The Carioca, The Continental, and Ruby Flipper

 The Academy Awards began giving out Oscars for "Best Original Song" in 1934. One of the nominated tunes that year was "The Carioca." Connee Boswell gave us the version with lyrics.

And here's the hit instrumental version:

Of course, because we're talking about the Academy Awards, it's movie music. Ginger and Fred danced onscreen to "The Carioca."

"The Carioca," good as it was, was beaten out for the Oscar in 1934 by another  Rogers-Astaire dance flick number, "The Continental" from "The Gay Divorcee."

Where there was a movie musical back in the day, there were 78 rpm shellac records for purchase. Here's the version of "The Coninental" people danced to at parties in the 1930s:

In the 1970s, there was a nostalgia craze for the music and culture of the 1930s and 1940s. Remember The Pointer Sisters in their vintage outfits, and the "Puttin' On the Ritz" scene from 1974's "Young Frankenstein"?

In the early 70s, singer Maureen McGovern had made her name with hit songs from "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno." In 1976, McGovern's version of "The Continental" made the UK record charts. 

McGovern's version went to #6 in Britain, and was played on the weekly television program "Top of the Pops." TOTP had its own dance troupe, which performed the songs that weren't sung by live musicians. 

Ruby Flipper

Two of members of the troupe "Ruby Flipper") did their version of Astaire & Rogers while an unseen disk jockey spins "The Continental."

Aside from the particular hits of the day for which it did dance routines, Ruby Flipper had its own following among fans of "Top of the Pops," and there is a Facebook Page dedicated to the dance troupe.