Smith, Kate (1907-1986)

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Smith, Kate (1907-1986)

Long known as the "first lady of radio," Kate Smith starred on CBS radio from 1931-1947, always opening with her theme song, "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain." The lyrics of this song were adapted from a poem Kate had written as a teenager to celebrate her native Shenandoah Mountain area. She was also associated in the public mind with Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," which she introduced on Armistice Day in 1938. Berlin was so pleased with her treatment of the song that he granted her exclusive rights to sing it on radio in the late 1930s. Moving to television in later years, Smith's popularity continued, leading a pop music critic to write: "For at least five decades, Kate Smith ranked close to apple pie, baseball, and the Statue of Liberty among America's best loved and most instantly recognized symbols."

Smith became a household name from coast to coast within a month of her radio show's debut on her 22nd birthday, May 1, 1931. The long-running show, originally called "The A&P Bandwagon," gave the first radio appearance to such show-business luminaries as Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Bert Lahr, and Mary Boland. Comedians on their way to the top, including Abbott and Costello and Henny Youngman, were also first brought to national attention on her show. The great success of the new show caused NBC to move its popular Amos 'n' Andy comedy program to another time slot.

Smith's homey, small-town image flowed naturally out of her upbringing. Her birthplace was the small town of Greenville, Virginia, and she was originally billed on radio as "The Songbird of the South." As a child her singing talents were evident as she began early to sing in church services. During World War I, eight-year old Kate sang at Liberty Loan rallies, where she was introduced to President Woodrow Wilson.

After the war Smith entered amateur contests in the Washington, DC, area and aspired to a career behind the footlights. Her family, fearing that her increasing girth would make her the target of taunts in a theatrical career, insisted that she study nursing. She found that she was unhappy as a nursing student, however, and 16-year-old Kate tried out some song routines in Washington vaudeville houses and then headed for New York City. While waiting her turn in an amateur contest, she saw a young dancer bring down the house doing the Charleston and became convinced that despite her bulk she could do the vigorous, hip-wiggling dance herself. She worked it into her closing number and won a standing ovation. The show's headliner, Broadway star Eddie Dowling, hired her for a small part in a new musical, Honeymoon Lane, singing "Half a Moon" and dancing the Charleston. The New York Times review read: " Honeymoon Lane is Colorful & Lavish; Kate Smith, 250-pound Blues Singer, a Hit."

Several Broadway shows followed. Made up in blackface, she sang "Hallelujah" in Vincent Youman's Hit the Deck (1927). In George White's Flying High (1930) she played star Bert Lahr's mail-order bride and suffered his relentless jibes about her size. Every performance she heard him say, "When she sits down, it's like a dirigible coming in for a landing." After the show closed, she made her radio debut on the Rudy Vallee variety show, where she attracted the attention of Columbia Records executive Ted Collins, who offered her a recording contract and became her personal manager. Collins got Kate 11 weeks at the vaudeville pinnacle, New York's Palace, as well as a contract with CBS for a 15-minute network radio show four nights a week, and the show became an instant success that was to grow in popularity for the next 16 years. By 1933, during the Great Depression, Kate was making $3,000 a week, the highest salary of any woman in radio.

During the years of World War II, Kate traveled over a half-million miles to entertain service men and women, and she sold more than $600 million in war bonds. Her recording of "God Bless America" sold thousands of copies and, following the lead of Irving Berlin, she gave all her royalties to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.

Smith moved to television in 1950, hosting a daytime variety show mainly for housewives. When her popularity lessened in the 1960s, Ted Collins, noting that Judy Garland's career had been rekindled with a famous concert, arranged for Kate to appear at Carnegie Hall in 1963. From this came a new RCA recording contract and numerous guest appearances on television. When Ted Collins died the following year, Kate stopped performing. Her career had another rebirth several years later when the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team discovered that they always won when Kate's record of "God Bless America" preceded the game. The team made her the official team sweetheart, and she was invited for guest appearances on shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin, and the Smothers Brothers.

In the mid-1970s Kate began a major national tour, only to have it interrupted in Lincoln, Nebraska, by an illness that caused the remainder of the tour to be canceled. Severe diabetes made her a virtual recluse for the next ten years. In 1982 she was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom by president Ronald Reagan. George T. Simon, former Metronome editor, observed, "From 1931 onward, Kate Smith did indeed seem to personify the country—idealistic, generous, home-spun, sentimental, emotional, and proud."

—Benjamin Griffith