Helen Deutsch

She got out her old poem, and Helen Hayes recited it with such tenderness that within a week thousands of people had requested a copy of the poem. General Motors provided it in booklet form. Helen Hayes herself made a 45 rpm of the poem and sent out hundreds of copies. Today it is still searched for on the internet, some having success in finding it and others still looking.

In Australia, the Helen Hayes version was superseded when Gay Kayler (Gay Kahler) recorded her version of The White Magnolia Tree with a lush 32-piece orchestral backing. This became Gay's signature tune and remained in EMI and Readers Digest catalogues for more than 33 years.

Deutsch was nominated for the Academy Award for the screenplay of Lili, which also won her a Golden Globe Award.

She died in New York City of natural causes. Read Less