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"A Merry American Christmas” by Kate Smith, 1941 Columbia 36443 This record was released in 1941 and recorded before the US entered World War 2. It is a fitting song for what transpired on December 7, 1941, to help soldiers and their families as the war started and progressed. Years of horror were to come but I am sure this song by a very popular singer of her day helped many folks through the holiday seasons of the war. Kate Smith was one of my mother’s favorite singers as she grew up. They were about the same age and my...

Just because, a great rendition!God Bless America Sung by Kate Smith - This is the Army 1943 HDHer prelude:"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"

If two rebuilding teams play a baseball game and no one was there to watch, did the game actually happen? The Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles put that to the test with a doubleheader Wednesday. If Game 1 was any indication, fans didn’t seem interested to watch two noncompetitive clubs go at it.

He might be standing, but he’s having hard time singing. President Trump appeared to forget the lyrics to “God Bless America” during a White House event Tuesday meant to prove how patriotic he is. Trump was caught on video singing every other word to the national hymn as a military chorus boomed behind him. On three occasions, Trump gave up singing all together and let the uniform-clad men around him do the vocalizing. A White House spokesman did not return a request for comment from the Daily News. The last-minute “Celebration of America” event was put together after Trump cancelled...

Wildwood’s American Legion post has joined the Jersey Shore town’s mayor in offering to provide a new home for the Kate Smith statue taken down by the Philadelphia Flyers last weekend amid concerns over racist lyrics in songs she recorded decades ago. “Since the removal of the statue, tens of thousands of comments have been posted to social media disagreeing with the decision of the Philadelphia Flyers,” the petition from American Legion Post 184 reads. “Veterans in Wildwood support the mayor’s plea to move the statue and have created this petition to show the statue’s owners just how much we...

Yankees fans are calling for a boycott in response to the team’s banning of Kate Smith’s version of God Bless America. The team ditched the late singer’s rendition after a they learned Smith had also sung some controversial songs about blacks back in the 1930s. According to the New York Post Yankees fans have been bombarding social media with a multitude of criticism for the team’s decision to ban the singer from Yankee Stadium. For instance, one fan wrote, “boycotting the Yankees until Kate Smith is back, otherwise I am kissing a half century of loyalty goodbye.” Die-hard Yankees fan...

Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” has been scrapped at Yankee Stadium, but Bronx Bomber fans are going to bat for her over allegations of racism. Smith’s niece, Suzy Andron, told The Post she is “honored” by the groundswell of support for the late singer among fans and media. Smith’s niece, Suzy Andron, told The Post she is “honored” by the groundswell of support for the late singer among fans and media. “Most are solidly behind the positive notion that this is a misunderstanding by a few people who took two or three of her songs [out of 3,000...

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania school principal will no longer say "God bless America" after leading students in the Pledge of Allegiance. Peter Brigg's practice at Sabold Elementary School in Springfield led at least one parent to complain to the Freedom for Religion Foundation, whose attorney contacted the district. The group claimed it violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of government sponsoring religious messages. The district decided to cease the practice after consulting with its lawyer. In a statement , the district says it is not prohibiting students from reciting "God bless America" after the pledge on their own.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was pleased to face a New York Yankees roster missing Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and a bunch of other injured Bronx Bombers. Ketel Marte homered, Merrill Kelly won his first start against the Yankees and Arizona beat New York 3-2 Wednesday to sweep a two-game series. New York dropped to 0-5 this year against teams that currently have winning records, and is 17-8 against teams below .500. The Yankees had won nine of 10 heading into the series against the Diamondbacks but wound up heading home 6-3 on their western swing. ''How...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Kate Smith. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle.Kate Smith was an American singer who extolled the virtues of our country, including all its people.All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares on the bottom half (answer grid)...

Kate Smith, famous for “God Bless America,” has become the latest American to be jammed down the memory hole. The singer, who died in 1986 at age 79, sang the semi-national anthem, most famously at baseball games, especially Yankee Stadium, which began regularly playing the recording during the seventh-inning stretch after 9/11. It invariably elicited tears and a sense of unified purpose. But upon learning that Ms. Smith sang a song called “Pickaninny Heaven” and “That’s Why Darkies Were Born” in the early 1930s, the Yankees announced an end to the tradition, as did the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, which...

