It’s a damn shame her statue one of the first statues torn down by the America-hating, Black Looters Movement piggies?
BTTT
I'm 80...
We used to watch her tv show for the brief time it was on in 1960.
During WWII, FDR once referred to Kate Smith as “America’s mightiest weapon” because of how she raised troop morale.
Can’t imagine any true America would not feel their heart fill with pride and patriotism from her singing.
I don’t know the whole story but mother was babysat by Kate’s staff backstage.
"Yip Yip Yaphank" played all over the country as an enlistment tool. When World War II broke out, Irving took much of the "Yaphank" material and turned it into "This Is the Army," which played on Broadway and all over the country. At the first performance, Irving came on stage to sing "How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" and stopped the show. There were ten minutes of standing ovation before he could sing the number. Warner Brothers turned it into a movie, and Irving reprised his role.
Kate Smith had asked Irving for something special, and he reached into his file cabinet and pulled out the original version of "God Bless America.' He changed the key and rewrote the lyrics.
Irving held onto his money, outlived two wives, and spent his final years in a million-dollar apartments on the Upper West Side. On his 100th birthday, he woke up to a chorus outside singing his songs a capella. He asked them to come up, and Irving and his housekeeper made blueberry waffles for the whole crowd. He was tickled that people still remembered him.
In 1989, after his 101st birthday, Irving Berlin went to sleep one night and didn't wake up. It was as good a way to go as any.
Beautiful.