Won't You Be My Baby

Blue text and illustration of a doll holding a flower on a white background with a blue border.

Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1926. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers.  Their 1929 catalogue touts, “These Buttons provide subjects for pleasant jokes and amusing conversations, and thus smooth the way to a more familiar acquaintance and cordial friendship. They are very wittily worded and quite unobjectionable. Wear one and see the effect.”

The expression "Won't you be my baby?" was widely used in the 1920s and 1930s, reflecting a forthright and often earnest invitation to embark on a romantic relationship, which mirrored the romantic and social conventions of the time. It was especially common in popular music of the day: Benny Carter's "Will You Or Won't You Be My Baby?" from the late 1920s and Louis Armstrong's 1930 hit "Won't You Be My Baby" are just two of many hits to include the phrase.