HOW UNLUCKY CAN YOU GET? DVD versions of Chicago (2002) and Cabaret (1972) go on sale August 19. Together, the two musicals garnered 14 Academy Awards—yet none of them went to their songwriters, composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb.

When it comes to awards, Kander and Ebb have done just fine by Tony, Emmy, and Grammy (as well as the Kennedy Center Honors). Yet their relationship with Oscar has been disappointing, to say the least.

It's not that Kander and Ebb have been frequently frustrated like Randy Newman, who received 16 nominations before taking home a statuette for "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc. (2001). They just happen to have written a bunch of movie songs that seem to cry out for Oscar's supreme blessing.

One case is "How Lucky Can You Get?" Sung by Barbra Streisand in Funny Lady (1975), this instant standard received a Best Song nomination, then lost to Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy" from Nashville (1975). But the Kander and Ebb movie song that almost demands some sort of Oscar acknowledgment is "New York, New York."

Written for Martin Scorsese's eponymous 1977 musical and sung by Liza Minelli, this enduring urban anthem didn't even receive an Oscar nomination. At the 1978 Oscar ceremony, "You Light Up My Life" was top of the heap. What were the other nominees? "Nobody Does It Better" (from The Spy Who Loved Me), "Candle on the Water" (from Pete's Dragon), "Someone's Waiting for You" (from The Rescuers), and—take a deep breath—"The Slipper and the Rose Waltz (He Danced with Me/She Danced with Me)" (from The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella).

More recently, Kander and Ebb's "I Move On"—written especially for the movie Chicago—received another Best Song nomination but lost to "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile (2002). The two song titles are almost a dialogue.

The "New York, New York" page at the website for NPR's Present at the Creation offers an anecdote about the key role Robert DeNiro played in the composition of the song. There are also links to versions by Liza Minelli and Frank Sinatra as well as web pages honoring Kander and Ebb for their accomplishments.