The song was first recorded by
Bing Crosby on July 5, 1934 with
Irving Aaronson and his Commanders for
Brunswick Records. The same year, it was one of the nominees for the inaugural "
Best Song"
Academy Award when it lost out to "
The Continental". Crosby re-recorded the song for his 1954 album
Bing: A Musical Autobiography. Other popular versions of the song in 1934 were by
Paul Whiteman (vocal by
Jack Fulton),
Guy Lombardo and by
Hal Kemp (vocal by
Skinnay Ennis). "Love in Bloom" became the theme song of
Jack Benny who was known for playing it off-key on his violin.
Kitty Carlisle had hoped to adopt it as her theme song, but its swift comic association with Benny spoiled those plans. The 1935 Paramount comedy
Love in Bloom with
Burns and Allen derived its name from the song, although the song itself was not included in the film.
Fleischer Studios, however, made frequent use of the tune in various
Popeye cartoons, such as
I Yam Love Sick (1938) and
Hello, How Am I (1939). It was also used in several other Fleischer productions, in particular
Time for Love (1935). The song has been recorded by other artists, including
Al Bowlly with
Lew Stone and his Orchestra in 1934,
Spike Jones and his City Slickers (1947),
The Platters (for their 1959 album
Remember When?),
Erroll Garner (1961) and
Mel Tormé for his 1994 album
A Tribute to Bing Crosby. It is mentioned in
Charles Trenet's song, "
Boum!". ==References==