How ‘Moonlight Serenade’
Defined a Generation
Smithsonian Magazine,
by
Dennis M. Spragg
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
11/20/2019 5:42:15 AM
At 1:45 p.m. on December 15, 1944, an overcast Friday afternoon at the Royal Air Force airport near Bedford, England, U.S. Army Maj. Glenn Miller struggled against the stinging airstream blowing in his face from a running propeller as he threw his briefcase and military garment bag into the cabin of an idling airplane. The single-engine C-64 Norseman, piloted by Flight Officer John R. S. Morgan, was aloft in minutes, and Miller, the bandleader whose mellifluous swing provided the soundtrack for Americans during World War II, was on his way to an airfield near Versailles, France.
Miller and his American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces had been making appearances
Reply 1 - Posted by:
JL80863 11/20/2019 5:56:46 AM (No. 239935)
Thanks OP!
15 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Aud 11/20/2019 6:38:04 AM (No. 239948)
I wonder how many L-dotters are now searching the Internet to hear Moonlight Serenade. I certainly am!
4 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Rinktum 11/20/2019 6:44:46 AM (No. 239953)
This music defined a generation and I am so thankful my parents were part of that lucky group because I was blessed to grow up listening and enjoying this incredible music. Whenever mom was home especially when she was cleaning this music filled our house. The greatest generation certainly had the most inspiring music to go along with their amazing grit and determination. Anytime it’s played I get teary-eyed remembering my mom dancing around the house while listening to this quintessentially American music. I am sure it evoked many magical memories for her. It certainly does for me now whenever I hear it.
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
jasonB 11/20/2019 6:46:29 AM (No. 239955)
@ #2. It's embedded in the article. Go enjoy. :)
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Daisymay 11/20/2019 7:38:50 AM (No. 239994)
I was born in 1941, so my Teen "music" was 50's Rock and Roll, but the music played when I was growing up was Glen Miller and Bands like his. My mom played that music on the Piano every day and it was always on the Radio as I was growing up. To this day I love that music and I've searched it out on Radio (now made easier by asking Alexa to find it for me)! It was definitely a time many of us grew up with. Thanks for posting OP!
14 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 11/20/2019 7:52:17 AM (No. 240006)
The Glenn Military Orchestra performs once a year over at the Naval Air Museum on the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The place is always packed and the music is every bit as good as I know it from the original recordings. The museum is the perfect place for the concert - surrounded by all of those WWII Navy Fighters makes it really special. Some of the folks attending are are in wheel chairs and on oxygen but you can tell - there were there.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
berthabutt 11/20/2019 8:14:20 AM (No. 240030)
I'm 61, second youngest of 7. This immediately brings me to the tender memory of a rare sight; my mother and father rollerskate dancing. That would have been in the 1960's, so the song does goes on and on! Thank God & Benny Goodman for music that withstands the years.
7 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
berthabutt 11/20/2019 8:15:48 AM (No. 240033)
oops, meant Glen Miller!
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 11/20/2019 8:27:57 AM (No. 240047)
This wonderfully popular music was played every summer night at "The Music Box" in N Mi ( in my home town). from the late fifties to the end of the century. The owner chose the playlist and always mixed this with current popular tunes and kids (including this one) got to listen and dance to this song as well as "Stranger on the Shore, Old Cape Cod, In the Mood. Every night ended with Kate Smith's "God Bless America". Lots of mememories were created there.
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
StormCnter 11/20/2019 8:41:17 AM (No. 240064)
I have no memory of Glenn Miller. He was before my time. However, "Moonlight Serenade" has been a favorite of mine for all my adult life. My family laughs when I tell them I want it played at my funeral some day, but I'll have the last laugh!
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
RayLRiv 11/20/2019 8:56:12 AM (No. 240086)
Love 'Moonlight Serenade,' of course - but a close second for me is 'People Like You And Me' - with the Modernaires. Love the lyrics (considering the times.) Tune starts around the 1:05 mark in this clip from "Orchestra Wives.'. Look for Jackie Gleason (on bass) and Cesar Romero (at the piano)
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/9380127488/h4EFE4462/mommys-seal-of-approval
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
galbaccr 11/20/2019 9:39:59 AM (No. 240139)
In the early/mid 1950's, my brass instrument music teacher at my HS was Matty (Matthew) Shiner. I took music lessons from him. He spent most of WWII on Catalina Island, off the coast of California, playing lead trombone in the Glenn Miller recording band. I believe that at least some of the Miller recordings from that time featured Matty playing Miller's trombone parts. Matty later played in a number of stage bands, even after he began teaching. He was a perfectionist & beat on the brains of his students for perfection. He was also, as it turned out, a second father figure for his students. I and most likely, all his other former students, miss him. He died some years ago in his 90's - two days after giving some students private lessons. After returning from active duty in the USAF, I visited with him once or twice a year for several years.
4 people like this.
Loved hearing Moonlight Serenade in its entirety while reading this article.
6 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 11/20/2019 12:05:41 PM (No. 240339)
This was before my time, but the music is really nice, laid back, pleasant and relaxing. I have had carb icing in winter, but fortunately the aircraft I was flying had a powerful carb heat system, plus a carb temperature gauge to let you know you were reaching icing temps, pulling carb heat fixed it right up. And I was over Kansas prairie, not the unforgiving English Channel.
A shame to lose a talented guy like Miller so young, I wonder how many great songs were never written?
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Smart11344 11/20/2019 12:23:25 PM (No. 240364)
God Bless Glenn Miller. A man who knew how to make palatable music that has endured forever.
4 people like this.
Would that some media boss would finally release "Sun Valley Serenade" to video. One of the greatest "band" movies of all time.
0 people like this.
Sorry for a second posting, but one of my most cherished memories I have was attending a live concert of the Glenn Miller Orchestra (with Tex Beneke, the Modernaires and Paula Kelley, Ray Eberle. etal.) during the late 50's at Pleasure Island (an early theme park in MA). This us one of the rare perks of being old.
1 person likes this.
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Maybe some L-Dotters might enjoy an article that's not political.