A NOW FORGOTTEN SUPERSTAR INTRODUCED ONE OF OUR MOST UNFORGETTABLE ANTHEMS. The untouchable Irving Berlin had written "God Bless America" in 1918 for an Army show, but it was considered too “jingoistic” and was shelved. It’s hard to imagine many never having heard it , either by choruses or soloists such as Celine Dion, ironically not an American citizen. But, despite being unknown to anyone under 40 or so, Kate Smith, whom Berlin, a Jewish émigré from Russia, personally chose to reintroduce it live on her radio show in 1938 as a “peace song” in contrast to the rumblings of war in Europe and anti-Semitism in Germany, was then a superstar as popular as any today. It became such a hit there was a move in Congress to make it the National Anthem, replacing “The Star Spangled Banner,” a move she opposed. In the middle of WWII, this fictionalized introduction of the song was written for the film “This Is the Army” [unfortunately starring the hideous Ronald Reagan]. Thirty years later, her recordings and live performances of the song helped inspired the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team to win two successive Stanley Cups, and an astounding number of individual game wins have been tied to the “good luck” of the song. In gratitude, they erected a statue of her outside their stadium a year after their death, and, in lieu of the National Anthem, still show a video of her singing before important games. It was the last song she ever sang, on a televised bicentennial special on July 4, 1976. Immortalized in bronze, a half-century+ career, a Medal of Freedom; no accolade surpassed that day in 1939 when, upon the visit to the White House by King George VI & Queen Elizabeth of England, President Franklin Roosevelt introduced her performance by saying, “Your Majesties, this is Kate Smith. Miss Smith is America.” youtu.be/TnQDW-NMaRs
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 01:09:15 +0000
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