50 Fun Facts About Glenn Miller

Which instrument did Glenn Miller play, having bought his first one with money he earned milking cows?

Trombone solos were never his strong suit, though: once a better soloist joined Ben Pollack's band in 1928, Miller decided his future lay in arranging and composing.

Which Glenn Miller hit earned the first gold disc ever awarded, presented to him by RCA Victor in February 1942?

Chattanooga Choo Choo sold about 1.2 million copies and spent nine weeks at number one, having begun life as a production number in Miller's first film.

Which singer's 1960 version made a signature hit of At Last, a ballad first recorded by Glenn Miller's band?

Etta James recorded it 18 years after Miller's own version reached number two on the Billboard chart; the song had been written for his first film.

Which actor, working with director Anthony Mann, played the title role in the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story?

Jimmy Stewart only mimed the playing: the horn heard on the soundtrack was dubbed by Joe Yukl and Murray McEachern.

Over which body of water did Glenn Miller's plane vanish on 15 December 1944, never to be found?

English Channel waters have never given up the wreck; an inquiry in January 1945 blamed a mix of human error, mechanical failure and weather.

Which Glenn Miller composition, written while he studied under Joseph Schillinger, became his band's signature theme?

Moonlight Serenade went through three earlier titles, and got its final name because the band was also recording a tune called Sunrise Serenade.

Which Michigan city features in the title of Glenn Miller's best-selling record of 1942, from the film Orchestra Wives?

Kalamazoo gave the band eight weeks at number one, and the flip side of the same disc was the ballad At Last.

Whose traditional marches did Army purists defend when Glenn Miller's wartime band swung jazz tunes on parade?

John Philip Sousa had served the Army well in the last war, an officer complained; Miller asked whether it was still flying the same planes.

Which wartime offensive began the morning after Glenn Miller's plane disappeared, his absence unnoticed for three days?

The Battle of the Bulge opened on 16 December 1944, and headquarters did not realize the bandleader was missing until two days after that.

Which Glenn Miller hit, built on a riff from Wingy Manone's Tar Paper Stomp, features two duelling tenor saxophones?

In the Mood first went to Artie Shaw, who found the arrangement too long to record; Miller's shorter cut became the best-selling swing instrumental.

Which instrument, played by Wilbur Schwartz, carried the melody above the saxophones in Glenn Miller's signature sound?

Clarinet was not even Schwartz's job when he was hired: he had been spotted as a saxophonist, but Miller put him on the lead line instead.

Glenn Miller vanished while flying ahead to arrange his band's move to which recently liberated city?

Paris got its concerts anyway: the band crossed safely in three transport planes and played its Christmas Day broadcast without him.

Which general cabled Washington in May 1944 to request Glenn Miller's band for Allied forces radio in Europe?

Dwight Eisenhower called Miller's unit the only organization capable of the mission, which was to help staff a joint Allied radio service ahead of D-Day.

Which US president stood to lead the applause as Glenn Miller's Army band played its theme at a final 1945 concert?

Harry Truman rose as the first notes sounded at a Washington press club, eleven months after the bandleader was lost.

In which language did Glenn Miller read phonetic scripts for a 1944 propaganda programme aimed at enemy soldiers?

German announcements were shared with a host introduced as Ilse, and one of the band's sergeants sang his vocals in the language too.

Which service rejected Glenn Miller's 1942 bid for a commission, distracted by a scandal over celebrity officers?

The Navy was caught up in claims that celebrities were being commissioned to dodge the draft, so Miller, 38 and unlikely to be called up, wrote to the Army instead.

What Army rank did Glenn Miller hold when he disappeared, the one carved on his memorial headstone?

Major was a promotion earned in England: he had joined up as a captain in 1942, and his unit's title changed to match the new rank.

Which jazz trumpeter appears as himself in The Glenn Miller Story, one of several musician cameos in the 1954 film?

Louis Armstrong was a fan in real life: he took Miller's records on tour with him, copied onto tape reels, because he prized musicians who valued melody.

At which New York concert venue did Glenn Miller's band cap its breakthrough year with an October 1939 appearance?

Carnegie Hall put Miller on the same bill as Paul Whiteman and Fred Waring, less than two years after his first band had folded.

Which vocal trio shared Glenn Miller's CBS radio series for its first thirteen weeks at the turn of 1940?

The Andrews Sisters then dropped out, leaving Miller's band to carry the quarter-hour show three nights a week by itself until 1942.

In which high school sport was Glenn Miller named his state's best player at his position in 1921?

Football brought him a conference title with the Fort Morgan Maroons, but music won out: he skipped his own graduation to play a gig out of town.

Which future film composer played piano in the official Glenn Miller band re-formed in 1946?

Henry Mancini also arranged for the postwar band, and he later earned his first Oscar nomination for scoring the film of Miller's life.

Which New York landmark, home of the Cafe Rouge, had the telephone number that gave Glenn Miller a 1940 hit title?

Hotel Pennsylvania's number doubled as an advert: dialling it reached the Cafe Rouge, where fans could book a table to hear the band.

In which Midwestern state was Glenn Miller born in 1904, in a town that now holds a festival in his honor?

Iowa's town of Clarinda has held its Glenn Miller Festival since 1975, and his daughter bought the house where he was born in 1989.

Which college, where a ballroom now bears his name, did Glenn Miller quit after failing three of his five classes?

The University of Colorado at Boulder now keeps the Glenn Miller Archives, a neat turn for a student whose failed classes included Harmony.

The Glenn Miller hit Tuxedo Junction is named after a streetcar crossing in a suburb of which Southern city?

