The Continental

I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (from the 1929 film The Emperor Waltz),
music by Ralph Erwin, German lyrics by Fritz Rotter with English lyrics by Samuel M. Lewis and Joseph Young

Original Air Dates: 1952 (CBS), 1952 - 1953 (ABC)

The theme was originally a song from a German operetta; it was first sung in English in a movie by Bing Crosby. In 1953 the song was sung by Merv Griffin in a second movie, So This Is Love.

In dreams I kiss your hand, Madame, your dainty fingertips,
And while in slumberland, Madame, I'm begging for your lips.
I haven't any right, Madame, to do the things I do.
Just when I hold you tight, Madame, you vanish with the night, Madame.
In dreams I kiss your hand, Madame, and pray my dreams come true.

Imagine, twice a week, after the 11 o'clock news a handsome man dressed in a dinner jacket, seated in a cozy living room. reading romantic poetry to the TV viewers.  Well, Renzo Cesana was the man and while this was a successful show on the radio, it didn't sit well with the American public when it came to TV.