Taking You Back In Time
In early 1940, Kate Smith, a fiercely patriotic American, and the biggest star on radio, was deeply worried about her country.
She asked Irving Berlin if he could give her a song that would re-ignite the spirit of American patriotism and faith. He said he had a song that he had written in 1917, The song was used in the musical "Yip Yip Yaphank", which was an amateur show in which the players were all servicemen. It ran briefly at the Yaphank army boot camp on Long Island in 1917. Following that, Berlin put it in a drawer.
Decades later, he pulled it out of that drawer for Kate Smith.
He said she could have it.
She sat at the piano & played it and realized how good it was. She called Mr. Berlin and told him that she couldn’t take this from him for nothing. So, they agreed that any money that would be made off the song would be donated to the Boy Scouts of America.