Note: While the purpose of this newsletter is health, I feel that the health of our country is very important as well. If our country is sick it makes it more difficult for us to deal with our own health issues. The story and link below deal with a time in our nation’s history that we were physically sick, but Spiritually healthy. It’s a look at what made our country great and a lesson we can all learn from. JMHO - JR
The link below will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of
"GOD BLESS AMERICA."
But before you watch, you should also know the story 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 in size, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "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 very 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 (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 Kate Smith 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.
Click
HERE to view the video - it’s worth 5 minutes of your time!
