Sheet music:Lucky Lindy!

Within days of Charles Lindbergh's historic transatlantic flight in 1927, dozens of Tin Pan Alley publishers rushed into print with topical tributes to the great aviator. Lindbergh's feat earned him immediate international fame as well as the popular nickname "Lucky Lindy." Americans and Europeans idolized the shy, slim young man and showered him with honors. L. Wolfe Gilbert and Abel Baer finished their hit song just as radio broadcasts were reporting Lindbergh's safe landing outside of Paris on May 21. Performed to great acclaim that very night in several Manhattan clubs, this song was printed over the weekend by Leo Feist. Available by Monday, May 23, the song headlined the marquee of the Paramount Theater the very next day, where the Wurlitzer organ played it between showings of the week's movie, "Rough House Rosie," starring Clara Bow. In the two years after Lindberg's flight, the U.S. Copyright Office recorded 300 applications for Lindbergh songs, including the satirical "This Song Is Not About Lindbergh." None fared so well as "Lucky Lindy."