Kate Smith introduces "God Bless America"*VIDEO)

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/kate_smith.html ^

[navysealdad]

Taking You Back In Time. In early 1940, Kate Smith, a fiercely patriotic American, and the biggest star on radio, was deeply worried about her country. She asked Irving Berlin if he could give her a song that would re-ignite the spirit of American patriotism and faith. He said he had a song that he had written in 1917, but never used it. He said she could have it.

[ConservativeMind]

Ping for later.

[WVNan]

Thanks for the memory. Even the “Gipper” is in that clip. Where has our beloved America gone?

[jonrick46]

Was that Ronald Reagan with Irving Berlin?

[madison10]

:( My parents had this on a vinyl. Listened to it alot when I was a kid.

I’m homesick for what we were... Thanks for posting this.

[ConorMacNessa]

Outstanding, Navysealdad! Thanks very much!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[AuntB]

Thanks for posting this. Kate Smith was my Dad’s favorite, singing his favorite song.

[rep-always]

BEAUTIFUL. I think I’m crying and when I saw Ronald Reagan, well, that’s all she wrote.

[John-Irish]

Thanks Kate. Yeah, God Bless America. No one else will.

[Publius]

He said he had a song that he had written in 1917, but never used it.

Not quite correct. The song was used in the musical "Yip Yip Yaphank", which was an amateur show in which the players were all servicemen. It ran briefly at the Yaphank army boot camp on Long Island in 1917. Following that, Berlin put it in a drawer.

Decades later, he pulled it out of that drawer for Kate Smith.

Once we were in World War II, Berlin took "Yip Yip Yaphank" and updated it into "This is the Army", which played around the country. Berlin wrote a song for himself, "I Hate to Get up in the Morning", and when the show opened in New York and Berlin appeared on stage, the crowd went wild and stopped the show. (Berlin was a well known figure in New York.)

Warner Brothers turned the musical into a film with George Murphy and others. "God Bless America" also appeared in the film with Kate Smith.

[Krankor]

Absolutely fantastic! By the way, not only the Gipper, but Abner Kravitz, too.

[AuntB]

Get the kleenex out,you’re going to need them!

[YHAOS]

God Bless Kate Smith

[ml/nj]

But never better than when she sang it live at the Spectrum. (And I hated the Flyers.)

ML/NJ

[heshtesh]

Have to wipe the tears before my girl returns.

[AuntB]

Oh, no kidding! Not much gets to me, but that sure did. I feel my country slipping away and it terrifies me.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Is there anyone, just one, of today’s current bunch of Hollywood idiots who would want to sing a song to inspire patriotism?

[YHAOS]

"Is there anyone, just one, of today’s current bunch of Hollywood idiots who would want to sing a song to inspire patriotism?"

Yes. I think there are a few.

[sweetiepiezer]

That was so great she typed crying.

I wear a “I RESIST SOCIALISM” button everywhere I go and when people say to me that they agree with it, I say, “Well, what are you going to do about it”.
They usually say what is there to do, they are not listening.
I tell them to attend a Tea Party, email Congress, join a grassroots movement, that we need all the people we can get to fight back. Then I give the the names of different grassroots organizations I belong to.
Tell them to get involved.
We have to “RELOAD” as Sarah says.
GOD BLESS AMERICA

[blackie]

I remember those days, my how the times have changed. The video was very moving.

Thanks!