Pipping Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' Cheek to Cheek to the award, Lullaby of Broadway was the second song to win Best Original Song at the 1935 Academy Awards. Taken from the film, Gold Diggers of 1935, this number salutes the nightlife of Broadway and the partying that went on till dawn. Written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, the song is probably the most famous item to come out of the Gold Diggers series of film written in the late 1920s and 30s.
The magic of this song and probably one of the main reason it has survived longer than the films in popularity is the image the lyrics and music gives of Broadway, and for anyone who has an artist bone in their body, Broadway is somewhere they want to experience. I know when I visited it a couple of years ago, I was starry eyes and it wasn't with famous people, it was the building and the iconic world of Broadway being a real place; rather than the mystical place I had heard of in the movies.
Lullaby of Broadway is a dream sequence within the film, directed by Busby Berkely. The dream tells the story of a Broadway baby who plays all night and sleeps all days. The number starts with a head shot of Wini Shaw against a black background and as the camera moves back and up, Shaw's head becomes the Big Apple. As everyone else is going to work in the morning, she is returning home and when she awakes again at night, the audiences watches Shaw and her beau (Dick Powell) from club to club, with elaborate tap numbers playing out there seems to be little to stop this star until accidentally she is pushed off a balcony to her death. The song ends with a return to Shaw's head, as she sings the end of the song. It is cited that this was the favourite number of Busby Berkeley.
Although I can't find a clip of the original, here's Gene Nelson and Doris Day singing Lullaby of Broadway
Oscar for Best Song: 1935
Written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin
Film: Gold Diggers of 1935
Originally sung by Wini Shaw in the film
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