Due to an unanticipated issue that developed here at Master Control, we bring you an Encore of an earlier Musings: If you haven’t read it, I invite you to enjoy this story about legendary bandleader from the 1940s, Glenn Miller. Also, if you missed it, check out my earlier Musings about the great Maestro, Remembering Glenn Miller!
Originally Posted November 15, 2018:
Back in June, I posted a Musings about this year’s Glenn Miller Festival, which Alicia and I had the pleasure of attending. It’s an annual four-day event that takes place the second week in June in Clarinda, Iowa. It celebrates the music and life of their favorite son, Alton Glenn Miller, who was born in this small western Iowa community on March 1, 1904. He was born in a little house (now restored and open as a museum honoring Glenn) that barely had running water, let alone a bathroom.
Come June of 2019, the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society will hold its 44th Festival. For more information about Glenn Miller’s history, the house, the museum and exhibits, and the Birthplace Society along with the town’s big event, the Festival … it’s all here!
Now … there are two reasons for this additional post related to Glenn Miller … the first being what I promised in June to show you this letter which a friend recently shared with me … a letter written and sent to this gentleman’s father by Glenn himself in 1940.
Note that on the letterhead are two addresses, one being in Tenafly, New Jersey, which was where Glenn had taken up residence in 1938. This is where his wife Helen and their two adopted children were living when he disappeared over the English Channel on Christmas Eve 1944. Theirs was one of 14 apartments in a building originally constructed as a huge mansion within an estate known as “Cotswold,” situated in this community in the northeastern corner of the state bordering the Hudson River.
Tenafly is special to me, as this is where we had our Bonneville Broadcast Consultants offices (Chapter 10 in my book) for much of the 1970s and ’80s… yet, several years had passed before I discovered “Cotswold” and the Glenn Miller connection.
The second reason for this musing is an album of long-play (LP) recordings which were released in 1955 and includes many great photos (including the one displayed above) and a detailed listing of the personnel heard on each of the nearly 60 selections in this collection. The performances are by the Army Air Force Band which were extracted from reference recordings made during the I Sustain the Wings radio broadcasts. These broadcasts were aired on NBC Radio prior to the Band heading to England. Also in this set is an extended text, the first portion of which I want to share with you:
“We didn’t come here to set any fashions in music. We merely came to bring a much-needed touch of home to some lads who have been here a couple of years. These lads are doing a hell of a job — they have been starved for real, live American music.”
So wrote Major Glenn Miller from England in the summer of 1944. It was a sincere statement. But it was by no means completely accurate. The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band did bring a much-needed touch of home to literally millions of American servicemen via its fantastically large number of personal appearances before the troops and also through hundreds of radio broadcasts which it beamed throughout the European Theater.
But it was much more than the touch of home that thrilled these men. It was the magnificent music played by this huge organization of close to fifty musicians, music, which despite Glenn’s modest denial, did set fashions in music, and caused millions of servicemen to insist right through to this day that this was the greatest band of all time.
What music lover doesn’t feel some sort of exhilaration when the first notes of “In the Mood” strike their ears … as played by the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band … just one of the tracks from this five-LP set.
This photo is of my copy of the album which I’ve had for more than 60 years, ever since it was gifted to me by my dear mother shortly after its release.
As a final note, there are at this moment a few used copies of this album, in both CD and Vinyl formats, available via Amazon. And keep in mind, if you’d like to know more about the life of Glenn Miller the musician and bandleader, there’s always the Glenn Miller Story on DVD from Amazon.
Ah .. These are just some more memories from my youth, my love of great music, and from my XM days of being the Old Stationmaster at the helm of the Savoy Express …
Where will this journey, these weekly Musings — which I consider an Addendum to the memoir, RADIO … My Love, My Passion — take us next? Why not click on the button below and sign up for receiving an email notification — which includes a brief synopsis of the subject matter — when a new edition of Marlin’s Musings is posted, usually on Thursday mornings? Thank you.
