Fwd: Origin of "God Bless America"

Subject: FW: Origin of "God Bless America"

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Read below and click on the link for a fascinating and stirring history of God Bless America, originally tossed out of the song list for Yip Yip Yahank 27 years earlier.  And keep an eye out for a young Ronald Reagan and, for you who remember, actor George Murphy.  I think you’ll be as fascinated as we were.

> The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public 
singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA".  But before you watch it, you should 
also know the story behind the first public showing of the 
song.
>
>  The  time was 1940. America was still in a terrible
economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were 
afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for 
most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when radio shows 
were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, 
listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era 
was bigger than Kate Smith.
>
> Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and  the popular phrase still used today
is in deference to her, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings". Kate Smith
might not have made it big in the age  of TV, but with her voice coming
over the radio, she was the biggest star  of her time.

Kate was also  patriotic.  It hurt her to see
Americans so depressed and afraid of  what the next day would bring. She
had hope for America, and faith in her  fellow Americans. She wanted to do
something to cheer them up, so she went  to the famous American
song-writer, Irving  Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked
him to write a song  that would make Americans feel good again about their
country.  When  she described what she was looking for, he said he had
just the song for  her.
>
> He  went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never  published, 22
years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she  worked on it with
her studio orchestra.  She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song
would be  received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any
profits  from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of
America.  Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars
in  royalties from this song.
>
> Thisvideo starts out with Kate Smith coming into  the radio studio with the
orchestra and an audience. She introduces the  new song for the very first
time, and starts singing. After the first  couple verses, with her voice in
the background still singing, scenes are  shown from the 1940 movie,
"You're In The Army Now."  At the 4:20  mark of the video you see a
young actor in the movie, sitting in an  office, reading a paper; it's
Ronald Reagan.
>
> To  this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic
feelings and pride in our  country.  Back in 1940, when Kate
Smith  went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow
Americans, I  doubt whether she realized just how successful the results
would be for  her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and
worry..... and for  many generations of Americans to follow.  Now that
you know the story  of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it and treasure it
even more. 
>
> Many  people don't know there's a lead in to the
song since it usually starts  with "God Bless America....."
So here's the entire song as originally 
sung.

Click  here <http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=TnQDW-NMaRs#%21>