Kate Smith

YouTube - Ballad of the Green Beret - Kate Smith

Whenever I think of Independence Day, I think of Kate Smith who famously sang the rendition of the song that Irv Berlin wrote around 1919 entitled, "God Bless America." She sang that song for the first time around 1938 and that song has been a popular past time in America since. Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to introduce her as "This is Kate Smith. This is America." "God Bless America" is the song she is most famous for. Edith Bennett, who hosts two Sunday morning programs on WOMI 1490 in Owensboro, plays some of her music periodically. She plays some of Kate Smith's songs during the July 4th holidays or on other special occasions revolving around Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. A couple of other songs I've heard Smith sing were "Almighty God of our Fathers" and "To Dream the Impossible Dream."

Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith (May 1, 1907-June 17, 1986) was an American singer best known for her rendition of Irv Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and a recording career spanning five decades reaching its pinnacle in the 1940's. She was born in Greenville, Virginia. Her professional music career began in 1930, when she was discovered by Columbia Records vice-president Ted Collins, who became her longtime partner and manager. Collins place her on radio in 1931. She sang the controversial top twenty song of 1931 entitled, "That's Why Darkies Were Born." If she sang that song in this hour, she would be heavily lambasted by civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. She appeared in 1933 in "Hello Everybody" with co-stars Randolph Scott and Sally Blane. She also appeared in the 1943 movie, "This is the Army" co-starring with then actor Ronald Reagan. She sang "God Bless America" in that movie.

She began her recording career in 1926. Her biggest hits were "River, Stay 'Way from My Door" (1931), "The Woodpecker Song" (1940), "The White Cliffs of Dover" (1941), "I don't Want to Walk Without You" (1942), "Seems Like Old times" (1946), and "Now is the Hour" (1947). Her theme song was "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain." She helped write some of the lyrics to that song. She was known for her introduction as "Hello, Everybody", and signed off as "Thanks for Listenin".

There were times her weight was an object of derision given the fact that at age 30 she was 5'10 and weighed 230 lbs. Some of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey fans, who loved her, would utter the statement, "It ain't BEGUN 'til the fat lady sings." She also had some radio programs on NBC and CBS. She was a major star of radio backed by Jack Miller's orchestra. A couple of radio programs that she hosted were "Kate Smith Sings" and "Kate Smith and Her Swanee Music" (1931-32).

Over the years it would be a custom for the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey team to sing her rendition of "God Bless America." They started doing so on December 11, 1969 at the home opener against the Toronto Maple Leaf. They beat Toronto 2-0. On October 11, 1973 she made a surprise visit to the Spectrum and performed the song before the crowd. She again performed at the Spectrum before a capacity crowd of 17,007 before game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on May 19, 1974. Philadelphia clinched it's first two back-to-back Stanley Cups 4-2 beating the Boston Bruins. In 1987 over a year after Kate Smith died, there was a statute of Smith hung at the Spectrum where she had sang for them at the games. The song "God Bless America" is sung during the 7th inning stretch at the New York Yankees home baseball games.

Smith died in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 17, 1986. On October 26, 1982, President Ronald Reagan presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a high honor for a civilian. She was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999. Smith was never married. She was an overweight diabetic woman who was crippled during the latter years of her life. She had went into a diabetic coma and her health deteriorated from then onward for the last several years of her life. In 2010, there was a commemorative stamp in her honor which shows the cover of a CD titled, "Kate Smith: The Songbird of the South."

The first time I recall hearing of Kate Smith for the first time was when I heard on ABC news that she had just passed away. Some of my family members had heard her sing in years past. I'm planning on linking up possibly a couple of YouTube clips of Kate Smith's songs. I will also be featuring some other YouTube patriotic songs as July 4th nears. I have a YouTube clip of one of Kate Smith's songs entitled, "The Ballad of the Green Beret" which will give you bloggers a taste of some of the music of Kate Smith. I enjoy this song and I hope you do as well.