Smith, Kate (actually, Kathryn Elizabeth)

Smith, Kate (actually, Kathryn Elizabeth ), American singer and radio personality; b. Greenville, Va., May 1, 1907; d. Raleigh, N. C, June 17, 1986. Smith had her greatest impact as a popular radio host and performer in the 1930s and 1940s, though she also appeared on Broadway, in films, on records, in personal appearances, and on television in a career lasting half a century. She had a wholesome image and was closely identified with the patriotic anthem “God Bless America,” which she introduced.

Smith was the daughter of William and Charlotte Hanby Smith; her father owned a news dealership. She was raised in Washington, D.C., and early on showed talent as a singer and dancer, though her parents tried to steer her toward a career in nursing and she did begin training as a nurse after graduating from high school in 1925. But after a year she landed a job in vaudeville locally and was seen by comic actor Eddie Dowling, who cast her as Tiny Little (a humorous reference to her large size) in his musical Honeymoon Lane (N.Y., Sept. 20, 1926). It ran 353 performances, and while it was still running Smith began recording for Columbia Records, scoring her first hit with “One Sweet Letter from You” (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Lew Brown and Sidney Clare) in July 1927.

Smith performed in a touring version of the Vincent Youmans musical Hit the Deck in 1929 and returned to N.Y. to star in the De Sylva Brown Henderson show Flying High (N.Y., March 3, 1930) with Bert Lahr. Enduring Lahr’s jokes about her weight almost drove her out of show business, but she met Columbia Records executive Joseph Martin (Ted) Collins, who became her manager and directed her career toward radio.

Smith first hosted her own network radio series in the spring of 1931 and continued with various programs for the next 20 years. She returned to recording for Columbia in August 1931 and scored a best-selling record with “When the Moon Comes over the Mountain” (music and lyrics by Howard Johnson, Harry Woods, and Kate Smith) in October; it became her radio theme song. She had another best-seller with “River, Stay ’Way from My Door” (music by Harry Woods, lyrics by Mort Dixon) in January 1932. Accompanying her on the record were Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians.

Smith’s enormous popularity as a radio performer brought her to film for a guest role in Paramount’s The Big Broadcast, released in October 1932. Paramount signed her and starred her in Hello, Everybody, released in January 1933, but the film failed and she returned to radio. On Armistice (now Veterans) Day, 1938, she introduced “God Bless America” (music and lyrics by Irving Berlin) on her radio show. She also recorded it for RCA Victor and scored a Top Ten hit in August 1940. With the U.S. entry into World War II in December 1941 she became a national symbol of patriotism. Her record coupling “Rose O’Day (The Filla-Ga-Dusha Song)” (music and lyrics by Charles Tobias and Al Lewis) and the war-themed “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover” (music by Walter Kent, lyrics by Nat Burton) was a Top Ten hit in February 1942 and sold a million copies. In July 1943 she re-created her introduction of “God Bless America” in the film This Is the Army. Her last Top Ten hit came in January 1945 with “Don’t Fence Me In” (music and lyrics by Cole Porter), but she continued to reach the pop charts through March 1948, scoring her final hit with “Now Is the Hour” (music and lyrics by Maewa Kaihan, Clement Scott, and Dorothy Stewart).

While continuing two radio series, Kate Smith Callsand Kate Smith Speaks, Smith launched a weekday afternoon television series on Sept. 25, 1950, The Kate Smith Hour. The show ran for four years, through June 18, 1954. On Sept. 19, 1951, it was joined by the weekly variety program The Kate Smith Evening Hour, which ran one season, through June 11, 1952. She was less active after the mid-1950s but returned to radio with a program in 1958–59 and to television with a program that ran from Jan. 25 to July 18, 1960; both were called The Kate Smith Show.

Smith launched a comeback with a performance at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 2, 1963, which was recorded for an album that reached the charts in December. She also charted with the LPs The Sweetest Sounds (1964), How Great Thou Art (a 1965 Grammy nominee for Best Gospel Recording), The Kate Smith Anniversary Album (1966), and Kate Smith Today (1966). She remained active until the mid-1970s, when her health forced her to retire. She died of heart failure at 79 in 1986.

Discography

Kate Smith at Carnegie Hall (1963); The Sweetest Sounds (1964); The Kate Smith Christmas Album (1966); How Great Thou Art (1966); Kate Smith Today (1966).

Writings

Living in a Great Big Way (1938); The K. S. Company’s Coming Cookbook (1958); Upon My Lips a Song (N.Y., 1960).

Bibliography

R. Hayes, K. S.: A Biography, with Discography, Filmography and List of Stage Appearances (Jefferson, N.C., 1995); M. Pitts, K. S.: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Conn., 1988).

—William Ruhlmann