Smyrna times., 1936-05-07
A & P'S PARTY
TO KATE SMITH
Honor Radio Star on the
Event of Her Birthday
May 4th
WASHINGTON UNIT HOST

when the Moon Comes Over
the Mountain" the identifying
theme of Kate Smith and her
Swanee Music ushered in the
fifth anniversary of radios popular
songstress, Monday, May A. Coin
cident with this event was the cele-
bration of Kate's birthday. Since
the announcement that she was to
be rendered a party on that night
by the Washington,D.C. Unit of the
A & p Tea Company, she had been
deluged with letters from her
thousands of listeners extending
congratulations and good wishes.
Her desk was piled high daily
with bundles of fan mail. Her
hosts were the employees of the
Washington branch and their
friends. and included everyone
from the leadinb executives to the
newest clerks. Ted Collins, her
anouncer-manager, and Jack Mill
er and his orchestra who are heard
with Kate every Tuesday, Wednes-
day and Thursday on A & P's pop
ular "Coffee-Time" program over
the Columbia network at 7:3O
lp. m, EST, were on hand when
she extends her greetings to her
$500 guests at Constitution Hall.
Much has been written about Kate
Smith-blessed with a full, sweet
voice, a spontaneous laugh, COM
mon sense and an utter disdain for
a slender figure. But her series of
mounting achievements, more re-
Gently enhanced by her work on
behalf of the Red Cross for relief
of the flood victims, calls for an
other glance at the record books.
The Kate Smith history started 81
years ago in Greenville, Va, but
her childhood was spent in Wash
ington, d. C., where tomboy Kate
Ioutdid most of the boys on her
block. She discovered her voice
when she was very young Ito this
day she has never taken a singing
lesson) and she used it mainly for
her own amusement and that of
the neighborhood kids.
Kate soon was called to enter
tain at some of the affairs in
Washington. Even then she had
her musical triumphs, for at one of
these early performances Nicholas
Longworth predicted a distinguish
ed singing career for her, and
Presidents Wilson and Harding
were among her appreciative audi
tors. At IL she received her first
salary from vaudeville engage
ments on amateur night" She
always has been able to move the
imagination of her audience, and
in war time was youthful favor
ite with such ballads as Rose of
No Mans Land" Still wearing
ing pig-tails down her back, she
made frequent trips to nearby
training camps to sing for dough-
boys.
To please her family, she enter
ed nursing school after completing
her high school course. A year
later she emphatically announced
that she wanted to sing, and it was
not long before she appeared on
Broadway. There she chalked up
her first triumph in Honeymoon
Lane" After a two-year run she
rollicked into the cast of Flying
High" where, to use the language
of the time, she vowed EN-"
Kate started broadcasting over
Columbia in May, 1881, and her
fame spread Immediately. She
didn't Groom, lit coyly, or vocalize.
She Just sang" in a hearty way
that won huge and devoted audi
ence.
Later she was booked for week
at the Capitol Theatre, where she
had made her metropolitan bow
four years before. The one week
extended to nine, and a record was
marked up for that theatre. Early
in the summer she was swamped
with votes when the New York
Daily Mirror ran radio popular
ity contest which acclaimed her as
Queen of the Air. A short /
time later she started an engage
ment at the Palace Theatre. She
still was at the Palace two months
later, breaking records for a the
atre with her 11-week run. In De-
cember. 1881, less than a year af-
ter her radio debut, she was chos-
en- as the airs favorite woman |
singer OF popular songs in a ma
tionwide poll OF radio editors, con-
Quoted by the New York World t
Telegram. This year a similar
honor was bestowed upon Kate
wheo she was awarded drst place