Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American singer (born in
Washington, D.C.), best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". She was one of America's
most beloved entertainers, with a radio, TV and recording career that spanned five decades,
and which reached its most-remembered zenith in the 1940s.
Her musical career began in earnest when she was discovered in 1930 by Columbia
Records vice president Ted Collins, who became her longtime partner and manager and who put her on the radio in 1931. She
sang the controversial top twenty song of 1931, "That's Why Darkies Were Born". She starred in the 1932 movie Hello Everybody!, with
co-stars Randolph Scott and Sally Blane, and in
1943 she sang "God Bless America" in the wartime picture This
is the Army. Irving Berlin had written the song in 1918, and it is considered
"the second National Anthem" of the United States. Its popularity and constant airplay
led Woody Guthrie to pen the original version of "This Land Is Your Land" in protest at the Berlin tune's unquestioning complacency.
Kate began making records in 1926; among her biggest hits were "River, Stay 'Way From My Door" (1931), "The Woodpecker Song" (1940), "The White Cliffs of Dover" (1941), "Rose O'Day" (1941),
"I Don't Want to Walk Without You" (1942), "There Goes That Song Again" (1944), "Seems Like Old
Times" (1946), and "Now Is the Hour" (1947). Her theme song was "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain", the lyrics of which she helped write. She
greeted audiences with "Hello, everybody!" and signed off with "Thanks for listenin'."
Radio
Her oversized figure made her an occasional object of derision from fellow performers and managers, however, in her later
career, some Philadelphia Flyers hockey fans (see Kate Smith statue below) lovingly said about her performances prior to
games, "it ain't BEGUN 'til the fat lady sings!" Smith, who weighed 235 pounds at the age of 30 [1] was unfazed, and titled her 1938 autobiography Living in a Great Big Way.
She credited Ted Collins, who also gave her the break into the radio business, with helping her
overcome her self-consciousness, writing, "Ted Collins was the first man who regarded me as a singer, and didn't even seem to
notice that I was a big girl," [2] She noted, "I'm big, and
I sing, and boy, when I sing, I sing all over!" [3]
Despite the occasional ridicule, Smith was a major star of radio, usually backed by Jack Miller's Orchestra. She began in 1931
with her twice-a-week NBC series, Kate Smith Sings (which quickly expanded to six shows a week), followed by a series of
shows for CBS: Kate Smith and Her Swanee Music (1931-33), sponsored by La Palina Cigars; The Kate Smith Matinee
(1934–35); The Kate Smith New Star Revue (1934–35); Kate Smith's Coffee Time (1935–36), sponsored by A&P; and
The Kate Smith A&P Bandwagon (1936–37).
For eight years (1937–45), The Kate Smith Hour was a leading radio variety show, offering comedy, music and drama with
appearances by top personalities of films and theater. The nationwide audience was introduced to comedy by the show's resident
comics, Abbott and Costello and Henny
Youngman, while a series of sketches led to The Aldrich Family as a
spin-off in 1940. She continued into the 1950s on the Mutual Broadcasting
System, CBS, ABC, and NBC, doing both music and talk shows.
Kate Smith statue
An unusual part of her career began on December 11, 1969,
when the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team played her rendition of "God Bless America"
before the game. Philadelphia beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3. The team would
begin to play the song before home games every once in a while, and the perception developed that the team was more successful on
these occasions, so the tradition grew.
On October 11, 1973, she made a surprise appearance at the
Flyers' home opener to perform the song in person prior to another game against the Toronto
Maple Leafs, and received a tremendous reception. The Flyers won that game by a 2-0 score.
She again performed the song at the Spectrum in front of a capacity crowd of 17,007
excited fans before Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on May
19, 1974, at which the Flyers clinched their first of two back-to-back Stanley Cups, winning that playoff series against the Boston Bruins 4
games to 2, with Bernie Parent shutting the Bruins out 1-0 in that game. A clip of that
1974 performance may be viewed at this link: [1].
Smith also performed live at these Flyers home games: May 13, 1975, where the Flyers beat the New York Islanders by a score of 4-1 to
win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semi-finals, and on May 16, 1976,
before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals where the Flyers lost to the Montreal
Canadiens by a score of 5-3 and were swept by the Canadiens in that
series.
Although viewed as a good luck charm to the team, there were a few losses along the way. The Flyers' record when "God Bless
America" was either played or sung in person was 69 wins, 19 losses, and 3 ties. Regardless of wins and losses, Ms. Smith and her
song remain a special part of Flyers' history. In 1987, the team erected a statue of Smith outside their arena at the time, the
Spectrum, in her memory. The Flyers will still show a video of her singing "God Bless
America," in lieu of "The Star Spangled Banner", for good luck before important
games. Often, the video of her performance is accompanied by Lauren Hart, daughter of the late
Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster, Gene Hart,
longtime voice of the Flyers.
In 1982, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
Ronald Reagan.
Her rendition of God Bless America is also played during the 7th inning stretch of most New
York Yankees home games.
Proceeds or money from her performances of God Bless America are donated to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.
Death
Kate Smith, who never married, died of diabetes in 1986 at age 79 in Raleigh, North
Carolina, several years after converting to Roman Catholicism. She is
interred in a private mausoleum at Saint Agnes Cemetery in Lake Placid, Essex County, New York. In 1999, she was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of
Fame.
Listen to
References
- ^ Current Biography 1940, pp 745-7
- ^ quoted by Marsha Francis Cassidy, What Women Watched: Daytime Television
in the 1950s, p52-53 (U. of Texas Press, 2005) Smith added, p52
- ^ Cassidy, p.51
External links
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