This comedy, which starred Bing Crosby as a Catholic priest, also took the awards for Best Actor and Best Song. What was the name of the song?
A) “Lullaby of Broadway” B) “Swinging on a Star” ü C) “Thanks for the Memory” D) “You’ll Never Know”
Father Chuck O’Malley (Crosby) has been given responsibility for a downtown parish afflicted with teenage gangs (whose desperate crimes include turkey theft), a church threatened by mortgage problems and a crusty older priest homesick for Ireland. O’Malley solves all the problems with inspired ease, and gets off a number of songs including the award-winner, which suggests that good kids who stay in school, behave politely and keep themselves clean are opting to “swing on a star”, the alternative being to behave like various types of animal. It begins, “Would you like to swing on a star, Carry moonbeams home in a jar, And be better off than you are, Or would you rather be a mule?”. The idea for the song arose from a remark Crosby made to one of his own young sons while discussing music for the film with songwriter Jimmy van Heusen. Our remaining suggested answers were the winning songs of other years, respectively from the films Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), and Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943).
