Later Performances
Actor-singer Rudy Vallee changed the beat from foxtrot to a waltz and sang it in the film The Vagabond Lover, released in 1929. An unknown singer sang the song in an episode of the hit TV series, Charmed. Season 2 Episode 14 "Pardon My Past"
One well-known version was recorded by Perry Como on March 21, 1946 and released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1857-B, the flip side of "They Say It's Wonderful". This version reached #14 on the Billboard magazine charts. The recording was also released in the United Kingdom by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number BD-1165, the flip side of "I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do)".
Donald Peers with two pianos recorded it at Royal Albert Hall, London, on June 13, 1949 as the first song of a medley along with "Blue Skies" and "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder". The medley was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9792.
The song is also performed at the entertainment evening in "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
Anton Szandor LaVey, founder and High Priest of The Church of Satan, also performed the song on his 1990 album Satan Takes a Holiday.
It is also performed in Episode 4 (series 2) of Downton Abbey, first broadcast in the UK on Sunday the 9th of October, 2011. At a concert for convalescing officers, Lady Mary (played by Michelle Dockery) sings the song while Lady Edith plays the piano, and then the audience joins in. Matthew Crawley, who was reported missing in action earlier in the episode, suddenly showed up in the middle of the song -- alongside his batman William Mason -- to the delight of Mary, the entire Crawley family, and their household staffs. Matthew and Mary then sung the last stanza of the song together. In this show the song is sung entirely in waltz-time 3/4 metre. No contemporary recording played the waltz version though one was published in the Reader's Digest "Family Songbook" for piano in 1969, omitting the first five lines of the song.
The tune is also played as a solo piano instrumental by the character, Malcolm Hamilton, in the BBC Scotland soap, River City, at the end of the 03 July 2012 episode. Malcolm had not played piano nor sang for some unspecified period of time--perhaps years--despite music having been a love of his life. His wife, Liz, organised a music therapy group, which he patently rejected as anything he would ever attend. After some thought, however, he had a change of heart. Playing this tune for the group signaled his return to music.
Read more about this topic: If You Were The Only Girl (In The World)
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