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 co-starred comedian Edward Everett Horton. In "Roberta", Astaire and Rogers had a supporting role with Irene Dunne starring. In this film, the song and dance, "I'll Be Hard to Handle", was an early example of the electricity and vivacity of the pairing. It was RKO's biggest hit of the 1934-1935 season with worldwide rentals of $2.3 million. "Top Hat" marked the first time the duo had a film written solely for them, and it proved to be one of the most successful films of the year with worldwide rentals of $3.2 million. It was the most profitable film RKO made