Trivia
The last three strip Technicolor film released by an American studio in a dye imbibition print.
One of the three films June Allyson considered her personal favorites of her films.
An RCA Victor 10-inch album of eight Miller originals, recorded between 1939 and 1943, called "Glenn Miller Plays Selections From The Glenn Miller Story," reached number one on the "Billboard" album chart in May 1954. With four cuts added, a 12-inch LP, retitled "Glenn Miller Plays Selections From The Glenn Miller Story And Other Hits," was released in 1956. The expanded disc went on to become a Certified Gold Album in 1961.
Decca's 10-inch, eight-track soundtrack LP, ascending to number one on the "Billboard" album chart in March 1954, omitted the teaming of Frances Langford (in her last film) with The Modernaires (in their last picture) on the classic train song, "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon). The audio has been restored on an import CD of the soundtrack, courtesy of the Pid label. In connection with the film's release, Coral Records, a Decca subsidiary, had The Modernaires record two medleys of Glenn Miller hits, released on both sides of a 45-rpm single, which charted up to number 29 in "Billboard" during 1954. The quintet's Miller tribute can be enjoyed on a 1998 Modernaires CD from Varese Sarabande called "Singin' and Swingin'." In 1956, the Decca soundtrack album was expanded into a 12-inch LP, adding two studio cuts by Louis Armstrong and The All Stars, "Basin Street Blues" (music and lyrics by Spencer Williams) and "Otchi-Tchor-Ni-Ya" (music by Florian Hermann, improvised lyrics by Louis Armstrong). The second Armstrong ditty had not been performed by him in the movie. Towards the end of 1958, Decca reissued the soundtrack LP in true stereo.
The mystery of Glenn Miller's disappearance may have been resolved in recent years by the discovery of a RAF pilot's flight log. He was part of a flight returning from an aborted bombing raid that was ordered to drop their used bombs over the Channel. A small plane was observed straying into their path and was destroyed. That plane is now believed to be Miller's.
Harry Morgan, who plays Chummy MacGregor, co-starred with the real Glenn Miller in
Orchestra Wives (1942).
Second of three movies where James Stewart and June Allyson played husband and wife.
Among those attending the premiere of the film was Glenn Miller's mother, who thought the film good enough, but opined that her son was better-looking than James Stewart.
