Christmas with Glenn Miller's AAF Band, 1943

The AAF Band led by Miller; Bobby Nichols on trumpet

Here from a long-ago bootleg is the 1943 Christmas Show presented by Capt. Glenn Miller and his Band of the Army Air Force Training Command. It's from the band's I Sustain the Wings radio program broadcast on NBC December 18, 82 years ago today.

Surprisingly, the show was not given over to Christmas material - although some did appear later in the program. Instead, the first song was Miller's instrumental "I Hear You Screaming," which won't make many Christmas playlists. Still, it's a vigorous start to the proceedings in an impressive performance by Miller's powerhouse crew.

Glenn Miller

Miller used a "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" gimmick for constructing medleys. For this program, the old number is "In the Gloaming" [not the later song "By the Fireside (In the Gloaming)" but the 19th century tune by Annie Fortescue Harrison]. 

Johnny Desmond

The new song is "For the First Time," sung by PFC Johnny Desmond, at the beginning of his career.

The "borrowed" item is "Stompin' at the Savoy," which was courtesy of Benny Goodman, who himself had borrowed it from Edgar Sampson. And the "blue" item is Peter De Rose's "Deep Purple."

Next, the band takes a break and there is a short playlet called "Johnny the Kid Next Door." It concerns the anxiety that Johnny, an Air Force mechanic, feels when the bombers he attends to take off on a run over continental Europe.

Desmond returns for "Along the Santa Fe Trail," written by Hugh Williams, Al Dubin and Edwina Coolidge for the 1941 film Santa Fe Trail. Miller's civilian band had recorded it with a Ray Eberle vocal.

Oklahoma! was a giant hit on Broadway in 1943, and Miller pays homage via Sgt. Jerry Gray's rocking version of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," with a Crew Chiefs vocal - the lead, I believe, is Artie Malvin.

Glenn Miller and Jerry Gray

We now move into the holiday portion of the show, with the band playing "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," "White Christmas" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The latter is not the song familiar to us, but a different, touching wartime ballad with a Desmond vocal.

The program closes with one of Miller's great hits - F.W. Meacham's 1885 march "American Patrol" in Jerry Gray's famous arrangement.

All in all, a fine program in very good sound, sourced from a long-ago bootleg.

FYI - there's more Christmas radio from World War II new on the singles blog: a set of the 1944 Christmas Seal radio spots.

LINK to Glenn Miller's AAF Band Christmas Show