Marion Hutton born 10 March 1919

Marion Hutton (born Marion Thornburg; March 10, 1919 – January 10, 1987) was an American singer and actress. She is best remembered for her singing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1938–1942. She was the sister of actress and singer Betty Hutton and is considered one of the pre-eminent female vocalists of the Big Band era.  

Born as Marion Thornburg in Fort Smith, Arkansas, she was the elder sister of actress Betty Hutton. They were raised in Battle Creek, Michigan. The sisters' father abandoned the family when they were both young; he later committed suicide. Their mother worked a variety of jobs to support the family until she became a successful bootlegger.  

Both sisters sang with the Vincent Lopez Orchestra in 1938. Marion’s career took a turn for the better when Glenn Miller heard the two sisters sing one night in Boston and she was invited to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

 

Hutton was not allowed to sing in the nightclubs due to the fact she was underage. Miller and his wife Helen signed papers to officially declare themselves foster parents to serve as Hutton's chaperone in the nightclubs which allowed her access in these venues. Marion Hutton considered herself more an entertainer than a singer.

 

"I was only seventeen then and so Glenn and Helen [Miller] became my legal guardians. He was like a father because I never had a father I remembered." Miller wanted Hutton to appear as an all-American girl, so on her first few performances he introduced her as "Sissy Jones." The pseudonym was not used beyond those first performances. 

In the summer of 1939 Marion was replaced by Kay Starr as Miller's female lead after she collapsed on the bandstand due to exhaustion. She soon returned and all went well until early 1941 when a gossip columnist discovered that she was pregnant. Though she was married and could have easily sang with the band for several more months despite her condition. The embarrassment was too much for her, and she resigned. Miller replaced her with Bobby Byrne vocalist Dorothy Claire. 

Marion returned to Miller in August, however, and stayed until the orchestra's final night, until the orchestra disbanded in 1942.  Songs she was identified with included ''Kalamazoo,'' ''Chatanooga Choo Choo,'' ''Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree,'' ''I'll Be Seeing You,'' and "The Five O'clock Whistle." 

 

 

                             

Marion Hutton had a small role in the film Orchestra Wives (1942; Twentieth Century Fox), in which the Glenn Miller Orchestra starred. After Miller joined the Army in 1942, she went with fellow Miller performers Tex Beneke and the Modernaires on a theatre tour. 

The next important event in her entertainment career was a role in “In Society” with Abbott and Costello in 1944. Marion Hutton appeared with the Desi Arnaz orchestra in October 1947 at the Radio City Theatre in Minneapolis. As the 1940s wound down, so did Marion's career. Her last film role was in 1949, acting in the Marx Brothers' Love Happy. 

Hutton was married three times. She married publicist and television producer Jack Philbin in 1940. She and Philbin had two sons, John and Phillip. Her next marriage, to writer Jack Douglas, produced a third son, Peter. Peter Hemming is a noted photojournalist. Her last and longest marriage was in 1954 to Vic Schoen, an arranger for the Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby, among other artists in the 1940s. The couple remained married until her death in 1987. Looking back on her first marriage, in 1974 she told George T. Simon, “What I wanted most of all was to be a wife and mother. I had no drive for a career." 

Marion struggled with alcoholism and prescription drug abuse in her later life until seeking treatment in 1965, after she devoted her life to helping other women with the same problem. Going back to school in 1972, she earned a master’s degree in family counselling. Schoen arranged music for Glenn Miller Remembered, a PBS production videotaped in Seattle, 1984, starring Tex Beneke and Marion Hutton. 

She and Schoen eventually settled in Kirkland, Washington, where Marion served as director of Residence XII, an alcoholic treatment centre for women, a position she held until her death in 1987 after a long bout with cancer. Marion Hutton was 67.  
(Compiled from numerous sources mainly Wikipedia).

Ray Eberle born 19 January 1919

Raymond "Ray" Eberle (born January 19, 1919, Hoosick Falls, New York — died August 25, 1979, Douglasville, Georgia) was a vocalist during the Big Band Era. Eberle sang with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. 

