GLENN MILLER AND WORLD WAR II

Originally broadcast on WNIB
Saturday, November 12, 1994

NOTE: As we approach the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of Major Glenn Miller over the English Channel, we devote an entire program to the music of the popular bandleader who lost his life in the war.  Our co-host for this special occasion will be Big Band historian and Nostalgia Digest columnist KARL PEARSON, who draws upon his extensive collection of recordings and rare broadcasts to tell the story of Glenn Miller and World War II.  Highlights include:

GLENN MILLER’S SUNSET SERENADE (1-3-42)  Excerpt from a Saturday afternoon broadcast from the Café Rouge of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York with Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke, Marian Hutton and the Modernaires.

MOONLIGHT SERENADE (9-24-42) 7:15 p.m. EWT.  Excerpt from Glenn Miller’s last Chesterfield broadcast before entering the Army.  Glenn introduces bandleader Hary James who will replace the Miller band on the program next week.

MOONLIGHT SERENADE ( 9-24-42) 11:15 p.m. EWT.  This is the West Coast version of Miller’s last broadcast for Chesterfields before entering the Army.  From the stage of the Center Theatre in Passiac, New Jersey (where the band moved after the first show two hours earlier) Glenn announces “the last go ‘round of our Moonlight Serenade.”

I SUSTAIN THE WINGS (9-11-43) Captain Glenn Miller and the Band of the Army Air Forces Technical School at Yale University, with Corporal Broderick Crawford, Corporal Tony Martin, Corporal Ray McKinley.  Lt. Don Briggs announces.

AMERICAN BAND OF THE SUPREME ALLIED COMMAND (7-27-44) “Your Thursday night thirty minutes with the Moonlight Serenaders” features the band under the direction of Captain Glenn Miller with Sgt. Johnny Desmond and the Crew Chiefs. Guest is popular British singing star Ann Shelton.

ATLANTIC SPOTLIGHT (9-2-44) Excerpt featuring “high spots of entertainment from both countries” as presented by the BBC in London and NBC in New York and Atlantic City. Major Glenn Miller and the American Band of the AEF broadcast from London and are joined later by singer Marion Hutton in Atlantic City.

THE WEHRMACHT HOUR (11-22-44) Excerpt from a propaganda broadcast to German troops featuring Major Glenn Miller and the American Band of the AEF.  Most of the dialog on this broadcast in in German and Major Miller, who learned to speak his lines phonetically, offers listeners “a true picture of the great melting pot, America.”  Sgt. Johnny Desmond sings, in German, “My Heart Tells Me.”