The story behind the first public showing of God Bless America [via Alex Cord]

I  Had dust in my eyes!!  All the best, Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other
guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.

The story behind the first public showing of the song.

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers,and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.

Kate was patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring . She had hope for America , and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.

When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would benreceived by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America.

Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.

The Bloemencorse flower festival in Zundert, Netherlands via Nina Reznick



The Bloemencorse flower festival in Zundert, Netherlands--
Every year since 1936, scores of volunteers build  floral floats full of flawless Dahlias - a perennial plant that is native to Mexico.
This is what they came up with this year.

Flower                                                          Festival 

Flower                                                          Festival 
This year's theme was inspired by native born Vincent Van Gogh. 

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Flower                                                          Festival 

The flowers on each float are put together a week before the parade (as the Dahlias can only remain fresh for so long), which was held September 6th. 
Flower                                                          Festival 


Flower                                                          Festival

Flower                                                          Festival

Flower                                                          Festival

Flower                                                          Festival

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Flower                                                          Festival

During the Zundert Flower Parade all kinds of music and theatre occurs for the crowd's enjoyment.
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Excellent Old Photos via Cacciatore

This is a 1920s refrigerator.  Only the elite could afford such a thing, and most still had the old ice boxes.

A hair dryer in the 1920 Salon.  What a contraption!

Chester E. Macduffee next to his newly patented, 250 kilo (485 pound) diving suit, 1911

A postcard from the 1800s advertising a knife throwing act with the traveling circus.
How would you like that job? (It all depends which part of the job!!)


These were treadmills in the 1920s.