1934 Classic Hit Was the 1st 'Best Original Song' Oscar Winner 92 Years Ago
While the very first Academy Awards presentation was held in 1929, it wasn't the type of extravagant, televised affair we're used to seeing nowadays. And the ceremony didn't include all the awards that get handed out, either, like "Best Original Song," which wasn't added to the roster until five years later.
Considering close to a hundred years have passed since then, it's not too surprising that you've probably never heard the first tune to ever win that prestigious honor, though the dancing duo who starred in the movie are still iconic: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Beginning with 1933's Flying Down to Rio, Astaire and Rogers were famously paired in a total of 10 movies - but the first one to feature the stars in leading roles was The Gay Divorcee (1934).
An adaptation of a Broadway play called The Gay Divorce, the musical comedy tells the story of Guy Holden (Astaire), an American dancer vacationing in England who falls in love with Mimi Glossop (Rogers), who's trying to get a divorce from her geologist husband. Hilarity ensues, naturally, along with plenty of singing and dancing - and that's where the Oscar-winning song comes in.
While it wasn't included in the stage version, "The Continental" was written by Con Conrad and Herb Magidson for the movie. Rogers sings the introduction, which leads into a spectacular (and very long!) dance sequence involving a huge chorus dressed in black and white. The lyrics set the stage for the elaborate scene:
It's something daring, The Continental
A way of dancing that's really ultra-new
It's very subtle, The Continental
Because it doеs what you want it to do
It has a passion, The Continental
An invitation to moonlight and romance
It's quitе the fashion, The Continental
Because you tell of your love while you dance
Not only did "The Continental" win the first Oscar for "Best Original Song," but The Gay Divorcee nabbed nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Picture.
The year after they teamed up in The Gay Divorcee, Astaire and Rogers famously butted heads over the latter's costume while filming the hit movie Top Hat.
"Our emotions were high-pitched. He didn't like my dress and I didn't like being put to the test," Rogers wrote in her autobiography, Ginger: My Story, per Vanity Fair. "In our rehearsal for camera, it's true, some of the feathers did flutter and annoy Fred. He muttered to himself as he plucked the feathers off his tailcoat. Instead of ‘Cheek to Cheek,' that song should have been called ‘Horn to Horns.'"
In his memoir, Steps in Time: An Autobiography, Astaire shared a more light-hearted recollection of the wardrobe malfunction.
"I never saw so many feathers in my life. It was like a snowstorm," he wrote. "They were floating around like millions of moths. I had feathers in my eyes, my ears, my mouth, all over the front of my suit…the feathers kept flying, the wardrobe lady shook the dress and the sweepers swept them up…it got to be funny after a while. The news went all over the lot that there was a blizzard on the Top Hat set. The sightseers poured in on us."
According to Astaire, "we laughed about that episode for weeks afterward. It was sort of a running gag with Ginger and me. I used to call her ‘Feathers!'"
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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 4:20 PM.