Kate Smith ~ God Bless America, the Ku Klux Klan & Politics

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God Bless America      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, March 24, 1939, God Bless America was recorded by Kate Smith. It is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run-up to World War II in 1938. The later version was recorded by Smith and became her signature song.     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
      

    

      

     

Music critic Jody Rosen says that a 1906 Jewish dialect novelty song, When Mose with His Nose Leads the Band, contains a six-note fragment that is "instantly recognizable as the opening strains of 'God Bless America'". He interprets this as an example of Berlin's "habit of interpolating bits of half-remembered songs into his own numbers." I think that's kind of stretching it but judge for yourself (link  below).          

 

In 1938, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, Berlin, who was Jewish felt it was time to revive it as a "peace song", and it was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith on her radio show. Berlin had made some minor changes; by this time, "to the right" might have been considered a call to the political right, so he substituted "through the night" instead. Woody Guthrie criticized the song, and in 1940 he wrote This Land Is Your Land, originally titled God Blessed America For Me, as a response. Anti-Semitic groups such as the Ku Klux Klan also protested against the song due to its authorship by a Jewish immigrant.       

 

Berlin gave the royalties of the song to The God Bless America Fund for redistribution to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in New York City.         

 

In 1940, God Bless America was the official campaign song for both President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie. At that time, the song represented cultural and religious tolerance (my how times change).      

 

The song was used early in the Civil Rights Movement as well as at labor rallies. During the 1960s counterculture, the song was increasingly used by Christian conservatives in the US to signal their opposition to secular liberalism and to silence dissenters who were speaking in favor of communism or in opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.        

 

During a live television broadcast on the evening of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, following addresses by then House and Senate leaders, Speaker Dennis Hastert (Republican) and Tom Daschle (Democrat), members of the United States Congress broke out into an apparently spontaneous verse of God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.        

 

It has become common for it to be sung at major sport events: the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, American football and the Indianapolis 500.       

 

It has been recorded by Bing Crosby, Connie Francis, Jackie Evancho, LeAnn Rimes, the Violent Femmes (this is a very strange cover) and two versions by Celine Dion. The Firesign Theatre did parodies on two of their albums, Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him in 1968 and How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All in 1969.    

 

And the 2011 film God Bless America, written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, is a dark comedy that satirizes present-day American values.          

 

 

God Bless America lyrics

 

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God bless America, land that I love.
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America, my home sweet home,
God bless America, my home sweet home.  

 

 

     

     

     

Viewfinder links:              

 

Irving Berlin         

Bing Crosby       

Celine Dion       

Woody Guthrie      

Adolf Hitler         

Ku Klux Klan         

Franklin Delano Roosevelt         

Kate Smith         

Violent Femmes        

      
Net links:       

        

        

        

        

        

        
        

        

        

        

        

        

        
        
     
YouTube links:       

        

Collins and Harlan ~ When Mose with His Nose Leads the Band         

Firesign Theater .~        

             How Can You Be in Two Places at Once (complete album) (57 mins.)  

             Waiting for the Electrician (Complete Album) (42 mins.)   

God Bless America ~            

                  Bing Crosby       

                  Celine Dion    

                  Jackie Evancho      

                  Connie Francis      

                  LeAnn Rimes     

                  the Violent Femmes       

        

        
        

        

         
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, March 24, 2026         
        

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20,000 vinyl LPs 400: Michael Gambon ~ The Singing Detective

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Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

film still 

 

Today is the birthday of Irish-English actor, Michael Gambon who was born in 1940, in the Cabra suburb of Dublin. He performed with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. He received four BAFTA Awards for the British film The Singing Detective.        

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP front cover 

 photo of album cover by Styrous®

The Singing Detective is a six-part BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It". The serial was broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1986 on Sunday nights from 16 November to 21 December, with later PBS and cable television showings in the United States.  It won a Peabody Award in 1989 and ranks 20th on the British Film Institute list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, as voted by industry professionals in 2000. It was included in the 1992 Dennis Potter retrospective at the Museum of Television & Radio and became a permanent addition to the museum's collections in New York and Los Angeles.

