The film Vogues of 1938, also known as All This and Glamour Too or Walter Wanger’s Vogues of 1938, is a musical comedy (actually released in August 1937) starring Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett, and Helen Vinson in a love triangle. Bennett is a penniless heiress who declines to marry for money and goes to work as a model for couturier Baxter whose showgirl wife (Vinson) is busy trying to make a comeback. While there are many twists and turns to the plot, Bennett and Baxter fall for each other and the movie has a happy ending. The film is noted for its production numbers, glamorous display of clothes of the era, and insight into the fashion industry. Filming was delayed while the Technicolor process was improved, so the movie represents one of the best early color films.

Sammy Fain composed the music to Lew Brown’s lyric for “That Old Feeling,” which is introduced in a supper club performance, first as a torch song sung by Virginia Verrill and then tap danced by Georgie Tapps. The song was nominated for an Oscar along with the art direction for the film. Fain was nominated nine times for Best Original Song Oscar and won twice--for “Secret Love” (1954) and “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” (1955). Brown, who was born in Ukraine, enjoyed success on Tin Pan Alley and Broadway.

Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra took the song to the charts in 1937 for a run of fourteen weeks, four of them at #1. His was a “sweet band” known for its “rippling rhythm” sound achieved by blowing through a straw into a glass of water. The version by Jan Garber and His Orchestra also made the chart in 1937 where it ran for three weeks, peaking at #10. The song also appeared as number one on Your Hit Parade twelve times and was associated with vocalist Jane Froman who dubbed it for Susan Hayward who played Froman in the 1952 film With a Song in My Heart.

In the 1997 film That Old Feeling, starring Bette Midler and Dennis Farina, the song is perfomed by Patrick Williams (who scored the film) and by Oscar Peterson and Louis Armstrong. The lyric perfectly describes the comedic situation in the film. Midler and Farina, divorced for fourteen years, meet at their daughter’s wedding to which they both bring new spouses. Their bickering is reignited, but then comes the realization that they are still in love and desirous of one another:

I saw you last night and got that old feeling
When you came in sight, I got that old feeling
The moment that you danced by, I felt a thrill
And when you caught my eye, my heart stood still

Alec Wilder in his book American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 calls the song “...better than average, probably due to the whole notes d flat in measure three and c flat in measure seven. Also the closing measures are quite lyrical. But the second section with its stiffness, due to repeated notes, is disappointing.”

Despite Wilder’s criticism, the song has remained quite popular over the years. Vocalist Cleo Laine and saxophonists Zoot Sims and Bud Shank used “That Old Feeling” as the title cut of albums. Guitarist Howard Alden, vocalists Peggy Lee and Chris Connor, and pianist Jimmy Rowles have all recorded the song. Vocalist Annie Ross recorded it 1995, and both pianist Dave Brubeck and vocalist Diana Krall recorded it in 1997. Since 2000 the song has appeared on CD’s by bassist Jay Leonhart, drummer Roy Haynes, pop singer Rod Stewart, and the Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra featuring trombonist Bill Watrous and saxophonist Pete Cristlieb.