A conversation this evening with a friend having to do with the merits of just relaxing and enjoying life instead of continuing to push the same old boulders uphill, had me using the phrase "Que Sera, Sera". That led to the discussion of the song Que Sera, Sera made famous in the fifties by Doris Day and THAT led to the discussion of Academy Award winning songs and the movies in which the songs appeared.
Now, if you don’t have this type of discussion you probably don’t end up doing as much totally useless research by web surfing as I do. My tendency to get caught up in ever-widening ripple-affect and off-the-subject research is probably the reason I excel at Trivial Pursuit and it’s likely the reason the only time my family and friends will play my favorite game with me is on my birthday! But I digress.
My friend accurately remembered the song to be from a movie starring James Stewart. I suggested the movie might be Rear Window but my friend remembered it to be set in a foreign location. I looked it up. The movie was called The Man Who Knew Too Much and was set in Morocco. Stewart’s co-star was Doris Day.
In 1956 when it won the Academy Award for Best Song, Que Sera, Sera was played on the radio all the time and as an entire nation we sang along. I thought myself quite smart as a ten year old when I could sing in a foreign language! (That was to remain my only second-language sing-along ability until Don Ho made Tiny Bubbles popular in the 1960s.)
Just for fun, I’ve included a short list of historical events, dated by the song title that won the Academy Award that year.
Bombing of Pearl Harbor - The Last Time I Saw Paris (film: Lady Be Good)
Eisenhower Elected President – High Noon (film: High Noon)
JFK Assassination - Call Me Irresponsible (film: Papa’s Delicate Condition)
The First Super Bowl – Born Free (film: Born Free)
America’s Bicentennial – Evergreen (film: A Star Is Born)