The plot: Mystery writer Philip E. Marlow is suffering writer's block and is hospitalized because his psoriatic arthropathy, a chronic skin and joint disease, is at an acute stage, forming lesions and sores over his entire body and partially crippling his hands and feet. Dennis Potter suffered from this disease and he wrote with a pen tied to his fist in much the same fashion Marlow does in the last episode. (Although severe, Marlow's condition was intentionally understated compared to Potter's, whose skin would sometimes crack and bleed.) Being a sufferer of this condition, it is one of my favorite films of all time.                As a result of constant pain, a fever caused by the condition and his refusal to take medication, Marlow falls into a fantasy world involving his Chandleresque novel The Singing Detective, an escapist and noir adventure about a detective (also named "Philip Marlow") who sings at a dance hall and takes the jobs refused by "the guys who don't sing". Marlow is "plot-dreaming", trying out various solutions to a working plot in his head, deciding as he goes what plot element works best with what character or situation, interspersed with bits of ideas that occur to him off the top of his head and discarding (with some afterthoughts) parts of his story that no longer work when other changes have been made.     

 

Some members of the cast play several roles. Marlow and his alter ego, the singing detective, are played by Michael Gambon. Patrick Malahide plays three characters—the contemporary Finney, who Marlow thinks is having an affair with his ex-wife Nicola, played by Janet Suzman; the imaginary Binney, a central character in the murder plot; and Raymond, a friend of Marlow's father who has an affair with his mother (Alison Steadman). Steadman plays Marlow's mother and the mysterious "Lili", one of the murder victims. At the end of the serial, Marlow and Nicola appear to have repaired their relationship.         

Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

vinyl LP back cover 

photo of album cover by Styrous®

In Potter's original script, the hospital scenes were to be shot with television (video), the noir scenes with film cameras, and the period material (Marlow's childhood) filmed in black-and-white. All scenes were shot on film, over Potter's objections.         

 

Potter added autobiographical aspects (or, as he put it, deeply "personal" aspects), along with 1940s popular music and the noir style. The result is regarded by some as one of the peaks of 20th-century drama.         

 

 

Dennis Potter  ~ The Singing Detective

vinyl LP back cover details 

photos by Styrous®

 

 

 

  

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP side 1 

 photos by Styrous®

The Singing Detective - vinyl LP side 2 

 photos by Styrous®

   

Tracklist:
       
Side 1:

        

A1 - Max Harris & His Novelty Trio – Peg O' My Heart, written by Bryan*, Fisher*
A2 - Ambrose & His Orchestra – Limehouse Blues, written by Furber*, Braham*
A3 - Anne Shelton – Blues In The Night, written by Arlen, Mercer*
A4 - Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians – Dry Bones, written by Livingston Gearhart
A5 - Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra* – Rockin' In Rhythm, written by Ellington*, Carney*, Mills*
A6 - Lou Preager & His Orchestra – Cruising Down The River, Vocals – Paul Rich, written by Beadle*, Tollerton*
A7 - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Don't Fence Me In, written by Cole Porter
A8 - Dick Haymes – It Might As Well Be Spring, written by Rodgers, Hammerstein*
A9 - The Mills Brothers – Paper Doll, written by J. Black*
A10 - Lale Anderson* – Lili Marlene, written by Leip*, Schultze*, Connor*

       
Side 2:
       
B1 - Sam Browne With The Lew Stone Band* – I Get Along Without You Very Well, written by Carmichael*
B2 - The Ink Spots – Do I Worry?, written by Worth*, Cowan*
B3 - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive, written by Arlen, Mercer*
B4 - The Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt The One You Love, written by Roberts*, Fisher*
B5 - Al Jolson With Matty Malneck's Orchestra* And The Four Hits And A Miss* – After You've Gone, written by Creamer*, Layton*
B6 - Jack Payne & His Orchestra* – It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow, written by Berlin*
B7 - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots – Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall, written by Roberts*, Fisher*
B8 - Al Bowlly With The Ray Noble Orchestra* – The Very Thought Of You, written by Noble*
B9 - Henry Hall & His Orchestra – The Teddy Bears' Picnic, written by Kennedy*, Bratton*
B10 - Vera Lynn With Arthur Young (2) – We'll Meet Again, Organ [Novachord] – Arthur Young (2), written by Charles*, Parker*
        
Companies, etc.
       
    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – BBC Enterprises Ltd.
    Copyright © – BBC Enterprises Ltd.
    Manufactured By – EMI Records
    Distributed By – EMI Records
        
Credits:
       
    Liner Notes – Dennis Potter, Kenith Trodd
    Producer [Album Production] – Bruce Talbot
    Remastered By [Re-mastering Engineer] – Paul Gilham
        
Notes:
       
Track A5: Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra are also credited as "The Jungle Band". Recorded 14th January 1931.
Track B10: credited as "Vera Lynn with Arthur Young at the Novachord".

