The Desert Song is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel.

The story is a version of plots such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro and later Superman, where a hero adopts a mild-mannered disguise to keep his true identity a secret.

The leading man in the original Broadway production was Scottish baritone Richard Halliday and the heroine, Vivienne Segal.

To celebrate the centennial of Romberg's birth in 1987, New York City Opera staged a lavish production with Richard White and Linda Michele.

The Desert Song is still occasionally performed and has been made into a motion picture four times, though the second version was a short subject, rather than a feature-length film.

By the 1940s, the 1929 film could not be shown in the United States because of its Pre-Code content, which included sexual innuendo, suggestive humor and open discussion of themes such as homosexuality.

To capitalize on the success of the original picture, in 1932 Warner Bros. released The Red Shadow, a 19-minute black-and-white short consisting chiefly of musical numbers.

In the 1953 version, El Khobar's disguise was that of a mild-mannered Latin teacher who tutored Margot and had to fend off her amorous advances (which were fairly discreet by modern standards).

The Red Shadow, his Berber lieutenant, Sid El Kar, and their wealthy host, Ali Ben Ali, discuss the relative merits of the Eastern tradition of love for a harem of women (like having a garden full of fragrant flowers), and the Western ideal of loving one woman for life.

Birabeau's son Pierre, in reality the Red Shadow, loves Margot, but pretends to be a milksop to preserve his secret identity.

Margot tells Pierre that she secretly yearns to be swept into the arms of some bold, dashing sheik, perhaps even the Red Shadow himself.

Eventually, the Red Shadow's identity is discovered, a deal is struck with the Riffs, and Pierre and Margot live happily ever after.

Decca made an album in 1944 with Kitty Carlisle, Felix Knight and Wilbur Evans, covering 10 selections from the score.

[citation needed] Around the same time, Gordon MacRae and Lucille Norman recorded a 10-inch LP of the score for Capitol [L-351], which was reissued on 12-inch LPs in 1968 [MFP-1184 (UK)] and re-released on CD in 2010 [Hallmark 707902].

[10] A mostly complete 1958 studio cast album with Giorgio Tozzi and Kathy Barr, conducted by Lehman Engel, was released by RCA Victor and is available on CD.