Jack Benny Program Guide: "LOVE IN BLOOM"
Composers: Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger (ASCAP)
Publisher: Famous Music Corp.(ASCAP), of New York, NY
Copyright date: 1934

"Love in Bloom" was introduced in the movie "She Love's Me Not." Bing Crosby recorded the song July 5, 1934 and it rose to the top of the charts, where it stayed for six weeks, making it one of Bing's biggest hits ever, yet it is mostly remembered as Jack Benny's theme song.
According to Jack Benny:
"One night Mary and I were in this supper club and the band asked me to join them for their next number. I borrowed a fiddle and, just following the sheet music, I played 'Love in Bloom.' I guess it sounded pretty funny, the violin playing, I mean, not the tune! My spontaneous performance turned up being written about in some column, with the writer wisecracking that 'Jack Benny playing 'Love in Bloom' sounded like a breath of fresh air ... if you liked fresh air...' The following week, Mary and I went to another club. As we entered, the orchestra leader started playing 'Love In Bloom.' Obviously, he had seen the item in the paper. The thing just caught on, so I decided to adopt it as my theme song. Let's face it, it's also a pretty easy tune to play on the fiddle. I love it from that aspect, but actually 'Love In Bloom' has nothing to do with a comedian. I mean, 'Can it be the breeze that fills the trees with rare and magic perfume ...' sounds more like it should be the theme song of a dog -- not a comic!" (Mary Livingstone Benny, Jack Benny, p71)

The first time Love In Bloom was used as Jack's entrance theme was on or about February 9, 1936.

Blue nights and you
Alone with me.
My heart has never known such ecstasy.
Am I on earth?
Am I in Heaven?

Can it be the trees
That fill the breeze
With rare and magic perfume?
Oh no, it isn't the trees
It's love in bloom.

Can it be the spring
That seems to bring
The stars right into this room
Oh no, it isn't the spring
Its love in bloom.

My heart was a desert
You planted a seed
And this is the flower
This hour of sweet fullfillment.

Is it all a dream, a joy supreme
That came to us in the gloom?
You know it isn't a dream
It's love in bloom.

My heart was a desert
But you planted a seed
And this is the flower
This hour of sweet fullfillment.

Is it all a dream, a joy supreme
That came to us in the gloom?
You know it isn't a dream
It's love in bloom.


Robin and Rainger appeared on the Benny program a couple of times, first on June 7, 1936 where they joke about "Love In Bloom" and plug a new number "I Don't Want To Make History" then again on March 6,1938 where they plug "Thanks For The Memories". In an interview with Bob Hope, he mentions that it was Jack turning down the part in "The Big Broadcast of 1938" which introduced "Thanks For The Memories", that made him a star.