WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.899 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We have a stack 00:00:02.899 --> 00:00:05.660 of sources today that honestly sent me down a 00:00:05.660 --> 00:00:07.940 rabbit hole I wasn't expecting. We are looking 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:12.320 at a sound and I guarantee 100 % that you know 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:14.820 this sound, even if you think you don't, even 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:17.219 if you've never, you know, willingly put on a 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:20.739 record from the 1940s. It is. It's just embedded 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:23.600 in your cultural DNA. It really is. It's unavoidable. 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:25.579 You hear it in movies. You hear it in commercials, 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:28.160 maybe in the background of a video game set in 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.300 World War II. Yeah. It's the sonic wallpaper 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:33.119 of the early 40s. Exactly. We are talking about 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.299 the music of the swing era, but specifically 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:37.899 we are talking about the man who defined it, 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.320 Alton Glenn Miller. The one and only. But here's 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:42.979 the thing. When I started reading through the 00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:45.320 biography and the military reports we have here, 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.899 I realized this isn't just a behind the music 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.520 story. This is a mystery. It's a massive mystery. 00:00:50.859 --> 00:00:53.259 It's arguably the biggest missing persons case 00:00:53.259 --> 00:00:55.240 in music history. Right. I think people forget 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:57.280 the scale of this. We are talking about the single 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:59.799 biggest pop star on the planet vanishing into 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:03.219 thin air at the absolute peak of his fame. And 00:01:03.219 --> 00:01:05.540 pop star is the right term. I know it sounds 00:01:05.540 --> 00:01:08.849 a bit. anachronistic but that's what he was well 00:01:08.849 --> 00:01:10.590 let's get into that because i was looking at 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:12.810 the numbers in our source material and i actually 00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:14.269 had to double check them because i thought there 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:17.030 was a typo The chart statistics. The chart statistics. 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:20.269 I saw a comparison in the notes that put Glenn 00:01:20.269 --> 00:01:22.930 Miller up against, well, against Elvis and the 00:01:22.930 --> 00:01:25.150 Beatles. Which sounds like hyperbole. It does. 00:01:25.269 --> 00:01:27.209 My first thought was, OK, that's cute. They're 00:01:27.209 --> 00:01:29.090 trying to hype up a trombone player. But then 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:31.450 I looked at the actual data. It is startling, 00:01:31.450 --> 00:01:34.409 isn't it? It's unbelievable. So lay it out for 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:37.810 us. How big was he, really? Well, OK, if we are 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:41.290 just looking at number one hits. Yeah. Inside 00:01:41.290 --> 00:01:45.719 a span of just four years. Glenn Miller scored 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:49.099 more number one records than Elvis Presley or 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:51.400 the Beatles would later achieve. In their entire 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.799 careers. In their entire careers. That is just, 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:56.659 that breaks my brain a little bit. Four years. 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.120 Four years. We're talking 16 number one hits 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:03.420 and 69 top 10 hits. 69. That is dominance on 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:06.000 a level that I don't think we see today. Maybe 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.699 Taylor Swift comes close in terms of... you know 00:02:08.699 --> 00:02:11.439 market saturation but even then there's so much 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:14.360 noise today back then glenn miller was the radio 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:18.139 he was and yet the mission of this deep dive 00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:21.060 isn't just to marvel at the numbers it's to figure 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:25.000 out how how does a guy playing the trombone which 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.080 let's be honest isn't the sexiest instrument 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.419 in the band not at all how does he become a rock 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:32.750 star before rock stars existed And then the second 00:02:32.750 --> 00:02:35.270 part of the mission, what actually happened over 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:37.810 the English Channel in 1944? Because the ending 00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:40.090 of this story is so abrupt. It's like watching 00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:42.509 a movie and the projector ball burns out right 00:02:42.509 --> 00:02:44.509 before the climax. That's a perfect analogy. 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:47.310 He disappears, leaving behind an empty grave 00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:50.250 and a legacy that refuses to die. But to understand 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:53.030 the tragedy, we have to understand the man. And 00:02:53.030 --> 00:02:54.889 this is where the sources get interesting, because 00:02:54.889 --> 00:02:58.319 Glenn Miller wasn't your typical, you know. Tortured 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:00.439 artistic genius. No, he definitely wasn't. I 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:02.280 was expecting stories about him being a child 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:04.919 prodigy, you know, playing concertos at age three. