# Any Kate Smith Fans Here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652 "2010-02-27T16:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/1 "2010-02-27T16:42:48Z")
Besides those Philadelphia Flyers that is 🙂 Yesterday I had a temp job for one day in an office putting in data and I was allowed to listen to music, so I brought in my [Kate Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Smith) CDs and I must admit I had to laugh quite a bit at how much good press Miss Smith was getting. All these young people heard her and were saying “Wow is that lady good.” “Man, who is that? She can sure sing.” Now Smith is before my time, but I love music from the 30s and 40s so of course Kate Smith goes in there. I’m used to people being blown back by Jo Stafford, (My favourite) but it seems funny to me just how many people don’t know Kate Smith. I can see why they don’t, she’s so “a long time ago,” but I was just wondering if there are any Kate Smith fans here For those who don’t know her two big songs are _[When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onK4RAhKnQ0)_ and _[God Bless America](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8QksTKRYS0)_ Here’s a pretty cool clip of [Cher, Kate Smith and Tina Turner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtV3lx4eT5w), what a combo huh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/2 "2010-02-27T19:34:27Z")
I am not a fan, but I recall seeing her guest on many a TV show back in the day. As a result, I don’t think anybody else can touch _God Bless America_. That is definitely her song. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/3 "2010-02-27T22:20:40Z")
In Cape May, New Jersey, they have a flag-lowering ceremony each evening run by the local Kiwanis, and they play her version of “God Bless America” during it. She ain’t afraid to give it her all. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/4 "2010-02-27T22:23:57Z")
It’s sad that so many people today don’t know about Kate Smith. She was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. for a couple of decades. I guess everyone is forgotten eventually. . . Singing styles have changed so much since Kate Smith’s heyday. Singers today have so little restraint, with everything at maximum volume and absurd amounts of melisma. How would “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain” sound if Mariah Carey sang it? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/5 "2010-02-28T00:05:33Z")
> [@What's your earliest TV memory?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-earliest-tv-memory/530505/70): > > Our first set was a Zenith with a round screen. I think TV was transmitted in two different aspect ratios back then, because there was a little switch on the front of the TV that made the image stretch out horizontally. > > One of the programs at that time was the Kate Smith Show. As soon as the show came on, we always moved that switch to make her look even fatter than she already was. > > Kids. :rolleyes: From [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=553773). We kids didn’t realize what a great singer she was; to us, she was just a fat lady. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/6 "2010-02-28T00:08:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > From [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=553773). We kids didn’t realize what a great singer she was … She was great. That’s all there is to it. I guess I was lucky, in that I was exposed to all sorts of music, not just what was “cool” in my time. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/7 "2010-02-28T01:24:48Z")
I was never a fan, I found her bland and sentimental. But there’s no denying she had a set of pipes and knew how to use them. She was all over TV in the 50’s when I was growing up. I preferred Dinah Shore. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/8 "2010-02-28T02:22:21Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I was never a fan, I found her bland and sentimental. But there’s no denying she had a set of pipes and knew how to use them. She was all over TV in the 50’s when I was growing up. I preferred Dinah Shore. > Roddy Her later years, she allowed herself (partially due to an ongoing heart condition) to devolve into a purveyor of “sentimental memories” of older people who had been adults in the war and wanted retro, reminiscent music – but in her prime, she was anything but. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/9 "2010-02-28T04:14:17Z")
I’ll admit that Dinah Shore really surprised me when I first started listening to her. She was a lot more impressive than I gave her credit for. I can see where people would see Smith as overly patriotic and the like. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/10 "2010-02-28T04:26:23Z")
Once God Bless America got hot, she was identified with it the rest of her career. I think the TV stations used to sign off with her singing it in front of a flapping flag. Yes TV stations used to sign off.When they came back on , they started with a test pattern. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/11 "2010-02-28T04:27:55Z")
I used to watch her show with my grandma. Kate really could sing. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/12 "2010-02-28T04:38:00Z")
Sister Georgia’s favorite song was When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain. We third-graders were not impressed. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/13 "2010-02-28T05:01:35Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Once God Bless America got hot, she was identified with it the rest of her career. I think the TV stations used to sign off with her singing it in front of a flapping flag. Yes TV stations used to sign off.When they came back on , they started with a test pattern. They signed off with “Dixie” in much of the South, as did the radio stations (at sundown). I do remember Kate Smith being a big deal for my parents in the 60s, too. As in–“Be quiet–it’s Kate Smith!”. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-kate-smith-fans-here/530652/14 "2010-02-28T22:55:39Z")
> [@hellpaso](#): > > They signed off with “Dixie” in much of the South, as did the radio stations (at sundown). I do remember Kate Smith being a big deal for my parents in the 60s, too. As in–“Be quiet–it’s Kate Smith!”. Even back then ,the south did not like America?