       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
       
    Barcode: 5011755130213
    Rights Society: MCPS
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 1): REN 608 A-4C-1-1- D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 1): REN 608 B-1U-1-
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 2): REN 608 A-4C-1-1- D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 2): REN 608 B-3C-1-1- 11 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 3): REN 608 A-3C-1-1-1 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 3): REN 608 B-1U-1-2-
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, (?=unreadable char) variant 4): REN 608 A-3C-1-1-? D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, (?=unreadable char) variant 4): REN 608 B-3C-1-1-? D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side A, variant 5): REN 608 A-2C-1-1 D
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped runout side B, variant 5): REN 608 B-1U-1-3 (Unreadable)

 

Various – The Singing Detective (Music From The BBC-TV Serial)
Label: BBC Records And Tapes – REN 608
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Compilation, Mono
Country: UK
Released: 1986
Genre: Jazz, Pop, Stage & Screen
Style: Music Hall, Big Band, Vocal, Easy Listening 

         

Viewfinder links:        

         

Andrews Sisters          

Bing Crosby         

Duke Ellington        

Ella Fitzgerald            

Michael Gambon         

Dick Haymes         

The Ink Spots           

Al Jolson        

Vera Lynn          

The Mills Brothers        

Fred Waring         

        

Net links:        

        

         

        

        

         

        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Max Harris & His Novelty Trio – Peg O' My Heart         

Ambrose & His Orchestra – Limehouse Blues   

Anne Shelton – Blues In The Night        

Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians – Dry Bones       

Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra – Rockin' In Rhythm         

Lou Preager & His Orchestra – Cruising Down The River        

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Don't Fence Me In       

Dick Haymes – It Might As Well Be Spring         

The Mills Brothers – Paper Doll          

Lale Anderson – Lili Marlene        

Sam Browne With The Lew Stone Band – I Get Along Without You Very Well         

The Ink Spots – Do I Worry?       

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive        

The Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt The One You Love           

Al Jolson With Matty Malneck's Orchestra & The Four Hits And A Miss – After You've Gone    

Jack Payne & His Orchestra – It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow         

Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots – Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall         

Al Bowlly With The Ray Noble Orchestra – The Very Thought Of You         

Henry Hall & His Orchestra – The Teddy Bears' Picnic        

Vera Lynn With Arthur Young – We'll Meet Again            

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Sunday, October 19, 2025        
       

 

 

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Kitty Carlisle articles/mentions

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mentions:     

Thanks for the Memory & Bob Hope       

     

     

     

     

     

     

Kitty Carlisle - 1933 

photo by Carl Van Vechten 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

 

 

 

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Music People

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78 RPMs 13: Thanks for the Memory & Bob Hope

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On Tuesday, September 27, 1938, Thanks for the Memory, composed by Ralph Rainger, was heard for the first time on the The Bob Hope Show. That was years before I was born but the tune was a big part of my life because it was Hope's signature song which he employed his entire professional life. And I was a fan of his most of mine.      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the Memory - sheet music

 

 

Other songs Rainger wrote are I Wished on the Moon sung by both Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Holiday's version is slightly faster & bouncier. Love in Bloom (comedian Jack Benny's theme song) was introduced in the film She Loves Me Not by Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle, Faithful Forever Easy Living, June in January, Blue Hawaii. And with Leo Robin on the 1938 Oscar-winning song, Thanks for the Memory, sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.       

 

 

The Big Broadcast of 1938. lobby card  

 

 

    

 

          

         

          

 

Thanks for the Memory - "B" side 

 

 

 

 

Two Sleepy People - "A" side 

 

   

    

   

   

Tracklist:

Side 1:

Two Sleepy People (from film "Thanks For The Memory")

Side 2:

Thanks For The Memory (from film "The Big Broadcast of 1938")

Credits:

Accompanied By – Harry Sosnik & His Orchestra*

Notes:

Barcode and Other Identifiers
        
Bob Hope And Shirley Ross – Two Sleepy People / Thanks For The Memory
Label: Decca – 2219
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1938
Genre: Pop, Stage & Screen
Style: Vocal         

        

        

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

        

Jack Benny            

Kitty Carlisle         

Ella Fitzgerald        

Billie Holiday 

Bob Hope        

Ralph Rainger        

Shirley Ross        

        

