Good-bye Broadway, Hello France! 

This song has lyrics written by C. Francis Reisner and Benny Davis with music by Billy Baskette. It was performed as the finale of the “Passing Show of 1917” at the New York Winter Garden. The Passing Show was an annual musical revue that was performed on Broadway, taking songs and scenes from that year’s popular productions, along with original material. The first Passing Show opened in 1894, but it became an annual event in 1912. The producers Lee and Jacob J. Shubert wanted it to draw crowds like the successful Ziegfeld Follies. That support for the war effort had reached Broadway by the summer of 1917 shows that efforts earlier in the year to sway Americans had been successful.

A popular song during World War I, it was recorded by the American Quartet for whom it was a 1917 hit. Other WWI era performers associated with the song include The Peerless Quartet, Arthur Fields, and Jaudus' Society Orchestra.

Soldiers also sang it in World War II.  During 1942, it was featured in the film For Me and My Girl.