Something for the weekend. Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade. The Forties were a time of the greatest war in history, death and destruction of unimaginable proportions. It was also a striking cultural moment. Soon this well be beyond living memory. Inevitable but very sad.
Glenn Miller was a significant player in American culture as the Forties began. He lost his life in the War, a War he could have easily sat out but for his patriotism. His music endures.
Bonus:
American Patrol:
This particular tune has a problem that Burt Bacharach’s oeuvre does (if you grew up in a household where public radio was the default): it’s been played too often. To appreciate it, you have to have not heard it for a while.
This is an oft-played song which wears better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CI-0E_jses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbi_TyBzQkU
Desi Arnaz pulls out all the stops.
Arnaz was pure energy in his prime. He served in the Army during the War rising to staff sergeant. Assigned to a hospital for wounded vets he used his Hollywood connections to brighten their days. Learning that the first thing new patients wanted was a glass of milk he arranged for Hollywood starlets to pour the milk for them.
Learning that the first thing new patients wanted was a glass of milk
The past is another country.
A P-61 Black Widow pilot was staging his last mission at our Assisted Living.
What a brilliant man. He didn’t share alot of his memories except for the mention of the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he flew night raids. He passed away in 2009.
His photos were exceptional.
Don.
Your bonus brought back sweet memories of a kind man who flew the plane, I recall making the Black Widow as a model while being a kid in the late 60’s early 70’s.
What an honor to help all elderly as their new wings are being prepared for their flight home.
Peace.
https://youtube.com/shorts/cYtrcWeErsE?feature=share
I recall making the Black Widow as a model while being a kid in the late 60’s early 70’s.
So did I. A spectacular air craft.
A guy on my first ship was named Glenn Miller. There was another guy named Johnny Kasch, which was pronounced Cash.
One of my most beloved musical assets is a ten-LP set in a leather album cover entitled “Glenn Miller Limited Edition” which belonged to my mother, who graduated high school in 1944 and thus grew up with Miller and the other Big Bands. I no longer have a working turntable on which to play it, but I copied it all into my iTunes app some years back. Many of the songs are live recordings from Miller’s radio show. Marvelous music.
Also, you guys have inspired me to pull my P-61 Black Widow model kit (recently re-issued by Airfix in 1/72 scale) out of my stash and build it. 😁
In my lifetime, the Spanish American War and World War 1 have passed from living memory. World War 2 has almost passed from living memory (this includes the Big Band Era). The Korean War and the Vietnam War – at least its participants – will pass from living memory as well, if I have a life span consistent with my dad’s family that reaches its 90s.
We are lesser for it. When I was a kid, WW2 was not so far in the past. Me being a kid is now far in the past.
When my dad, a WWII veteran, got home from Europe, there were Salvation Army workers greeting the soldiers as they got off the ships in New York. The first thing they gave him was a carton of milk — which he hadn’t had in more than 3 years. He never forgot that and for the rest of his life he always gave to the Salvation Army Christmas kettles.