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Blow me a kiss from across the room
Say I look nice when I'm not
Touch my
hair as you pass my chair
Little things mean a lot
Give me your arm as
we cross the street
Call me at six on the dot
A line a day when you're far
away
Little things mean a lot
Don't have to buy me diamonds or
pearls
Champagne, sables, and such
I never cared much for diamonds and
pearls
'cause honestly, honey, they just cost money
Give me a hand
when I've lost the way
Give me your shoulder to cry on
Whether the day is
bright or gray
Give me your heart to rely on
Send me the warmth of a
secret smile
To show me you haven't forgot
For now and forever, that's
always and ever
Honey, little things mean a lot
Kitty Kallen (born May 25, 1922) is an American popular singer who sang with a number of big bands in the 1940s, coming back in the 1950s to
score her biggest hit, "Little
Things Mean a Lot" in 1954.
Born in Philadelphia[1] to a Jewish family, she won an
amateur contest as a child doing imitations of some singers of the day. When she
brought her prize (a camera) home, her father refused to believe her and thought
she had stolen the camera, so he punished her severely.[citation needed] Later,
when neighborhood people came to congratulate her father, he realized that her
story was true. Subsequently she sang (while still a child) on The Children's Hour[1], a radio program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, a firm which had a chain
of Automats in New York and
Philadelphia. As a pre-teen she had her own program on Philadelphia's WCAU, and soon she sang as a vocalist with the
big bands of Jan Savitt[1] in 1936
and Artie Shaw in 1938[2], and Jack Teagarden in
1940[1][2]. While with
the Savitt band, she briefly was a roommate of Dinah Shore[1]. She
married Clint Garvin, who played clarinet in Teagarden's band, and when Teagarden fired
Garvin, she left as well[2]. The marriage
was annulled.
Kallen later married Bud
Granoff, a famous publicist,
agent, and television producer. They were married over
forty-five years, until Granoff's death. Still only a teenager at that
time--after a short stay with Bobby Sherwood--she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing
Helen
O'Connell[2][1].
Eventually, in 1944, she appeared as the vocalist for Dorsey's US number-one hit, "Besame
Mucho". Most of her singing assignments were in duets with Bob Eberly, and when Eberly left
to go into the service toward the end of 1943, she joined Harry James' band[2].
Kallen became a popular artist on radio, film, and nightclubs, but lost her voice at the height of her career. She eventually
made a comeback, with the 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot" (voted the most
popular record) and Kallen was voted most popular female singer in Billboard and Variety polls.
Other popular recordings by Kallen included "Chapel in the Moonlight" and she
also recorded a version of "True Love" for Decca. She did not record
again until the early 1960s; firstly for Columbia where she had a hit version of "If I
Give My Heart to You". In 1963 she had the biggest selling version of "My
Coloring Book" which appeared on RCA. Her final album was Quiet Nights, a bossa nova based long player for 20th
Century Fox Records. A compilation of her hits on various labels is
available on the Sony CD set, The Kitty Kallen Story.
During Kallen's height of popularity, there were three imposters who billed
themselves as Kitty Kallen. When one of them (Genevieve Angostinello) died, it
was reported that Kallen had died, and that is where the mis-information about
Kallen's birth name originated.
For her recording work, she received a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.
Kallen is known as a one-hit wonder in the UK, as her song "Little Things Mean a Lot", went
to number 1 in the UK
Singles Chart, but she failed to follow it up.
[edit] Hit recordings
- "Besame
Mucho" (1944) (with Bob Eberly and the Jimmy Dorsey band) - "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old" (1944) (with the Jimmy Dorsey band)
- "It's Been A Long, Long Time"
(1945) (with the Harry James band) - "I'm Beginning To See The
Light" (1945) (with the Harry James band) - "Kiss Me Sweet" (1949) (with Mitch Miller)
- "Juke Box Annie" (1950) (with Harry Geller's orchestra)
- "Our Lady Of Fatima" (1950) (with Richard Hayes and Jimmy Carroll's
orchestra) - "The Aba Daba
Honeymoon" (1951) (with Richard Hayes) (better known version recorded by
Debbie Reynolds) - "Are You Looking For A Sweetheart?" (1953)
- "I Want You All To Myself" (1954)
- "Little Things Mean a Lot" (1954)
- "In The Chapel In The Moonlight"
(1954) - "Sweet Kentucky Rose" (1955)
- "Go On With The Wedding" (1955) (with Georgie Shaw) (better known
version recorded by Patti
Page) - "If I Give My Heart to You" (1959)
(better known versions recorded in 1954 by Denise Lor and Doris Day) - "That Old Feeling" (1960)
- "My Coloring Book" (1963) (competing version by Sandy Stewart)
song written by edith lindeman, carl stutz
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