The Continental (song) as a duet with Graham Preskett on "The Steve Howe Album" in 1979. The Continental (song) "The Continental" is a song written by Con Conrad with lyrics by Herb Magidson, and was introduced by Ginger Rogers in the 1934 film, "The Gay Divorcee". "The Continental" was the first song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Major record hits at the time of introduction included Jolly Coburn and Leo Reisman. In 1952 Harry James released a recording on the album "Hollywood's Best" (Columbia B-319 and CL-6224) with Rosemary Clooney on vocals. A later version by Maureen McGovern reached
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1930s with profits of $1.3 million. They were voted fourth on the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll published by Quigley Publishing Company. By 1936, Astaire and Rogers were top box office names. That year they made another two movies together: "Follow the Fleet" and "Swing Time", which were both hits, earning worldwide rentals of $2.7 million and $2.6 million respectively. "Follow the Fleet" boasted another Irving Berlin score, which featured the well known vignette "Let's Face the Music and Dance". "Swing Time" spawned the Oscar-winning song "The Way You Look Tonight", written by Jerome Kern with lyrics