Do you remember Kate Smith?
Frank
Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said
that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless
America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as
they wiped away a tear or two.
The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA ".
But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song.
The
time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression.
Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go
to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.
This
was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American
families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their
favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than
Kate Smith.
Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her,"It ain't over till the fat lady sings".
Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her
voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.
Kate
was also quite patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed
and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America,
and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer
them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin
(who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a song that
would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she
described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for
her.
He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917.
He
gave it to Kate and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She
and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the
public, but both agreed they would refuse any profits from God Bless
America.
All profits would forever go to the Boy Scouts of America.
Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this wonderful song.
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra, full choir and an audience.
She
introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing.
After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still
singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army
Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video, you see a young actor in the
movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.
To
this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in
our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to
raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized
just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during
those years of hardship and worry..... And for many generations of
Americans to follow.
Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it and treasure it even more.
Few
people know there's a lead in to the song, as it usually starts with
"God Bless America ....." So here's the entire song as originally sung.
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