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:08.259 But the reality is, well, it's a lot more Midwestern. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.919 Very Midwestern. He was born in Iowa in 1904. 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.219 Then the family moved to Nebraska, then Missouri, 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.240 then Colorado. This was a childhood defined by 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.319 dust and hard work. There is one anecdote in 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:21.400 particular that I absolutely love. It's about 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:24.939 how he got his first trombone. It wasn't a gift 00:03:24.939 --> 00:03:26.759 from a wealthy patron or something. Yeah, not 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.430 at all. It was 1915, the family is living in 00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:31.810 Missouri, and trombones are expensive pieces 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:35.669 of brass. So at age 11, Glenn Miller gets a job 00:03:35.669 --> 00:03:37.949 milking cows to pay for it. I just have this 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:40.150 image of him, you know, it's freezing cold, it's 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:43.409 early morning, and the future king of swing is 00:03:43.409 --> 00:03:46.370 sitting on a stool in a barn milking a cow, just 00:03:46.370 --> 00:03:49.069 dreaming of sliding that trombone slide. It's 00:03:49.069 --> 00:03:51.349 pure grit. Totally. It sets the tone for his 00:03:51.349 --> 00:03:54.090 entire career. He was a hustler. He wasn't waiting 00:03:54.090 --> 00:03:55.969 for inspiration to strike. He was working for 00:03:55.969 --> 00:03:58.210 it. And he wasn't just a band geek either, which 00:03:58.210 --> 00:04:00.389 surprised me. The sources point out that when 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:03.289 the family moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado, he 00:04:03.289 --> 00:04:05.430 was a legitimate high school athlete. Yeah, best 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:07.669 left end in Colorado, right? That's the title 00:04:07.669 --> 00:04:10.229 he got in 1921. He played high school football. 00:04:10.610 --> 00:04:12.669 And he was the editor of the yearbook. Which 00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:14.930 brings up a funny little detail about his sort 00:04:14.930 --> 00:04:17.730 of personal branding. Oh, the spelling issue. 00:04:18.009 --> 00:04:20.250 Yeah, he couldn't decide on his own name. I saw 00:04:20.250 --> 00:04:21.870 that in the notes. It seems he couldn't decide 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:24.470 who he was. Right. In the yearbooks that he himself 00:04:24.470 --> 00:04:27.569 edited, he would spell his name Glenn with one 00:04:27.569 --> 00:04:30.209 N, and then on the next page it would be Glenn 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:33.350 with two Ns. It's relatable, though. He's a teenager 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:35.990 trying to figure out his signature. Which one 00:04:35.990 --> 00:04:38.850 looks better on a marquee? Turns out the two 00:04:38.850 --> 00:04:42.449 Ns won. Thankfully. But this drive, this need 00:04:42.449 --> 00:04:45.209 to succeed, it hits a brick wall when he gets 00:04:45.209 --> 00:04:47.370 to college. And this is the part of the story 00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:49.910 that I think gives hope to anyone who has ever 00:04:49.910 --> 00:04:52.350 failed a class. Oh, this is my favorite fact 00:04:52.350 --> 00:04:54.810 in the entire stack. So he goes to the University 00:04:54.810 --> 00:04:57.689 of Colorado at Boulder. He joins a fraternity. 00:04:57.689 --> 00:04:59.709 He's playing music on the side, you know, to 00:04:59.709 --> 00:05:02.649 make some cash. But he drops out. And he doesn't 00:05:02.649 --> 00:05:04.990 drop out because he's too cool for school. He 00:05:04.990 --> 00:05:07.310 drops out because he flunks. Yeah, he failed 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:09.649 three out of his five classes in one semester. 00:05:09.790 --> 00:05:11.529 And what are those classes? Tell them what one 00:05:11.529 --> 00:05:13.670 of the classes was. It was harmony. Harmony. 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:16.050 The man who would go on to define the harmonic 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:19.990 structure of an entire generation of music failed 00:05:19.990 --> 00:05:22.529 the academic subject of harmony. It's the ultimate 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:25.250 irony. It is. It just proves that textbook theory 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:27.610 and what actually sounds good to the human ear 00:05:27.610 --> 00:05:30.569 are two very different things. Or maybe he just 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:33.329 was too busy playing gigs to study. It was likely 00:05:33.329 --> 00:05:35.689 a mix of both. He was already working. He was 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:37.410 already out there playing dance halls. He probably 00:05:37.410 --> 00:05:39.430 looked at the textbook and thought, that's not 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:42.209 how we do it in the real world. So we leave school 00:05:42.209 --> 00:05:44.709 and he hits the road. And this is what our sources 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:48.699 call. the wandering years he's a freelance trombonist 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:51.620 he's an arranger he's working with legends right 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:54.459 he is he's in the trenches with benny goodman 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:57.199 with the dorsey brothers this is the late 20s 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.939 early 30s jazz is exploding but miller miller 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:03.959 isn't a star not even close he's a side man exactly 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:06.240 he's the guy you hired to make the charts look 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.180 neat and the brass sections sound tight he's 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:12.339 reliable but he's not the main event And he tries 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.259 to launch his own band in 1937. And it bombs. