Today in Music (1925): Ben Selvin’s “Manhattan” hit #1

Manhattan Ben Selvin

Writer(s): Richard Rodgers (music), Lorenz Hart (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 24, 1925 Peak: 14 PM, 5 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.02 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 1925, a revue called The Garrick Gaieties was staged at the Garrick Theater that featured seven songs written by the new songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The two “were opposities in personality, temperament, outlook, living and working habits, but their collaboration carried them to the pinnacle of Broadway.” TY2 They wrote such classics as “My Funny Valentine,” “”The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Bewitched.” The song, however, that introduced the public to Rodgers and Hart was “Manhattan.” It was performed in The Garrick Gaieties by June Cochrane and Sterling Holloway DJ “and generated 10 curtian calls when first sung in public.” LW “Its urbane lyrics have made it a favorite song about New York.” DJ The song references major New York landmarks, including the zoo, the subway, Greenwich Village, Coney Island, and Central Park. TY2 In 1925, Ben Selvin and his Knickerbockers took the song to #1 and Paul Whiteman hit #3. PM Selvin made more than 2000 records; no other bandleader made more. PM He charted more than 100 hits from 1919 to 1934, reaching #1 eight times. PM Mickey Rooney performed the song in 1948’s Words and Music, a “rather fictitious movie biography”about Rodgers and Hart. It also showed up in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Beau James (1957), The Rat Race (1960), and Mighty Aphrodite (1995). TY2 Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 129. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 51. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 139-40. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 379-82 and 547. Related Links: First posted 5/14/2025.