please click on to the link (at the bottom) and watch through the end
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.
Here
are the facts… 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 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 her 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 not take any
profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts
of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of
dollars in royalties from this song.
This
video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the
orchestra 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.
Many
people don’t know there’s a lead in to the song since it usually starts
with”God Bless America …..” So here’s the entire song as originally
sung….. ENJOY!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0
Kate Smith introduces God Bless America – YouTube |