The Continental (song) 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 number 16 on the UK Singles Chart in 1976. Steve Howe recorded it
The First 25 Years – The Silver Anniversary Album four new tracks on the album had previously been recorded by other artists. "The Way You Look Tonight" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song after it was performed in the 1936 film "Swing Time" by Fred Astaire, whose recording of the song spent six weeks at number one that same year. The second of the two, "There! I've Said It Again", had two number-one outings, the first of which, by Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra, enjoyed six weeks atop the Most Played by Jockeys chart in "Billboard" magazine in 1945 and sold one million copies; Bobby Vinton's rendition