[luvie]

Ooo-rah! Happy Birthday Marines! :)

[Publius]

Irving Berlin sings "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning"

When Irving sang this on stage in New York when "This is the Army" premiered in 1942, he stopped the show. His standing O lasted almost five minutes.

[Publius]

Kate Smith sings "God Bless America" for the first time on the radio in 1938

Kate is fibbing a bit in the introduction. Irving wrote it for his Army talent show "Yip Yip Yaphank" in 1917. (It's pronounced YAP-hank.) He put it in the desk drawer and pulled it out for Kate in 1938, but he didn't write it specifically for her. This version has the vocal intro that is very rarely heard in performance.