He was born in Hoosick Falls, New York. His father, John A. Eberle, was a local policeman, sign-painter, and publican (tavern-keeper). His elder brother was Big Band singer, Bob Eberly, who sang with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. Ray started singing in his teens, with no formal training. In 1938, Glenn Miller, who was looking for a male vocalist for his big band, asked Eberly if he had any siblings at home who could sing. Bob said "yes", and Ray was hired on the spot. Eberle recalled walking by a table when his similar looking brother was performing, and being stopped by Miller and invited to audition. Music critics and Miller's musicians were reportedly unhappy with Eberle's vocal style but Miller stuck with him. 

Ray Eberle went on to find success with Miller, deeming the songs for Orchestra Wives, such as the jazz standard "At Last", to be among his favorites as there were songs he could "sink my teeth into, and make a story out of". 

He appeared in the Twentieth Century Fox movies, Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942). 

He made several Universal films, including Mister Big, making a cameo appearance as himself. Eberle mostly sang ballads. From 1940-43 he did well on Billboard (magazine)'s "College Poll" for male vocalist. He also appeared on numerous television variety shows in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Ray Eberle sang lead on "Sometime", composed by Glenn Miller in 1939, "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", "At Last", a number 9 chart hit on Billboard in 1942, and "To You", but Miller ran a tight ship and often fired people after one negative incident. Eberle was stuck in traffic one day during a Chicago engagement, and was late for a rehearsal. Miller fired him on the spot, and replaced him in June 1942 with Skip Nelson.  Eberle responded by blasting Miller in a trade paper. An angry Miller retorted with his own version of Eberle's firing.  

                 Here's "Deep Purple" from above 1957 album.

After his departure from Miller, Eberle briefly joined Gene Krupa's band before launching a solo career. He later joined former Miller bandmate Tex Beneke's orchestra in 1970 for a national tour, and reformed his own orchestra later in the decade. 

Ray and his wife, Janet (née Young), had two children, Jan and Laurie Eberle. Janet's daughter Nancy Atchison became Nancy Eberle when she married Ray. He had two sons from his second marriage to Joanne Eberle (née Genthon), Ray Eberle Jr. and John Eberle. He also had a grandson, named Tray. Ray Eberle died of a heart attack in Douglasville, Georgia on August 25, 1979, aged 60.

(Info edited mainly from Wikipedia)

Glenn Miller & His Band perform "At Last" with vocals by Ray Eberle, and Lynn Bari (miming Pat Friday’s vocals.)

Paula Kelly born 6 March 1919

 

 

Paula Kelly (April 6, 1919 - April 2, 1992) was an American big band singer, mainly remembered as being a member of The Modernaires.

 

Born in Pennsylvania, in her early career, she initially sang with her two sisters, Martha and Judith, all daughters of Grove City dentist Dr. Herbert Augustus Kelly and his wife, Julia. Nicknamed "Pepper," Paula was an accomplished musician. She played violin and had perfect pitch, but excelled at singing.(Photo of The Kelly Sisters - Martha, Paula and Judy)

 

Her mother entered the Sisters in Major Bowes Amateur Hour. They won the contest and went on the road. Martha and Judith soon tired of show business, and Paula went solo. She worked with several orchestras, including Dick Stabile, Artie Shaw, and Al Donahue, before joining Glenn Miller, where she was brought in to replace Dorothy Claire in early 1941. Claire herself had been brought in to replace Marion Hutton, who was on leave of absence, but hadn't work out.

 

Kelly originally performed solo, but also soon became the female lead of The Modernaires, originally a male trio, then a quartet, resulting in the group becoming a quintet of four male singers and herself. Paula married Hal Dickinson, one of the original members of the Modernaires, shortly after joining the group on New Year’s Eve 1939. 

 

(Photo from top: L to R Hal Dickinson, John Drake, Fran Scott, Paula Kelly &  Ralph Brewster.) Hutton also briefly became part of the ensemble upon her return to Miller in August 1941, though Kelly remained the female. When Miss Hutton returned to the band, Miss Kelly briefly joined Artie Shaw, recording "Make Love to Me" and "I Don't Want to Walk Without You."