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:19.540 Total failure. Complete and utter failure. The 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:23.339 band broke up in 1938. He's broke. He's in his 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:26.339 mid -30s and he's looking at a dead end. That 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:29.240 is a terrifying place to be. You've given your 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:31.800 life to this and the market says no thanks. But 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:34.579 this is where the genius kicks in. He realizes 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:37.100 why he failed. It wasn't because he wasn't good 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:39.480 enough. It was because he wasn't different enough. 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:42.610 Exactly. Here realized he sounded like everyone 00:06:42.610 --> 00:06:46.209 else. If you turned on the radio in 1938, every 00:06:46.209 --> 00:06:48.449 band was trying to sound like Benny Goodman or 00:06:48.449 --> 00:06:51.389 Count Basie. Miller realized he needed a unique 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:53.829 selling proposition. He needed a sonic brand. 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:55.990 So let's get technical for a second, but keep 00:06:55.990 --> 00:06:57.730 it simple for me. What was the Miller sound? 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:00.149 Because when I hear in the mood, I hear a big 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:02.069 wall of sound that was happening under the hood. 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:05.769 It's a very specific voicing trick. So in a standard 00:07:05.769 --> 00:07:08.170 swing band, you have your sections. The saxophones 00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:09.810 play together, the trumpets play together, the 00:07:09.810 --> 00:07:11.810 trombones play together. They usually stay in 00:07:11.810 --> 00:07:13.970 their lanes. Right. Everyone has their part. 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:17.170 Miller decided to break the lanes. He took a 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:19.730 clarinet, a woodwind instrument, usually high 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:21.930 and piercing, and he put it on the melody line. 00:07:22.529 --> 00:07:25.709 Then he had a tenor saxophone play the exact 00:07:25.709 --> 00:07:29.279 same note. So they are doubling each other. Yes, 00:07:29.300 --> 00:07:32.519 but the tickers, the textures of the instruments 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.459 verge in this really unique way. And then underneath 00:07:35.459 --> 00:07:38.660 that, he had three other saxophones playing very 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:41.139 tight harmony within a single octave. So it's 00:07:41.139 --> 00:07:44.040 dense. It is incredibly dense. And that combination, 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:46.759 the clarinet sweetening the sax, the sax giving 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.199 body to the clarinet, created this sound that 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:53.860 was metallic but soft. It was like velvet. Velvet 00:07:53.860 --> 00:07:56.560 is the perfect word. It sounds smooth. And nobody 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:58.439 else was doing it. There's a great quote from 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:00.800 Miller in Metronome Magazine from 1939. He says, 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:02.980 I don't want stereotyped intros. He knew what 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:04.639 he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.860 He said, the fifth sax playing clarinet lets 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:08.670 you know whose band you're listening to. And 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:10.170 that's about all there is to it. He was building 00:08:10.170 --> 00:08:12.350 a brand. He wasn't just making art. He was making 00:08:12.350 --> 00:08:14.589 a product that you could identify in three seconds. 00:08:14.850 --> 00:08:16.449 And that is the difference between a musician 00:08:16.449 --> 00:08:19.870 and a mogul. So the brand is built. The sound 00:08:19.870 --> 00:08:22.850 is locked in. And now we enter the golden era. 00:08:23.769 --> 00:08:27.889 Section two of our outline, dominance. And we 00:08:27.889 --> 00:08:30.170 threw those stats out earlier, 16 number ones. 00:08:30.430 --> 00:08:32.669 But I want to talk about how that felt for the 00:08:32.669 --> 00:08:35.590 average person in America. Well. Think about 00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:38.649 how we consume music now. You have Spotify, YouTube, 00:08:39.090 --> 00:08:41.889 Apple Music. You have millions of choices. An 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:44.809 infinite scroll of music. Exactly. In 1940, you 00:08:44.809 --> 00:08:47.029 had the radio and you had the jukebox. The jukebox 00:08:47.029 --> 00:08:50.210 was the algorithm of the day. It was. Time magazine 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:53.269 reported in 1939 that if you walked into a diner 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:56.190 or a bar, there were usually 12 to 24 records 00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:58.809 in the jukebox. They estimated that in every 00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:01.549 single jukebox in America, two to six of those 00:09:01.549 --> 00:09:04.149 discs were Glenn Miller. That is inescapable. 00:09:04.149 --> 00:09:06.330 That is like opening Instagram, TikTok, and turning 00:09:06.330 --> 00:09:08.970 on the TV and seeing the same person on all of 00:09:08.970 --> 00:09:11.049 them. And it wasn't just volume. It was sales. 00:09:11.490 --> 00:09:13.169 We have to talk about Chattanooga Choo Choo. 