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
Life Is Beautiful (Fred Astaire song) with a clip of Astaire singing the song from an appearance on the show in 1976. Life Is Beautiful (Fred Astaire song) "Life Is Beautiful" is a 1974 song with music written by Fred Astaire and lyrics by Tommy Wolf. Tony Bennett was so impressed with the tune, it became the title track of his album of the same name in 1975. Bennett also performed the song as Astaire looked on during a March 1975 episode of "The Merv Griffin Show". The song became widely known as the closing theme for "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". In 1987, in