For decades belt-it-out popular singer Kate Smith (shown on right) was considered the embodiment of the uniquely American cultural phenomenon that combines wholesome entertainment with patriotism and love of country. Smith’s rendition of Irving Berlin’s classic “God Bless America,” which she first recorded in 1939, turned the song into a patriotic anthem that has inspired generations of Americans. But Smith, who enjoyed a 50-year career and the esteem of fans all over the world before her death in 1986, has become the latest target of PC gumshoes ever on the lookout for evidence that individuals either past and present have...

The long arm of the PC police has reached back to the ’30s and arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced the late singer Kate Smith. Smith, who popularized Irving Berlin’s song “God Bless America” and was a female pioneer in early television, recorded songs that today in hindsight are viewed as racist. An old friend, Harry Covert, writes to recall the early days of black-and-white TV when he (and I) watched Smith’s television program. Covert remembers one show interrupted by a news bulletin announcing the attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman by militant Puerto Rican activists. He notes that today’s Puerto Ricans...

As singers, Kate Smith and Paul Robeson have something in common. They each recorded the song, “That’s Why Darkies Were Born.” At NJ.com, Paul Mulshine accurately describes the song as “written from a standpoint of sympathy for Southern blacks,” which helps explains why Robeson, a black communist, sang the song as well. To read the lyrics is to understand how perverse is an out-of-nowhere attack on the beloved Ms. Smith. “Someone had to fight the Devil/ Shout about Gabriel’s Horn/ Someone had to stoke the train/ That would bring God’s children to green pastures/ That’s why darkies were born.” Substitute...

We’ve clearly got it good as a nation. Economic growth is robust. Joblessness has never been lower. The stock market is roaring. We live in relative peace. There’s very little to complain about these days. Which is why we had to travel back to the 1930s to find a problem. Apparently, it’s Kate Smith. I moved to Philadelphia nearly a decade ago and attended my first Flyers game shortly after. The sold-out crowd was fired up. It was a great atmosphere. Then, the pre-game festivities began. The overhead scoreboard, center-ice played a grainy video of what appeared to me to...

The New York Yankees Major League Baseball franchise took Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless America" off its seventh-inning stretch playlist when its managers learned of the singer's "history" of racism. Evidently, as reported in the New York Daily News, Kate Smith recorded a song and video in 1939 with blatant racist content. In today's political climate in America, just as happened with Kate Smith and the N.Y. Yankees organization, if anyone or anything's past can be presumed in any way as racist, there is usually immediate condemnation and some sort of action taken to make things right for the...

It was announced this week that both the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Flyers would stop using their traditional recorded version of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” during their games. This happened after it surfaced that Smith had performed songs now considered racist during during her hey day in the 1930s. The Flyers, with whom Smith is more closely aligned as the good luck charm for their 1974 Stanley Cup run, even removed a statue of her from the Philadelphia sports complex. In a brilliant monologue, sports commentator Jason Whitlock broke down the absurdity of these moves. The...

WILDWOOD, N.J. (CBS) – While the Philadelphia Flyers will stop playing Kate Smith’s “God Bless America” at games following racism allegations, one Jersey Shore mayor said Monday he will continue to play her song on the boardwalk. Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano told The Dom Giordano Program on WPHT 1210 that Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” will continue to be played on the boardwalk every morning. “I’m just a small-town mayor and I look at what’s happening to the world and it’s amazing how everyone wants to rewrite history, no one wants to allow history to be an educator to...

CNN)A year after her 1986 death, the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers erected a statue to honor renowned singer Kate Smith, whose rendition of "God Bless America" was played during home games for decades, including the 2018-2019 season. But on Sunday the Flyers announced they had removed the statue, saying the team had discovered some of her songs contained racist lyrics and sentiments that were "incompatible" with the organization's values.

First she was covered up. Now, apparently she is gone. The bronze statue of the late singer Kate Smith has apparently been removed from outside Xfinity Live! as the Flyers looked into racist lyrics she sang. Talk radio host Tony Bruno tweeted around 9:30 this morning that the statue was gone and posted video.