 

 

 

 

After appearing in the movie Sun Valley Serenade with Miller's orchestra in 1941, they had ten chart hits that year. Songs made popular by Miller and The Modernaires included "Perfidia", "Chattanooga Choo-Choo", with Tex Beneke (the first-ever "gold record" with over one million copies sold), "I Know Why", "Elmer's Tune", "Serenade In Blue", and "Kalamazoo", with Beneke, among others. In 1945, "There! I've Said It Again" became The Modernaire's first top-twenty hit.

 

In 1942, Glenn Miller went into World War II military service and his band broke up. The Modernaires, without Hutton, continued performing and recording material with Kelly as lead singer, often with Tex Beneke, who formed a post-war Miller tribute orchestra. Johnny Drake replaced Chuck Goldstein (who left the Modernaires the day after the Miller band broke up in 1942) and Fran Scott replaced Bill Conway. The Modernaires started performing on their own as the Glenn Miller Singers, before reverting to the Modernaires. Several members came and went, the most notable replacement being Allan Copeland, who wrote and arranged for Count Basie, Les Brown, Sarah Vaughn and others.

 

The Modernaires found success recording on their own and backing Doris Day and Sinatra. They appeared in movies such as "The Glenn Miller Story," "Orchestra Wives" and "Sun Valley Serenade," and on Bob Crosby’s radio program, "Club 15," which evolved into television’s "The Bob Crosby Show." The Modernaires were regulars on Crosby’s ventures. (Photo of  Kelly and the Modernaires when they were regulars on the CBS radio program Club 15, 1951.)

 

For the next few decades they

travelled the world many times over making history with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They continued with Kelly as lead singer until 1978, when she retired in favour of her daughter, who performed as Paula Kelly Jr.(died 26 April 2012). She had two other daughters, Martha (died 22 March 2006) and Juliann.

 

 

In 1976 she married Richard Turner to whom she was married until her death and lived in a fashionable Laguna Beach home. Paula died in a Costa Mesa convalescent home on April 2, 1992 after a long illness, four days before her 73rd birthday. (Info edited from Wikipedia , Solid! and The Herald, Pennsylvania)

 

 

Sun Valley Serenade is the first of the only two movies featuring The Glenn Miller Orchestra (the other is 1942's Orchestra Wives). Besides "Chattanooga Choo Choo", other Glenn Miller tunes in the film are "Moonlight Serenade", "It Happened in Sun Valley", "I Know Why (and So Do You)", and "In the Mood". Featuring Glenn Miller Orchestra, Tex Beneke, Paula Kelly and The Modernaires.

 

Glenn Miller born 1 March 1904

Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – missing in action December 15, 1944), was an American jazz musician and band leader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big Bands". Miller's signature recordings include, "In the Mood", "Tuxedo Junction", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Moonlight Serenade", "Little Brown Jug", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000".

Alton Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa on March 1, 1904. But it was in North Platte, Nebraska, several years later that Glenn actually got his musical start when, one day, his father brought home a mandolin. Glenn promptly traded it for an old battered horn, which he practiced every chance he got. In fact his mother worried, "It got to where Pop and I used to wonder if he'd ever amount to anything."

In 1923, Miller entered the University of Colorado, although he spent more time traveling to auditions and playing where and whenever he could. After flunking three of his five courses one semester, Glenn dropped out to concentrate on his career as a professional musician.

He toured with several orchestras and ended up in Los Angeles where he landed a spot in Ben Pollack's group, a band that included a guy named Benny Goodman. Here, Miller also got the chance to write some arrangements. Arriving in New York City, he soon sent for, and married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger in 1928, and for the next three years, earned his living as a free-lance trombonist and arranger.

Miller played and recorded with the likes of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey (who on several of their records, featured an up-and-coming singer by the name of Bing Crosby), Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon and Coleman Hawkins. In addition, during that time, Glenn cut 18 sides for Goodman, and also worked for radio studio conductors like Victor Young, Carl Fenton and Jacques Renard. In 1934, Miller became the musical director of the Dorsey Band, and later went on to organize The Ray Noble Orchestra, which included such players as Charlie Spivak, Peewee Erwin, Bud Freeman, Johnny Mince,
George Van Eps and Delmar Kaplan, among others.

