> > I hope you will enjoy this bit of history. > > > > > 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 > wed 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 aint 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, Youre 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; its 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 youll enjoy it and > treasure it even more. Many people dont know theres a lead in to the song since it usually starts with God Bless America. So heres the entire song as originally sung. ENJOY! > > youtube/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0 > >
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 15:40:09 +0000
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