Birmingham, Alabama, had a jazz club at the crossing; Miller slowed the tune down, added trumpet fanfares and sold 115,000 copies in a week.

Which future bandleader co-wrote Glenn Miller's first composition, Room 1411, when both played for Ben Pollack?

Benny Goodman later recalled a dejected Miller asking him in 1937 how a bandleader makes it; his only advice was to stay with it.

Which cigarette brand sponsored Glenn Miller's quarter-hour CBS radio show three nights a week from 1939 to 1942?

Chesterfield's last show with him ended on a generous note: Miller introduced a rival trumpet-playing bandleader as his successor, a favor the man never forgot.

Which actress played Helen, the bandleader's wife, in the 1954 screen biography The Glenn Miller Story?

June Allyson's character first hears a special arrangement only after her husband vanishes; in reality the band had recorded that tune back in 1939.

Which tenor saxophonist, the featured singer on Glenn Miller's novelty hits, led the estate's official band from 1946?

Tex Beneke drew a record 6,750 dancers to the Hollywood Palladium in 1947, but he fell out with the Miller estate and had left by 1950.

Which vocal group, begun by three Buffalo schoolmates, joined Glenn Miller in 1941 and sang on his biggest vocal hits?

The Modernaires had earlier worked for Ozzie Nelson, billed as the Three Wizards of Ozzie, before growing from a trio into a quartet.

Which 1869 tune by Joseph Winner became an early Glenn Miller hit in a swing arrangement by Bill Finegan?

Little Brown Jug began as a drinking song and found fresh popularity under Prohibition; Miller's 1939 record went on to sell over a million copies.

Which 1885 march by F. W. Meacham did Glenn Miller's band turn into a swing hit in 1942?

American Patrol follows a form meant to mimic a band approaching, passing and fading away, and it quotes older patriotic tunes such as Yankee Doodle.

Which Glenn Miller instrumental, a chart-topper in 1942, is remembered for a cornet solo by Bobby Hackett?

A String of Pearls was composed by the band's own arranger and was issued as a B-side, yet it stayed on the Billboard chart for 21 weeks.

Which Olympic champion turned film actress headlined Glenn Miller's first Hollywood musical, set at an Idaho ski resort?

Sonja Henie plays a refugee the band agrees to sponsor, expecting a child; she ends up staging an ice show when the band's singer walks out.

Which future television comedy great appears uncredited as the bass player in Glenn Miller's film Orchestra Wives?

Jackie Gleason only mimed the part: the bass heard on the soundtrack was played by the Miller band's own Doc Goldberg.

Which medal was awarded posthumously to Glenn Miller in 1945 and accepted by his widow at his New York office?

The Bronze Star citation called the band's contribution to troop morale all but sensational, and the medal's name is carved on his memorial stone.

Where was a memorial headstone for Glenn Miller placed in 1992 at his daughter's request, nearly fifty years on?

Arlington National Cemetery permits such stones when no body can be recovered, and a holly tree nearby honors every member of his Army band.

Which ocean liner, serving as a troop ship, carried Glenn Miller's Army band across the Atlantic in the summer of 1944?

The Queen Elizabeth brought the musicians over while Miller himself flew ahead to London with his radio producer.

Which British film actor, then a lieutenant colonel, was Glenn Miller's superior in Allied forces broadcasting in 1944?

David Niven was deputy director of broadcasting at Allied headquarters, and it was his order that sent Miller across ahead of the band.

Which Glenn Miller chart-topper of 1941 was first worked out on a piano in a Chicago funeral parlor?

Elmer's Tune was the work of Elmer Albrecht, an embalming student who worked at the parlor and played it around Chicago night spots for years before a band took it up.

A 2001 television documentary argued Glenn Miller's plane was hit by bombs jettisoned from which type of RAF aircraft?

Lancaster bombers heading home dumped unused bombs over the sea, the theory runs, but a 2017 study published with the Miller estate's backing argued for a plain accident.

On which Ivy League campus was Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces band billeted when it was formed in 1943?

Yale housed a unit unlike his civilian band: it mixed players from the big swing outfits with musicians from leading symphony orchestras.

Which acrobatic tap-dancing duo performs show-stopping routines in both of the Glenn Miller band's Hollywood films?

The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, had shared a film with Miller before: The Big Broadcast of 1936, made when he was still a sideman.

Which Glenn Miller singer, the elder sibling of a Hollywood actress, was first introduced on stage as Sissy Jones?

Marion Hutton was young enough on joining that Glenn and Helen Miller became her legal guardians; her younger sibling Betty went on to film fame.

To which town did Glenn Miller move his band in July 1944, a day before a flying bomb destroyed its London billet?

Bedford was where the BBC had sheltered during the Blitz; the bomb that fell on the vacated London quarters killed more than 100 people.

Which Canadian-designed single-engine bush plane was carrying Glenn Miller on the flight from which he never returned?

The Noorduyn Norseman was a lift offered by an acquaintance after his booked flights were cancelled, and his travel orders did not cover it.

Which waterfront venue in New Rochelle gave Glenn Miller's band its breakthrough summer engagement in 1939?

Glen Island Casino drew a record opening-night crowd of 1,800 for Miller, and the same room had already launched Ozzie Nelson and Charlie Barnet.

Which first name, used on his Army records and memorial tablet, did the bandleader Glenn Miller drop in daily life?

Alton was kept for legal and military paperwork only; like his father and siblings he went by his middle name, adding its second n in high school.

On which lower-priced RCA Victor label, founded in 1932, did Glenn Miller's band make its first hit discs from 1938?

Bluebird was RCA's budget imprint, and Miller stayed on it for his biggest hits before his 1942 discs appeared on the full-price Victor label.