Shine On, Harvest Moon
"Shine On, Harvest Moon" is a popular early-1900s song credited to the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. It was one of a series of moon-related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was debuted by Bayes and Norworth in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908 to great acclaim. It became a pop standard, and continues to be performed and recorded in the 21st century. During the vaudeville era, songs were often sold outright, and the purchaser would be credited as the songwriter. John Kenrick's "Who's Who in Musicals" credits  the song's writers as Edward Madden and Gus Edwards. However, David Ewen's "All the Years of American Popular Music" credits Dave Stamper, who contributed songs to 21 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and was Bayes' pianist from 1903 to 1908. Vaudeville comic Eddie Cantor also credited Stamper in his 1934 book "Ziegfeld - The Great Glorifier". The earliest commercially successful recordings were made in 1909 by Harry Macdonough and Elise Stevenson (Victor 16259), Ada Jones and Billy Murray (Edison 10134), Frank Stanley and Henry Burr (Indestructable 1075), and Bob Roberts (Columbia 668). Lyrics. Chorus. Note: The months in the  chorus have been sung in different orders. The Ada Jones and Billy Murray recording linked on this article has it as April, January, Ju-u-une or July. Flanagan and Allen, Moon Mullican, Mitch Miller and Leon Redbone used January, February, June or July. Oliver Hardy, in his rendition from "The Flying Deuces", used January, April, June or July. Film and television connections. The song has had a long history with Hollywood movies. In 1932, animation great Dave Fleischer directed a short titled "Shine On Harvest Moon". A 1938 Roy Rogers western was named after the song, as was a  1944 biographical film about Bayes and Norworth. The song has been featured in dozens of movies, including "Along Came Ruth" (1933) and "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936). Laurel and Hardy performed a song-and-dance routine (Hardy singing and both dancing) to the song in their 1939 RKO film "The Flying Deuces". The song was also featured in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1945), "The Eddy Duchin Story" (1956), and "Pennies from Heaven" (1978). There was also a popular British 1980s comedy drama called "Shine on Harvey Moon". The song was featured in the 2013 video game "BioShock Infinite". It was  referenced by Don Rickles in the 1971 Friars Club roast of Jerry Lewis when he said, "Just hope and pray, Shine on Harvest Moon they know." In the 1952 "I Love Lucy" episode "The Benefit", the song is referenced and the chorus is sung. And Gidney and Cloyd the moon creatures performed the first line of the refrain on an episode of "Rocky and His Friends" in 1959–60. The song was also sung in the pilot episode of the Cartoon Network miniseries "Over the Garden Wall". "The Backyardigans" episode "The Key to the Nile" featured a song called "Please and  Thank You" to the tune of this song. References. Notes