It's a Big Wide Wonderful World is a popular song written by John Rox in 1939. It debuted on Broadway in the 1940 musical All in Fun, introduced on stage by Wynn Murray and Walter Cassel. The first released recording was by Buddy Clark with the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra in December 1948, and a later version reached No. 25 on the Billboard charts in 1949. Over the years it has been covered by artists including Peggy Lee on Mink Jazz (1963) and Jay and the Americans (1967). The song has appeared in several films and media, notably sung by Deanna Durbin in the 1948 film For the Love of Mary (cut from the original release but later restored), and by Dean Martin in the 1954 film 3 Ring Circus; it was also used in a Ford television commercial in 1960 and featured in films such as Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and Avalon (1990). It remains a jazz pop standard, frequently performed in concerts and recordings.
