In 1894, choreographers Barney Fagan and Augusto Francioli debuted their new revue, The Passing Show, to the American audience, billing it as a "topical extravaganza". Although a few entertainments that could be called revues had already been presented by showman such as John Brougham, The Passing Show was the first to use the term in America, spelling it as "review". A revue's now-familiar structure was to use a thin story line to link together songs and sketches, where singing, dancing and plays were included in the same show.

Although the show included several parodies, it did not have very good feedback, as The New York Times review of it noted, "We do not know what a topical extravaganza is; neither do they." The paper wrote that the show contained "elements of amusement", and "a momentary glance at most of the interesting entertainments" of the winter season. "There was a good deal of pretty music by Mr.Erlander, and some of Mr.rosenfield's lines were bright. But there were great wearisome spaces of emptiness..." The revue clearly had flopped and was dropped after some performances.

Enter the Shubert Family. The Shuberts were responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theatre industry in the United States, dominating an entire form of comedy in the 20s. Lee and Jacob J. Shubert, in particular, re-used the title "The Passing Show" for an annual series of Broadway revues from 1912 to 1924. They were more elaborate productions, designed to compete with other top-notch shows of the industry.

In The Passing Show of 1918, John Kellette's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is sung, and has been a popular hit ever since.

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The lyrics of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" isn't presented in an overly circuitous way:

"I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air

They fly so high, nearly reach the sky

Then like my dreams, they fade and die."

I think two of the fundamental facts of being a person are 1.We all dream of great achievements, and we are forever chasing our own dreams, and 2. we never quite reach what we expected to reach.

The song has been cover