The Academy Awards
In 1938, Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger received the Academy Award for Best Song for “Thanks for the Memory.”
Oscar Nomination Original Song From Film
1953 Best Music “My Flaming Heart” Small Town Girl
1952 Best Music “Zing a Little Zong” Just for You
1948 Best Music “This Is the Moment” That Lady in Ermine
1948 Best Music “For Every Man There’s a Woman” Casbah
1947 Best Music “A Gal in Calico” The Time, the Place and the Girl
1945 Best Music, “So-o-o-o-o in Love” The Wonder Man
1939 Best Music ” Faithful Forever” Gulliver’s Travels
1938 Best Music “Thanks for the Memory” The Big Broadcast of 1938
1937 Best Music “Whispers in the Dark” Artists and Models
1934 Best Music “Love in Bloom” She Loves Me Not
The American Film Institute (AFI)
“Thanks for the Memory” is recognized as one of the AFI’s Top Movie Songs of All Time.
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” is recognized as one of the AFI’s Top Movie Songs of All Time.
The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame
In 1972, Leo was inducted into The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, two years after its formation.
In 1982, the songwriters, including Harold Arlen, Ann Ronnell and Juke Styne — to name a few, honored Leo Robin at a special event sponsored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame where he was presented a special citation for “Thanks for the Memory.”
The 92nd Street Y
In 1982, “The Lyrics and Lyricists: Lyrics for Film” program presented a special evening at the 92nd Street Y to honor Leo Robin’s incomparable contribution to musical film.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
In 1989, the ASCAP award was received for the song, “Thanks for the Memory,” from The Big Broadcast of 1938 for Most Performed Feature Film Standards.
In 1995, a special award was given by ASCAP to honor Leo Robin’s legacy on the occasion of his 100th Birthday for his “Contributions to the American Popular Song.”
On February 13, 2014, ASCAP celebrated its 100th Birthday with honors to the Top ASCAP Songs by Year lists — for the year 1937, the song, “Thanks for The Memory,” was chosen.
The Library of Congress
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), annually selects 25 recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and are at least 10 years old. The selections for the 2015 registry bring the total number of recordings on the registry to 450, only a minuscule portion of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of more than 3 million items.
“Carousel of American Music”– (Sept. 24, 1940)
The 2015 registry featured a recording, long thought lost, of a 1940 cavalcade of stars, many performing their own songs, at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco
These recordings, captured live at the Golden Gate International Exposition, document a once-in-a-lifetime concert that gathered the top American songwriters of the day to perform their own compositions.
Staged to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the composers’ rights organization, ASCAP, the all-day event featured a concert by the San Francisco Symphony followed by the performances. Included: Albert Von Tilzer (singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”); Ann Ronnell (“Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”); Arthur Freed (“Singin’ in the Rain”); Shelton Brooks (“Some of These Days”); James V. Monaco (“You Made Me Love You”); Bert Kalmar (“Three Little Words”); Walter Donaldson (“My Blue Heaven”); Leo Robin (“Love in Bloom”); Johnny Mercer (“Jeepers Creepers”); Hoagy Carmichael (“Stardust”); George M. Cohan (“Over There”); and Irving Berlin (“God Bless America”), among others. Believed lost, these recordings on 78-rpm discs turned up for sale half a century later on an opera recording trading site. They were released as a four-CD set in 2011.
Grammy Hall of Fame
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences made it known that Bob Hope and Shirley Ross’ recording of “Thanks for the Memory” (Decca, 1938) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005. The Hall was founded in 1973.