God
Bless America is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in
1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version was recorded by Kate
Smith, and became her signature song.
Berlin
wrote the song in 1918 while serving the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in
Yaphank, New York, but decided that it did not fit in a revue called Yip
Yip Yaphank, so he set it aside.
In
1938, with the rise of Hitler, Berlin, who was Jewish and a
first-generation European immigrant, 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.
This
Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal
B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a
wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War
II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone.
The
screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942
Broadway musical by Irving Berlin, who also composed the film's 19 songs
and broke screen protocol by singing one of them.
The
movie features a large ensemble cast, including George Murphy, Joan
Leslie, Alan Hale, Sr., Rosemary DeCamp, and Lt. Ronald Reagan, while
both the stage play and film included soldiers of the U.S. Army who were
actors and performers in civilian life.
One
of the film's highlights is Irving Berlin himself singing his song "Oh!
How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning." Berlin's natural singing voice
was so soft that the recording volume had to be increased significantly
in order to record acceptably. George Murphy as Jerry Jones Joan Leslie
as Eileen Dibble George Tobias as Maxie Twardofsky Alan Hale, Sr. as
Sgt. McGee Kate Smith as Herself Ronald Reagan as Cpl. Johnny Jones Jack
Young as Franklin D. Roosevelt
George
Murphy and Ronald Reagan would run for public office in California.
George Murphy served one term, (1965--1971) in the U.S. Senate. Ronald
Reagan served two terms as Governor of California (1967--1975) and then
President of the United States (1981--1989), with both contributing to
each other's Republican campaigns. Reagan would warmly and jokingly
refer to Murphy, who preceded him into politics by a couple of years, as
"my John the Baptist."
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