She is best known for her 1954 solo recording '"Little Things Mean a Lot" — a song that stayed at the U.S. number one spot for nine consecutive weeks, charted in the U.S. for almost seven months, hit #1 on the UK singles chart, and sold more than two million copies. AllMusic called the recording a "monster hit", music historian Jonny Whiteside said the song "ably characterizes Kallen’s impressive, and graceful, transition from classic big band swing to modern post-war pop".
Voted "most popular female singer" in 1954 in both Billboard and Variety polls, Kallen lost her voice at the Palladium in 1955 at the top of her career and left singing for four years, suffering paralyzed vocal cords. After testing her voice under a pseudonym in small town venues, she ultimately returned and went on to achieve 13 top-ten career hits.
Kallen performed at numerous prominent live venues including Manhattan's Copacabana, Morris Levy's Versailles, the Capitol Theater, the Maisonette Room at the St. Regis, the Cafe Rouge at the Hotel Pennsylvania and the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room. As well, she starred on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow; in the 1955 film The Second Greatest Sex and on numerous television shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Big Beat with singer-host Richard Hayes, American Bandstand, and Fred Allen's Judge for Yourself. In 1951, Kallen appeared with Buster Crabbe as the Queen and King of Winter at the Lake Placid resort.
During the height of her popularity, three imposters billed themselves as "Kitty Kallen". When one of them — Genevieve Agostinello — died in 1978, it was incorrectly reported that Kallen herself had died. On February 8, 1960, Kallen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard at #7021), and in 2009 she was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Some sources give Kallen's birth name as Katherine Kalinsky, but according to records cited by her son, the name was Katie Kallen. She was born May 25, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of seven children, to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Rose Kalinsky (later Kallen). As a child, she won an amateur contest by imitating popular singers. When she returned home with her prize, a camera, her father did not believe her, and punished her for stealing the camera. Only when neighbors subsequently visited to congratulate her, did Kallen's father realize she had actually won it.
While performing with Jack Teagarden's band, she married Clint Garvin, the band's clarinet player. When Teagarden fired Garvin, Kallen left as well, later annulling the marriage. In 1948, Kallen married Bernard "Budd" Granoff, a publicist, agent, and television producer. He later became a pioneering television syndicator. The couple, married for over forty-five years until Granoff's death in 1996, had a son, Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law.
In 1977, Kallen sued her dermatologist, Norman Orentreich, after he prescribed an estrogen drug, Premarin, for her small facial wrinkles. She subsequently suffered blood clots in her lungs, caused directly by the drug, and won $300,000 by the court's decision.
In 2008, Kallen joined artists Patti Page, Tony Martin, Dick Hyman, Richard Hayman and the estates of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughan, Woody Herman, Les Brown, the Mills Brothers, Jerry Murad, Frankie Laine, and the gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in a suit against the world's then largest music label, Universal Music Group, alleging the company had cheated them on royalties.
Kallen died on January 7, 2016 at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the age of 94.
As a young girl Kallen sang on The Children's Hour, a radio program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, an automat chain. As a pre-teen, Kallen had a radio program on Philadelphia's WCAU, and sang with the big bands of Jan Savitt in 1936, Artie Shaw in 1938, and Jack Teagarden in 1940.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, on May 5, 1942, she sang the vocals for "Moonlight Becomes You" with Bobby Sherwood and His Orchestra at the second every session for what was then still called Liberty Records but would soon be renamed Capitol Records. It was her only session for the label.
Just 21, she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing Helen O'Connell. In every theater of World War II, a favorite of American servicemen, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old". In 1944, Kallen performed the vocals for Dorsey's 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.
Between January and November 1945, Kitty Kallen had two songs recorded with the Harry James Orchestra in the top twenty, six in the top ten, and two at the #1 spot—"I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time", which remains deeply associated with the end of World War II and the returning troops.
With the 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot", Kallen was voted most popular female singer in Billboard and Variety polls. She followed up this song with "Chapel in the Moonlight", another million selling record, and a version of "True Love" for Decca. In 1959, she recorded "If I Give My Heart to You" for Columbia Records, and in 1963, she recorded a top-selling version of "My Coloring Book" for RCA. Her final album was Quiet Nights, a bossa nova–flavored release for 20th Century Fox Records. Subsequently, Kallen retired due to a lung ailment.
A compilation of her hits on various labels remains available on the Sony CD set The Kitty Kallen Story.
That Old Feeling
Kitty Kallen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Last night I started out happy,
Last night my heart was so gay,
Last night I found myself dancing
In my fav'rite cabaret.
You were completely forgotten,
Just an affair of the past.
Then suddenly something happened to me,
[Chorus:]:
I saw you last night and got that old feeling.
When you came in sight I got that old feeling.
The moment that you danced by I felt a thrill,
And when you caught my eye my heart stood still.
Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning.
And I knew the spark of love was still burning.
There'll be no new romance for me,
It's foolish to start,
For that old feeling is still in my heart.
The song "That Old Feeling" by Kitty Kallen tells the story of a person who thought they were over their past lover but upon seeing them again, they realize that the old feelings of love have been triggered. In the verse, the singer had been out dancing at their usual spot, forgetting all about their former lover, but when they see them again, everything changes. The chorus speaks to the sudden flood of emotions that hit them upon seeing their old flame: the feeling of newfound excitement, the thrill of seeing them again, and the sensation of old love being rekindled. The lyrics describe how the singer has come to terms with the fact that they won't be able to move on from their past love, as the old feelings remain in their heart.
The song captures the emotions and nostalgia that people experience when they see a former flame. Everyone has experienced the sudden rush of feelings that comes with seeing someone who they used to be in love with. The song, originally written for a movie titled "Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938", has been covered by many artists. The song has become a timeless classic, as the feelings that it talks about are universal and timeless.
Line by Line Meaning
Last night I started out happy,
At the beginning of the night, I was content and joyful
Last night my heart was so gay,
My heart was full of happiness and lightness
Last night I found myself dancing In my fav'rite cabaret.
I ended up dancing at my favorite nightclub
You were completely forgotten,
I had completely forgotten about you
Just an affair of the past.
Our past relationship was just a casual fling
Then suddenly something happened to me,
I experienced something out of the blue
And I found my heart beating, oh so fast.
I felt my heart racing with excitement
I saw you last night and got that old feeling.
When I saw you last night, I was flooded with old emotions
When you came in sight I got that old feeling.
Just from seeing you, I experienced familiar feelings
The moment that you danced by I felt a thrill,
As soon as I saw you dancing, I felt a rush of excitement
And when you caught my eye my heart stood still.
When you looked my way, time seemed to stop for a moment
Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning.
I felt that same longing that I used to have for you
And I knew the spark of love was still burning.
I was certain that the love I had for you never truly died
There'll be no new romance for me,
I won't be seeking out any new relationships
It's foolish to start,
It doesn't make sense to begin something new
For that old feeling is still in my heart.
I still have strong feelings for you from our past together
Contributed by Christopher A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.