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
Jerome Kern lullaby 'The Jockey on the Carousel,' and the entrancing title song." Also with Fields, he wrote two new songs, "I Won't Dance" and "Lovely to Look At", for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film version of "Roberta" (1935), which was a hit. The show also included the song "I'll Be Hard to Handle". This was given a 1952 remake called "Lovely to Look At". Their next film, "Swing Time" (1936) included the song "The Way You Look Tonight", which won the Academy Award in 1936 for the best song. Other songs in "Swing Time" include "A Fine Romance", "Pick