An Armistice Day Story... a little late, but who cares? You won't, after reading this!
In 1918, during World War I, Israel Baline, a Jewish immigrant from
Russia served in the US Army stationed at Camp Upton near Yaphank on
New York's Long Island. Baline, a songwriter, staged a musical revue,
Yip, Yip, Yaphank which was billed as a military mess cooked up by
the boys of Camp Upton. He cut one of the songs he had written for
the show because he did not think that it was appropriate for the
scene in which it was to be sung. The sheet music lay neglected in his songwriter's trunk for twenty years.
In 1938, almost a year before Hitler's troops invaded Poland
precipitating World War II, Baline was asked to write a new patriotic
song for an Armistice Day radio broadcast. He tried but was unhappy
with all his efforts. Then he remembered the song he had written in
1918. It was sung on the November 10, 1938 broadcast and became an
immediate hit. The following year, all of the royalties were assigned
to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. Those organizations
continue to receive these proceeds. He gave up the royalties because
he did not want to capitalize on this expression of gratitude that he,
as an immigrant, felt for the United States.
The songwriter: Irving Berlin
The singer: Kate Smith
The song: God Bless America
z
20 comments:
Z, I was a Boy Scout for a full 7 years from 11 until 18. As an adult, when my boys joined, I ended up being an adult leader in various capacities of both the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts----for 16 years! In all that time, I never heard this story. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Wow, thanks for sharing that with us Z.
Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan -- two of my favorite composers of patriotic songs! They composed singable and hummable tunes, simple enough for children to learn as well.
You Betcha!
Thanks for sharing. Call me an old fogey, but I think Kate's version is the best. I don't like the embellishments everyone feels the need to make nowadays.
Z, this is a cool story, I didn't know this. Thanks.
You may be right though, there aren't many immigrants like this around anymore. The theme song now is "I've got those working hard and not paying taxes to pay for the services I use blues."
wonderful story
What a great story. I had heard another one not too long ago that stated that a music company was trying to prevent the kids in a Boy Scout camp from singing "Happy Birthday" because someone still owned the copyrights and was not being paid the royalties. Knowing this story, perhaps the Scouts should have counter-sued any public school or group that might have occassion to sing G_d Bless America.
I was going to say basically the same thing Shoprat said, but he beat me to it. We do have many immigrants like that now, but we can't hear them because only the ones here illegally ever make the news!
Thanks, everybody..
Shoprat and Gayle are probably right. I, too, know terrific Mexicans, El Salvadorans, Guatemalans, who've come LEGALLY and are wonderful patriotic Americans now...also, I know some Cubans like that...all Conservatives, of course, every single one of them. The Cubans especially remember what it was like to live under socialism. Only silly soft Americans don't get that.
I'm not sure any recent immigrant's done quite what Berlin's done for American music and, especially, writing GOD BLESS AMERICA, but I KNOW there are many who DO love America, who DO think ENGLISH ought to be her language, who do support us in every way...and, yes, as shoprat and Gayle suggest, it's only the bad that get the news.
You know, about six months ago, I shared with TMW and Elmer's Brother, two good friends, that there's too much negativity in the blogs on both sides, and I thought I'd dedicate mine to doing only positive stories.
There weren't many. I know a blog that does that and I haven't even looked into it to know it's still there or not!
Maybe we all ought to try that...RECENT immigrants who've done great things in America, etc etc..why not?
How about Black families who've contributed beautifully to America..they HAVE, we all know that. But the Black family is always maligned because so many of their kids get into trouble...
That's really not fair to America...we need to emphasize the GOOD.
I'm of Armenian descent and I was once told by a cop that "we get NO Armenians in our jails here in LA..NONE" Was I proud! About 7 years ago, another cop told me "We're half full in our jails of Armenian recent immigrant kids now...they come here and join gangs"
Guys...I was HUMILIATED.
