First line: Once mother said: My little pet, you ought to learn the alphabet First line of chorus: Animal crackers in my soup, monkies and rabbits loop the loop Photo subject: Shirley Temple ; John Boles ; Rochelle Hudson Other songs from Curly top It's an old Southern custom (Joseph meyer ; Jack Yellen); There's a spell on the moon (Jay Gorney); Our little girl (Lew Pollack ; Paul Francis Webster)