02 Chattanooga Choo Choo Rehearsal

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Orchestra Wives (1942)
Sun Valley Serenade proved to be so popular, that Fox immediately another Glenn Miller vehicle before the camera, this one entitled Orchestra Wives. Orchestra Wives was a bit more serious than the light and airy Sun Valley Serenade. This time the cast included George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, Lynn Bari, Cesar Romero, Marion Hutton (Sister of Betty), The Modernaires, and, of course, The Nicholas Brothers. The Director was Archie Mayo (The Petrified Forrest, The Adventures of Marco Polo, Charley’s Aunt, A Night in Casablanca) and the screenplay was by Karl Tunberg and Darrell Ware.

Connie Ward (Rutherford) Meets Bill Abbott (Montgomery) a trumpet player in the Gene Morrison (Glenn Miller - They kept the initials the same so they could use the GM music stands Miller had), and, in true Hollywood Style, impulsively marries him. She joins the other wives who accompany their band member husbands across the country. Of course, there are jealousies, flirtations, and eventually, Connie walks out on Bill, things become so tense that Gene Morrison breaks up the band, but, never fear, eventually all works out, the band reunites and Connie comes back to Bill.

The film opens with Miller’s signature tune, “Moonlight Serenade” playing over the credits. We also get some wonderful Harry Warren and Mack Gordon songs, including “At Last” (the castoff from Sun Valley Serenade), “Serenade in Blue,” “People Like You and Me” and the instant classic “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.” The latter was, like “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song. It lost to a little Irving Berlin song called “White Christmas.”

George Montgomery's trumpet playing was dubbed by Miller band member, Johnny Best, and Miller pianist Chummy MacGregor Dubbed Cesar Romero’s piano playing. As in Sun Vally Serenade, Lynn Bari was dubbed by Pat Friday. And there are three uncredited appearances in the film by three people who would go on to have long and illustrious careers: Jackie Gleason plays Ben Beck, the band’s bass player, Harry Morgan plays Cully Anderson, and Dale Evans plays Hazel. Interestingly, Harry Morgan would play pianist Chummy MacGregor a little over a decade later in the bio-pic, The Glenn Miller Story.

Sadly there were to be no more Glenn Miller films. Right after Orchestra Wives, Miller Joined the Army. Two years later, he and two others were to fly from England to France, but the plane disappeared over the English Channel and the voice of one of the great geniuses of popular music was lost forever at the age of forty. But his music and his sound has lived on, thanks to many reissues and its use in just about any film set in the 1940s. It’s music that seems to resonate with every generation. This is the first time Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives are being released complete, each CD close to eighty minutes in length. Previous LP and CD releases only featured the Miller Orchestra tracks, but for this release, the master film recordings — all of the songs, incidental scoring, plus bonus material and everything featured on prior releases - have been lovingly restored by Mike Matessio from the original Fox vault elements. It should be noted that while the films were given a synthesized stereo treatment in the early 1990s for home video, all of the original music elements are, in fact, monaural. Yet they remain as clear and vibrant as the day they were recorded.
— Bruce Kimmel

Playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKI4K9BsOKrUjHeY8_bcoppHDRzK8B1Yk