Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby composed "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," originally written as "Moonlight on the Meadow" for the Marx Brothers' 1935 film A Night at the Opera, though it went unused. The song was revived in 1951 with revised lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the film The Strip, performed by Louis Armstrong, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Kalmar and Ruby were a successful songwriting team for nearly three decades.