In April 1935, Glenn Miller recorded, for the first time, under his own name. Using six horns, a rhythm section and a string quartet, he recorded "Moonlight on the Ganges" and "A Blues Serenade" for Columbia. But selling only a few hundred records, he continued his position with the Noble Orchestra.

In 1937, Glenn Miller stepped out to form his own band. There were a few recordings -- one for Decca and one for Brunswick -- a couple of week-long stints in New Orleans and Dallas, and many one-nighters, but it was not to be. Though the group would play one more date several days later in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Glenn gave his men their final notice on New Year's Eve at the Valencia Ballroom in York, Pennsylvania. Broke, depressed and having no idea what he was going to do, he returned to New York City.

It is said that Miller could never remember precisely the moment he decided to emphasize his new reed section sound. But it was during this disheartening interim, that he realized the unique sound -- produced by the clarinet holding the melodic line while the tenor sax plays the same note, and supported harmonically by three other saxophones -- just might be the individual and easily recognizable style that would set his band apart from all the rest.

 
Formed in March 1938, the second Glenn Miller Orchestra -- which would later include the likes of Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle, Paul Tanner, Johnny Best, Hal McIntyre, and Al Klinck -- soon began breaking attendance records all up and down the East Coast. At the New York State Fair in Syracuse it attracted the largest dancing crowd in the city's history. The next night it topped Guy Lombardo's all-time record at the Hershey Park Ballroom in Pennsylvania. The Orchestra was invited by ASCAP to perform at Carnegie Hall with three of the greatest bands ever -- Paul Whiteman, Fred Waring and Benny Goodman -- and created more of a stir than any of them.

There were record-breaking recordings, as well, such as "Tuxedo Junction", which sold 115,000 copies in the first week. "In the Mood", and "Pennsylvania 6-5000", all appearing on the RCA Victor Bluebird label. 

 

In early 1940, Down Beat Magazine announced that Miller had topped all other bands in its Sweet Band Poll, and capping off this seemingly sudden rise to the top, there was, of course, Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" radio series for Chesterfield cigarettes which aired three times a week over CBS.  In 1941, it was off to Hollywood where the band worked on its first movie, "Sun Valley Serenade", which introduced the song -- and soon-to-be million selling record --"Chattanooga Choo Choo", and featured the Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers. Then came "Orchestra Wives". But the war was starting to take its toll on many of the big bands as musicians, and the rest of the country's young men, began receiving draft notices.

On October 7, 1942, Alton Glenn Miller reported for induction into the Army and was immediately assigned to the Army Specialist Corps. His appointment as a Captain came after many months of convincing the military higher-ups that he could modernize the army band and ultimately improve the morale of the men. His training complete, he was transferred into the Army Air Corps, where he ultimately organized the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Miller's goal of entertaining the fighting troops took another year to be realized, but in late 1943 he and the band were shipped out to England.

 There, in less than one year, the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band engaged in over 800 performances. Of these, 500 were broadcasts heard by millions. There were more than 300 personal appearances including concerts and dances, with a gross attendance of over 600,000. But Glenn was not to participate in the final six months of these activities.

In the Fall of 1944, the band was scheduled to be sent on a six-week tour of Europe and would be stationed in Paris during that time. Miller decided to go ahead, in order to make the proper arrangements for the group's arrival. And so, on December 15th, Glenn Miller boarded a transport plane to Paris, never to be seen again.

Six decades later, Millers music lives on. Larry O’Brien and The Glenn Miller Orchestra tour the United States, Canada and Japan, performing a total of 48 weeks each year. The Glenn Miller Orchestra is the most popular big band performing today – and has been since it started touring in 1956. Glenn Miller’s record sales remain phenomenal. In 2007 Amazon lists more than 1,100 CD’s by Glenn Miller or bands playing in the Miller style.

Glenn Miller was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

(Info mainly Wikipedia)


Here's a clip of In The Mood from the film "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941), featuring Glenn Miller Orchestra. Sun Valley Serenade is the first of the only two movies featuring The Glenn Miller Orchestra (the other is 1942's Orchestra Wives). Besides "Chattanooga Choo Choo", other Glenn Miller tunes in the film are "Moonlight Serenade", "It Happened in Sun Valley", "I Know Why (and So Do You)", and "In the Mood".