The Fountain in the Park, also known as While Strolling Through (or Thru') the Park One Day, is a song by Ed Haley (1862-1932), published in 1884 by Willis Woodward & Co. of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, but dating from about 1880. It is best known for the being the source of the tune that contains the lyric "While strolling in the park one day,/All in the merry month of May", and has been featured in numerous films, including Strike Up the Band

Strike Up the Band (film)

Strike Up the Band is a 1940 American black and white musical film. It is directed by Busby Berkeley and stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.A very famous, memorable quote from the film is "Take that boy on the street...

(1940), in which it was sung by Judy Garland

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

.

Apollo XVII (1972)

A few bars of The Fountain in the Park was sung on the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 by NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 Astronauts Harrison Schmitt

Harrison Schmitt

Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, a retired NASA astronaut, university professor, and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico....

 and Eugene Cernan on the Apollo 17

Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final manned mission in the American Apollo space program. Launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the...

mission. Schmitt started by singing "I was strolling on the Moon one day..." when Cernan joined in. Cernan kept with the original "merry month of May", however, while Schmitt sang "December", which was the actual date at the time. After a brief debate, Smitt resumed, singing "When much to my surprise, a pair of bonny eyes..." until he could no longer remember the lyrics and began vocalizing the notes instead. Moments later, Capsule Communicator Robert A. Parker

Robert A. Parker

Robert Allan Ridley Parker is the former director of the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a retired NASA astronaut...

 cut in from Houston, saying "sorry about that, guys, but today may be December."

Cartoons

The song was used in The Nifty Nineties

The Nifty Nineties

The Nifty Nineties is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters on June 20, 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse and romanticizes the decade of the 1890s....

 a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Baby Puss

Baby Puss (1943 film)

Baby Puss is a 1943 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 12th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby, Baby Puss was released to theaters on Christmas day, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer....

 a Tom and Jerry cartoon and Elmer's Pet Rabbit

Elmer's Pet Rabbit

Elmer's Pet Rabbit is a 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Elmer Fudd and, ostensibly, Bugs Bunny. The short was released on January 4, 1941...

 a Bugs Bunny cartoon. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.trvsta1.html Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

 covered the song for their 1962 album The Chipmunk Songbook

The Chipmunk Songbook

The Chipmunk Songbook is an album by Alvin and the Chipmunks with David Seville. It was released in January 1, 1962 by Liberty Records.In 1986, a two-record compilation album was released by Capitol-EMI America, also titled The Chipmunk Songbook, and featuring an entirely different track listing,...

.

External links

• The Fountain in the Park sheet music from the Library of Congress
  Library of Congress
  The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
  
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• A Web site featuring background information on (and a MIDI version of) The Fountain in the Park.
• Ed Haley's filmography from the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
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