We’re going back in time this week to 1937. Initially, I thought I had featured the song I quote the most in an earlier edition of the FCH. I had not. Its time has come.

George and Ira Gershwin wrote Let’s Call The Whole Thing off for the 1937 Astaire and Rogers musical Shall We Dance. It’s perhaps my favorite Fred and Ginger flick and that’s saying a lot.

We begin with Fred and Ginger on roller skates in Shall We Dance:

Here’s Fred with Oscar Peterson on piano:

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson? He plays on the next version as well.

Louis and Ella. Say no more.

The only thing as good as Ella with a small group is Ella with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

Another duet featuring New Orleans jazz legend Louis Prima and his then wife Keely Smith:

A third New Orleanian sings the Gershwin classic. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal approve.

What would a Friday Cocktail Hour be without jazz instrumental versions of the week’s tune? This time, Canadian saxophonist Seamus Blake followed by Canadian legend Oscar Peterson:

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson? I can’t say that enough.

That’s it for this week. Raise your glass and toast Friday the Thirteenth, the myth not the movie franchise. It’s a time for defiance. It’s what Bogie, Betty, and Hoagy would want. Never argue with them.