“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical comedy Roberta. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. It was first recorded by Gertrude Niesen, with orchestral direction from Ray Sinatra, Frank Sinatra’s second cousin, on October 13, 1933. Niesen’s recording of the song was released by Victorr, with in the B-side “Jealousy”, a song featuring Isham Jones and his Orchestra. The line “When your heart’s on fire, smoke gets in your eyes” apparently comes from a Russian proverb.
Paul Whiteman had the first hit recording of the song on the record charts in 1934. Whiteman and his Orchestra performed the song with vocals by Bob Lawrence, and this version topped the charts in the same year. The song was reprised by Irene Dunne, who performed it in the 1935 film adaption of the musical co-starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra released their version in 1938, with in the B-side the song “Night and Day”. During the mid-to-late 1930s, Larry Adler and Henry Hall recorded live radio performances of the song on BBC Radio: Adler’s rendition was a syncopated, harmonica arrangement, while Hall’s was with the BBC Orchestra with vocals by Dan Donovan; Hall’s version was released as a 10″ single. Jazz pianist Art Tatum said in an introduction in 1955 that he also performed “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” in the 1930s.
In the same year, the Benny Goodman Orchestra played the song on the radio with Helen Forrest, but she left the ensemble during the early part of 1941, so Goodman replaced her with Peggy Lee. Lee’s recording was released on the collaborative album Roll ‘Em by Goodman and jazz drummer Sid Catlett. Glenn Miller conducted his own rendition of the song at Abbey Road Studios in 1944, but due to his death later that year in the Second World War, his version was unreleased until 1995. In October 1946, Nat “King” Cole recorded the song with his trio, consisting in himself, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Johnny Miller on double bass, during a live broadcast from New York City. Cole performed it on television in 1957 for The Nat King Cole Show.
In 1950, both Charlie Parker and Jo Stafford released their versions of the song on their own respective albums, Bird at St. Nick’s and Autumn in New York. Eartha Kitt recorded the song in 1952 with the Henri Rene Orchestra for her 1954 album That Bad Eartha, in the same sessions which yielded her 1953 hit single “Santa Baby”. Dinah Washington released the song in 1956 on her album Dinah!, and Jeri Southern named her 1957 album When Your Heart’s On Fire after a lyric from the song; the album also features her version of the song. Polly Bergen performed the song during the series premiere of her variety show The Polly Bergen Show, originally airing September 21, 1957. In 1958, Sarah Vaughan released her rendition on her album, No Count Sarah.
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” was recorded in 1958 by the Platters for their album Remember When? The group’s version became a number 1 hit in the U.S. on the Billboard music chart, and was their highest hit on that chart. The song spent 20 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at Number 1 for one week in March of that same year. Buck Ram, the producer, said that Harbach praised them “for reviving his song with taste.” The widow of composer Jerome Kern disliked the recording so much she considered legal action to prevent its distribution. However, she was informed that she was going to get huge royalties from the sales of the single. It was expected to sell over a million copies, and she dropped her lawsuit. In 2019, the song by The Platters was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