I KNOW what it feels like to be discriminated against, I know what it feels like to be humiliated over something I HAVE NO CONTROL over, and just because I share roots with these people (tho I really don't..it's the Russian Armenians who are in trouble, not those who, like mine, came from having lived in and escaped Turkey during the genocides...Russian Armenian kids have grown up learning about Black Market and cheating people, so a lot of this criminality here stems from that, is my belief...see how defensive I AM!!? tho I believe i'm correct in this!)...
YOU SEE MY POINT? HOW DO YOU THINK BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES FEEL WHEN THEY SEE PROBLEM KIDS EVERY SINGLE DAY..HIP HOP, GANGSTA RAP...KIDS IN TROUBLE...AND A LOT OF THEIR KIDS ARE NOT LIKE THAT!!
let's try it...LET'S TRY TO HIGHLIGHT GOOD THINGS...God knows we'll need it during obama's reign.
Wow. That's impressive!
Z,
Neat story. I'll use it in class sometime as the kids love stories like this. My greatgrandmother came to America in 1885 at the age of 16. She lied and said she was 18. She spoke only German and met another German immigrant, married and had children who were proud Americans. My grandfather was bitterly disappointed to be turned down for WWI for a heart condition that killed him at 48. His brother was in the Navy in WWI and fought bravely for his country. He was valuable as a German speaker and intercepted messages. Many immigrants share the story. They came here legally and became proud Americans. That's the usual story. Immigrant has only now become a pejorative term. Shameful.
Very fascinating. thanks for the great history lesson. Its a great heartfelt song.
I met a Ukrainian couple on a cross country plane trip to NYC once. They had been prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. At the end of the war both the Americans and Russians had come to get these prisoners. Ther Russians were intent on killing them, the Americans on freeing them.
The Americans won out and this couple though very young managed to get sponsored to the US.
They learned the language while taking jobs as fruit pickers etc. They went to college. He got a degree in civil engineering; built bridges etc in NY. She earned a degree in Biology and went on to work for a Nobel Prize winning doctor. Both of them loved this country.
During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine he was asked to be an election monitor.
It was so cool to talk to them on the plane. They were wonderful wonderful people.
Z that was such a WONDERFUL story! My paternal grandparents were Ukranian Jewish immigrants who NEVER let me forget what a wonderful country this is. My uncles served in WWII, Korea (my dad) and Vietnam. They always told me that THIS is the land of opportunity and it deserves to be defended.
Morgan
ANYONE who comes to America LOVING this country is welcome, right?
HUGE, ENORMOUS difference than what's happening now.
Morgan, my grandparents were ALL immigrants, too...learned the language, learned the CULTURE, and were so proud to raise their children and grandchildren here.
I salute your grandparents, too......THOSE were the days, huh?
Thanks Z. Our grandparents WERE from a different time for sure. Most of them came from serious deprivation and sometimes the horror of the old world. As the decendant of Armenians you would know how to relate to pogroms. It's up to us to relate the stories of our ancestors.
Morgan
Morgan, msnbc is doing a poll of whether our genocide should be officially acknowledged by America (Dole's tried every year of his senate term but no go)
last night, the poll was 79% NO. Imagine?
I was thinking of blogging it but was afraid who'd tell me they don't agree, either! Honestly.
Unfortunately the Armenian genocide hasn't been recognized because they've lacked a country to speak of for the longest time. Now, if Armenia was a military POWER that we could count on against Russia or Iran, we'd recognize the genocide in a heartbeat. We NEED Turkey as a bulwark against the Arab crazies, and so the reasoning goes. Ultimately this is all about Realpolitic.
I think the whole argument is immoral and inexcusable. Hopefully soon this will change.
Morgan
Thanks, Morgan.
I'm not militant about anything Armenian, but this bugs me because the Turks are getting SO away with hellacious crimes against humanity.
I call ours, the "low tech holocaust"..sabers instead of ovens.
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