From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries " is a
popular
song with music by
Ray Henderson and lyrics by
Lew Brown , published in
1931 .
[1]
Ethel Merman introduced this song in
George White's Scandals of 1931 .
[2] A
Rudy Vallée version, recorded in 1931, spent five weeks in the top-10 pop music charts.
[3] The song was revived in 1953 by singer
Jaye P. Morgan .
[4]
The song title gave rise to the revue of composer Ray Henderson's music called It's the Cherries , which launched the
American Composer Series in 2000.
[5]
Notable recordings
In popular culture
In the 1981
Steve Martin mock
musical ,
Pennies From Heaven , a performance of the song by Walter S. Harrah, Gene Merlino, Vern Rowe, Robert Tebow and Al Vescovo is used in a
cutaway segment in which Martin,
Bernadette Peters , and
Jessica Harper lip sync to the song.
[6]
[7]
The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 1983 documentary
Seeing Red (1983 film) .
It is the opening song of the Broadway show
Fosse , as sung by
Ben Vereen .
The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 2012 movie
Killing Them Softly , starring
Brad Pitt .
The song is twice sung in the 2013 movie
Adoration starring Robin Wright, Naomi Watts, and Ben Mendelson.
The song is sung in an episode of ITV's Poirot ( "Third Floor Flat") while a body is discovered.
The song is sung by David Hyde Pierce in the fifth episode of the second season of Julia as a duet between identical twins Paul and Charles Child.
References
Young, William H.; Young, Nancy K. (2005), Music of the Great Depression , Greenwood,
ISBN
0313332304