured in the soundtrack of the 1935 film In Caliente

In Caliente

In Caliente, also known as Viva Señorita, is a 1935 film written by Ralph Block, directed by Lloyd Bacon, and starred Dolores del Río.- Plot :...

. The song took on a life of its own, becoming a staple of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 cartoons, as composer/arranger Carl Stalling

Carl Stalling

Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...

 would include it in the underscore anytime a female character would appear in a red outfit (such as the loud-mouthed girl in Little Red Riding Rabbit

Little Red Riding Rabbit

Little Red Riding Rabbit is a 1944 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a voice credit...

). Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...

 sang a few bars of the song (changing the lyric to "the rabbit in red") IN 1949's Windblown Hare. The song was initially promoted by Warner through its Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...

cartoon entry, The Lady in Red. Possibly its earliest use by Stalling was in a 1937 Porky Pig

Porky Pig

Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...

cartoon, Picador Porky, which was also set in Mexico and which additionally included the title tune from In Caliente.