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
Mark Sandrich Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In 1934, Sandrich was given the job of directing the first proper Astaire-Rogers musical, "The Gay Divorcee", which proved a tremendous success. The following year, he directed "Top Hat" (1935), another Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical. He continued working with the team on "Follow the Fleet" (1936). After directing Katharine Hepburn in "A Woman Rebels" (1936) he returned to Astaire and Rogers for "Shall We Dance" (1937), and "Carefree" (1938). In 1939, Sandrich left RKO for Paramount, which offered him a chance to be not only director, but a producer as well. Sandrich's first