why can't you behave?

I put on "Kiss Me, Kate" last night because I wanted to hear Ann Miller sing "Why Can't You Behave?" She sings it to her boyfriend, Bill, who is charming and talented, but likes to gamble: on the ponies, in a back-alley dice game, whatever. As she sings to him, he tries various goofy gags to get her to smile, but she is not in the mood to be amused. She loves him and wants to settle down with him, but he just lost two grand in a craps game when he doesn't even have two dollars to pay for a cab.

Why can't you behave?
Oh, why can't you behave?
After all the things you told me
and all the promises you gave,
oh, why can't you behave?

There are a lot of great songs in this movie. Cole Porter liked to play with words and he was good at it. This song isn't the most clever, but there's a certain lovely and sad simplicity about it. She's just begging him to straighten up, because all she wants to do is be his woman.

Why can't you be good
and do just as you should?
Why don't you turn that new leaf over
so your baby can be your slave?
Oh, why can't you behave?

After she sings this song, they start dancing on the rooftop. She forgets about being mad at him, because he does know how to charm her. After the dance number, they forget there was ever a conflict about a craps game, and the audience is supposed to as well. The two grand becomes an integral part of the plot, but you sort of forget about the gambling problem. Maybe back then, gambling was seen in the same light as being a drunk. It was just sort of a light-hearted nuisance, provided, of course, that it wasn't your nuisance.

Ann Miller and her boyfriend are merely supporting characters. They're in the film to advance the plot and show off Ann's dancing (and legs). At the end of the movie, the two main characters get together, just like you knew they would. And everyone is happy, everyone is singing and dancing the last big number. But if you watch the movie in the right mood, maybe the kind of mood that makes you put it on just to hear "Why Can't You Behave?", you can't help but wonder whether Bill will ever stop playing the dice, or if Ann Miller will still be singing that song to him when she's old and her legs aren't so pretty anymore.