LISTEN NOW!
LYNDON B. JOHNSON CONGRESS
Kitty Kallen's career began when she was still a
child, as a regular on the Horn and Hardart
Children's Hour. She had her own show on
WCAU Radio at 12, and by the age of 15, she
was on tour with bandleader Jack Teagarden.
When Helen O'Connell left the Jimmy Dorsey
band, Kitty stepped in, and when still a teenager,
recorded one of his biggest hits, "Besame Mucho."
From Dorsey's band, she went on to sing with
Harry James, recording hits that constantly made
the top ten. Her fame grew with appearances on
the Danny Kaye, David Rose, and Alec
Templeton radio shows, with Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis on the Colgate Comedy Hour, with
the Artie Shaw band, in nightclubs, on Broadway
and in film, and she achieved international acclaim
with her success at the London Palladium.
At the height of her career, however, she lost her
voice, and made one of the most amazing
comebacks in music history with a new string of
hits that re-established her once and for all as a
solo star.
In 1954, her smash recording, "Little Things
Mean A Lot," was voted the most popular record,
and Kitty herself was voted the most popular girl
singer in the USA by Billboard and Variety polls.
hits such as "In The Chapel in the Moonlight," "I
Want You All To Myself," and "If I Give My
Heart To You" followed, and in 1962, she hit
again with "My Coloring Book." Born into a family
with no musical background, Kitty Kallen has
achieved brilliant success as one of American
music's most popular performers, and that success
continues with the soon-to-be-released album of
her greatest hits.
HELSTOSKI, Henry, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Wallington, Bergen
County, N.J., March 21, 1925; attended the Wallington and Rutherford schools; served in
the United States Army Air Corps as instructor and radio technician, 1943-1945; attended
Paterson State College and graduated from Montclair State Teachers College, B.A., 1947,
and M.A., 1949; teacher, high school principal, and superintendent of schools in Bergen
County, N.J., 1949-1962; served as councilman of East Rutherford, N.J., in 1956, and as
mayor 1957-1965; management consultant in advertising, 1962-1964; elected as a
Democrat to the Eighty-ninth and to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3,
1965-January 3, 1977); unsuccessful candidate for reelection as an independent to the
Ninety-fifth Congress; unsuccessful candidate for election as an independent in 1978 to the
Ninety-sixth Congress and as a Democrat for nomination in 1980 to the Ninety-seventh
Congress; superintendent, North Bergen schools, 1981-1985; engaged as a public relations
consultant; was a resident of East Rutherford, N.J., until his death in Wayne, N.J., on
December 16, 1999.
