Poor Butterfly

"Poor Butterfly" is a popular song. It was inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly and contains a brief musical quote from the Act two duet Tutti i fior in the verse.

The music was written by Raymond Hubbell, the lyrics by John L. Golden. The song was published in 1916. It was introduced in the Broadway show The Big Show, which opened in August 1916 at the New York Hippodrome, and was sung in the show by Sophie Bernard.

The song has become a pop standard, recorded by many artists.

The two biggest hit versions in 1917 were recorded by Elsie Baker (using the pseudonym Edna Brown) and by the Victor Military Band.

Baker's recording was made on December 15, 1916 and released on Victor as catalog number 18211, with the flip side being a recording of "Alice in Wonderland" by Howard & McDonough.

The Victor Military Band recording was recorded on November 29, 1916 and issued by Victor as catalog number 35605, with the flip side “Katinka".

Another version which received a significant amount of popularity was by Grace Kerns recording under the name Catherine (or Katherine) Clark. This version was recorded in November 1916 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number A-2167, with the flip side “Century Girl”.

Somewhat less popular, but still noted at the time, were a recording by Elizabeth Spencer, released by Thomas Edison's recording company as a disk, catalog number 50386, and an Amberol cylinder, catalog number 3039, and a recording by Prince's Orchestra (or Prince's Band), recorded December 1916 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number A-5930, with the flip side “You and I”.

An arrangement for violin and orchestra was recorded by Fritz Kreisler on March 1, 1917, and issued on Victor as catalog number 64555.

The song was revived in the 1950s by The Hilltoppers for a top-20 chart hit. Their recording was released by Dot Records as catalog number 15156, with the flip side "Wrapped up in a Dream". It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on April 14, 1954 and lasted 5 weeks on the chart, peaking at #15. (Other sources give the first date on the chart as April 24 and the highest position as #12.) The same recording was released in Canada by Quality Records as catalog number K1235, with the same flip side.