        

Net links:        

        

        

        

        

        

        

        

       

YouTube links:        

       

Jack Benny ~ Love in Bloom         

Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle ~ Love in Bloom        

Ella Fitzgerald ~ I Wished on the Moon         

Billie Holiday ~ I Wished on the Moon 

Bob Hope & Shirley Ross ~           

        Two Sleepy People        

        Thanks for the Memory        

        

        

        

        

       

        

        

        

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, February 17, 2021       

       

 

 

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  78 RPMs Archive

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20,000 vinyl LPs 369: Vincent Edwards Sings

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Vincent Edwards  ~ Vince Edwards Sings

vinyl LP front cover 

 cover photographer unknown

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Vincent Edward Zoino, better known as Vincent Edwards, who was born on July 9, 1928, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York. His best claim to fame was as TV's Dr. Ben Casey; he also appeared in many films.        

 

 

Vincent Edwards as Dr. Ben Casey - 1963
 

 

He was originally an athlete, a swimmer and a bodybuilder in the late 1940s and early 1950s and won a scholarship to Ohio State University.

 

 

Vincent Edwards - 40's or 50's 

photographer unknown
 

 

He was discovered by Bing Crosby and his first acting role was the low-budget United Artists comedy Mr. Universe (1951; with Jack Carson and Bert Lahr), with Edwards portraying Tommy Tomkins, an honest wrestler who runs afoul of gangsters.       

 

 

 

 

Harry Landers also was in Mr. Universe and would later appear in the Dr. Ben Casey series with Edwards.    

Harry Landers - 1965

Dr. Ben Casey

 

During his acting career Edwards ventured occasionally into the recording studios and there were a number of singles released in his name. The most important one was never issued, and in 1959 Ray Peterson was credited with the first version of The Wonder of You which became an international hit for him and for Elvis Presley - however, the very first recording was made by Edwards.      

 

Edwards recorded five albums in total but Vince Edwards Sings was the only one which charted and it spent several weeks on the top-20 Billboard LP charts in early 1962.    

 

He was an excellent singer. with a great range and a powerful tenor voice that rang out clear and beautiful.     

 

Vincent Edwards married actress Kathy Kersh in June 1965, but they split soon after the wedding. Their daughter was born following the divorce, and Kersh later married actor Burt Ward, 'Robin' on the ABC TV series Batman.

 

Vincent Edwards  ~ Vince Edwards Sings

vinyl LP back cover 

photo by Styrous®

 

   

Tracklist:
       
Side 1:

        

A1 - I'll Walk Alone, written by Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn

A2 - Don't Worry 'Bout Me, written by Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler

A3 - When I Fall In Love, written by Edward Heyman, Victor Young

A4 - I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), written by Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster

A5 - Try A Little Tenderness, written by Harry Woods (2), Jimmy Campbell*, Reg Connelly*

A6 - How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky), written by Irving Berlin

       
Side 2:
       
B1 - Lonesome Road, written by Gene Austin, Nathaniel Shilkret

B2 - Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All The Time), written by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler

B3 - As Time Goes By, written by Herman Hupfeld

B4 - And Now, written by George Weiss*, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore

B5 - Unchained Melody, written by Alex North, Hy Zaret

B6 - Everybody's Got A Home But Me, written by Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers
       
Companies, etc.
       
    Pressed By – Decca Records Pressing Plant, Gloversville
       
Credits:
       
    Conductor – Charles "Bud" Dant, Dick Jacobs
    Producer – Abby Greshler
       
Notes:
       

       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
        

    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A (stamped), Variant 1): MG 8514 T1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B (stamped), Variant 1): MG 8515 T2
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A (stamped), Variant 2): MG 8514 T5 V 2
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B (stamped), Variant 2): MG 8515 T5 V 3

Vincent Edwards* – Vincent Edwards Sings
Label:    Decca – DL 4311
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1962
Genre: Pop
Style: Vocal

         

Viewfinder links:        

         

Jack Carson                

Bing Crosby        

Vince Edwards         

Bert Lahr           

Elvis Presley        

Burt Ward        

        

Net links:        

        

Brian's Drive-In Theater ~ Vince Edwards         

IMDB Trivia ~ Vince Edwards        

        

YouTube links:        

        

Ben Casey Opening Credits - including Primal metaphysics        

I'll Walk Alone        

        

         

        

        

        

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, July 9, 2024    
       

 

 

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