Glenn Miller Double Feature

[Alex Oviatt]

Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives--now there is a great pair of films. Watch then both together if you can. Great music--of course--but great clothes also. Not just on the stars like John Payne, but on all the band members. Glenn Miller wears his own clothes in them. Tex Beneke looks endearingly dorky. Lynn Bari looks great in both. Another great film for clothes watching is the original version of The Mummy. The cut of the tuxedo that David Manners wears literally takes one's breath away.....

 

[kittypackard]

Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives--now there is a great pair of films. Watch then both together if you can. Great music--of course--but great clothes also. Not just on the stars like John Payne, but on all the band members. Glenn Miller wears his own clothes in them. Tex Beneke looks endearingly dorky. Lynn Bari looks great in both. Another great film for clothes watching is the original version of The Mummy. The cut of the tuxedo that David Manners wears literally takes one's breath away.....

Oh aye, indeed! the added Sonja Henie factor is just a tremendous bonus. Plus, Orchestra Wives features one of my all time favourite songs-- I Know Why.

 

[Lily Powers]

I have Orchestra Wives on DVD and loved it from the moment the first note was played. The Nicolas brothers are outstanding (well, outdancing, I suppose would be a better way to describe them). Jackie Gleason has an uncredited role, too. The men's clothing is fun to watch in this movie because it's rather casual and maybe more of what the average Joe wore back in the day.

 

[dhermann1]

Sonja Henie, YES! But also, in Orchestra Wives, that gang of females, especially Carole Landis, great! And I always get a charge out of seeing actors pretending to play instruments. Almost as/even more than amusing as musicians pretending to be actors.
I particularly like hearing "At Last" sung in its correct ballad style, rather than as a blues, the way it is so often these days. NO big bands these days play ballads.
And it's interesting to see that some of the guys wear their sweaters tucked in, and some tucked out.

 

[Forgotten Man]

From my understanding the only guys who had to pretend to play were Cesar, George and Jackie. The other guys were the real band!

You all missed a wonderful part of Orchestra Wives... ANN RUTHERFORD!!! She's a doll! And I've met her more then once... what a sweet lady she is.

Love both the movies... have them on VHS but need to find the DVD's of both films.

 

[Lily Powers]

From my understanding the only guys who had to pretend to play were Cesar, George and Jackie. The other guys were the real band!

You all missed a wonderful part of Orchestra Wives... ANN RUTHERFORD!!! She's a doll! And I've met her more then once... what a sweet lady she is.

Love both the movies... have them on VHS but need to find the DVD's of both films.

I just caught her in a mystery comedy with Red Skelton the other night on TCM. I'd be far more excited to meet a star from that era than any current celebrity, so please share, what was Ann Rutherford like? How did you meet her? There is a narrative option on the DVD with Ann Rutherford and Fayard Nicholas talking about the film.

 

[dhermann1]

"From my understanding the only guys who had to pretend to play were Cesar, George and Jackie. The other guys were the real band!"
Yes, I know. Watching them "play" just tickles me. And YES to Ann Rutherford, too.

 

[The Wolf]

Those are two of my favorite movies.
I love Cesar Romero's line about girls back home pulling their hair to marry him, I won't ruin the rest of his line for people that haven't seen "Orchestra Wives" yet.
One of my prized possessions is a personally autographed photo from Ann Rutherford.

Sincerely,
The Wolf