The other day, I linked to a video of Steve Lawrence and Sammy Davis singing "Not Even Nominated" songs at the Academy Awards. A blogger named Lis Riba writes, in part…
I listened with interest until they reached "Lucky Star" from Singin' in the Rain and realized that song wasn't eligible for an Oscar.
Only original songs are eligible for Academy Awards.
"Lucky Star" originally came from Broadway Melody of 1936. Singin' in the Rain was conceived as a vehicle for MGM's existing song catalog. The only original piece in the movie was "Moses Supposes."
It's one thing to advocate a change to the Oscar rules, but singing a lament to songs that weren't even eligible as if they'd been tragically overlooked — it seems disingenuous and misleading.
Uh, first of all, do I have to point out that I didn't pick the songs in that medley?
Secondly, as you note, "You Are My Lucky Star" was written for the movie, Broadway Melody of 1936. As I understand it, it was eligible for that year…and not nominated. "Singin' in the Rain" was introduced in the movie, Hollywood Revue of 1929. I think you're laboring under the impression that someone thought these two songs should have or at least could have been nominated for the 1952 movie, Singing' in the Rain. Not so. Whoever crafted that medley was right that those songs were introduced in movies but were not nominated for Oscars.
However, there was a bit of misrepresentation there. A possible reason "Singin' in the Rain" wasn't nominated was that it was introduced in a 1929 movie and the Academy Awards didn't add its Best Song category until 1934.
There may be a few others in there that weren't nominated for that reason. I don't think it changes my view that it was a swell medley and that its point is valid: That there used to a lot more great songs written for movies than we have today.