Today in Music (1919): “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” hit #1

A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody John Steel

Writer(s): Irving Berlin (music/words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: September 20, 1919 Peak: 15 PM, 14 GA, 14 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.02 video, 0.003 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Irving Berlin wrote “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” for the show Ziegfeld Follies of 1919. Berlin had agreed to write one act which would showcase the showgirls. WK Florenz Ziegfeld wanted “to glorify the American girl.” TY2 It became the unofficial theme song for subsequent Follies shows. It has also become commonly used for beauty pageants and fashion shows. DJ Both John Steel and Sam Ash charted with top-ten versions of the song in 1919; Steel’s was the more successful. PM Steel was born in Montclair, New Mersey in 1895. He was a tenor singer who appeared in several Broadway musicals. “Pretty Girl” was one of 13 chart entries for him, including the #1 hit “The Love Nest.” PM “Pretty Girl” was Steel’s big break. He was the one to introduce the song in Ziegfeld Follies of 1919. TY2 For the recorded version, he sang just the first verse and the chorus but on stage he performed a version with five additional verses, each with a different girl dancing around him. Her actions depended on the lyrics he was singing. SM The first verse and chorus have become “part of the Great American Songbook and are often covered as a jazz standard.” WK The song was revived in the 1936 biopic film The Great Ziegfeld in which it was the “centerpiece musical number performed on a huge set containing a spiral staircase.” WK It has also been used in Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938), The Powers Girl (1943), Blue Skies (1946), There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), and The Cat’s Meow (2001). Woody Allen, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Pat Boone, Bing Crosby, Vic Damone, Judy Garland, Coleman Hawkins, Ethel Merman, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Rudy Vallee, Bobby Vinton, and Paul Whiteman are among those to cover the song. WK Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 160. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 105. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 568. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 5/14/2025.