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
Academy Award for Best Original Song song during the ceremony's Best Original Song nominee performance medley. Gabriel still attended the ceremony, with John Legend performing the song in his place, backed by the Soweto Gospel Choir. The 84th Academy Awards did not feature performances from either nominated song ("Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" or "Real in Rio" from "Rio"). No reason for this was given by Oscar producers. This was only the third time that Best Original Song nominees were not performed (the others were in 1989 and 2010). At the 2013 Oscars, only three of the five nominees were performed, with the eventual winner,