Rags to Riches (song) recordings by Sunny & the Sunliners (#45 in 1963) and Elvis Presley (#33 in 1971) also made the Billboard charts. Tony Bennett's version was used at the beginning of the film "Goodfellas", just after Henry Hill closes the trunk of the car and says in voice-over, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." The song was also used in an episode of "Columbo". The opening line of the song was sung regularly and exuberantly by the character Carmine Ragusa on the television series "Laverne & Shirley", typically when he had good news. "Rags
Tony Bennett "Rags to Riches". Unlike Bennett's other early hits, this was an up-tempo big band number with a bold, brassy sound and a double tango in the instrumental break; it topped the charts for eight weeks. Later that year, the producers of the upcoming Broadway musical "Kismet" had Bennett record "Stranger in Paradise" as a way of promoting the show during a New York newspaper strike. The song reached the top, the show was a hit, and Bennett began a long practice of recording show tunes. "Stranger in Paradise" was also a number-one hit in the United Kingdom a year and