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:15.429 Oh, classic. Pardon me, boy. That song was a 00:09:15.429 --> 00:09:18.710 monster. In 1942, RCA Victor actually had to 00:09:18.710 --> 00:09:21.029 invent an award for it. They presented Glenn 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:23.009 Miller with the first ever gold record. Wait, 00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:25.549 the gold record concept didn't exist before him? 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:29.490 Not formally. Not as we know it. But Chattanooga 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:33.840 Choo Choo. sold 1 .2 million copies. That was 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.419 unheard of. So they took a master disc, sprayed 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.080 it with gold lacquer, and gave it to him live 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:43.399 on a radio broadcast. That is a cool piece of 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.220 trivia. He literally set the gold standard. He 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:48.700 did. The band was in movies, too. Sun Valley 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:51.940 Serenade, Orchestra Wives, they were a multimedia 00:09:51.940 --> 00:09:54.970 juggernaut. But... And there is always a but 00:09:54.970 --> 00:09:57.070 in these stories. Not everyone was happy about 00:09:57.070 --> 00:09:58.990 this. You would think the jazz community would 00:09:58.990 --> 00:10:00.750 be thrilled that a jazz band was the biggest 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:02.889 thing in the world. You'd think. But looking 00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:06.009 at the critiques from the time, they were brutal. 00:10:06.149 --> 00:10:08.529 They were vicious. And this touches on a debate 00:10:08.529 --> 00:10:11.110 that still happens in music today. Commercialism 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:13.950 versus authenticity. The sellout argument. Exactly. 00:10:13.990 --> 00:10:16.889 The jazz critics, the purists, hated Glenn Miller. 00:10:17.049 --> 00:10:18.889 Why? Just because he was too popular? That was 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:20.570 part of it. But it was also because of how he 00:10:20.570 --> 00:10:23.480 played. Jazz, especially in the 30s, was supposed 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.100 to be hot. It was supposed to be about improvisation, 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:29.620 spontaneity, soul. Think of Count Basie, Duke 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:31.279 Ellington. It was supposed to be a little dangerous. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.580 And Miller was safe. Miller was engineering. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.259 His band was letter perfect. They rehearsed endlessly. 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:40.559 There was very little improvisation. If you went 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:42.899 to see Glenn Miller, you heard the record exactly 00:10:42.899 --> 00:10:46.120 as it was recorded. No surprises. So the critics 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:48.539 saw him as a robot. They called it commercial 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:52.679 novelty. They said it lacked feeling. They basically 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:56.139 accused him of taking the soul out of jazz and 00:10:56.139 --> 00:10:58.759 replacing it with a metronome. I can see that 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:00.720 point of view but I can also hear Miller's response. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.700 He didn't care, did he? Not at all. He was unapologetic. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:08.399 He famously said, I don't want a jazz band. He 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.639 just said it straight out. Straight out. He said, 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.139 I want to please the listeners. He knew that 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:14.879 the guy working in the factory or the girl at 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:17.440 the soda fountain didn't want a 15 -minute frenetic 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:19.659 trumpet solo. They wanted a melody they could 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:21.799 hum and a beat they could dance to. He was a 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:25.019 populist. He was. But, and this is important, 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:27.840 while the critics sneered, the real musicians 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.539 didn't. Who were we talking about? Well, for 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:32.960 starters, Louis Armstrong. The king. The king, 00:11:33.059 --> 00:11:35.759 Sashmo. Louis Armstrong carried Glenn Miller's 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.299 recordings with him on tour. He listened to them 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:40.860 on his own time for pleasure. Frank Sinatra said 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:42.659 he wished he could record music of that quality. 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:45.240 Wow. So the people who actually understood the 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:47.159 mechanics of it. The people who actually played 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.779 the instruments knew. They knew that achieving 00:11:49.779 --> 00:11:52.820 that level of blend and perfection is incredibly 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:55.059 difficult. Yeah. It might sound easy, but it's 00:11:55.059 --> 00:11:56.600 the hardest thing to do. It's the difference 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:58.679 between a jam session and a symphony. Precisely. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:00.789 It's a different kind of virtuosity. So 1942, 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:03.529 Miller is at the absolute peak. He's on top of 00:12:03.529 --> 00:12:05.289 the world. And we have to talk about the money 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:07.690 again because it sets up the sacrifice. The notes 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:11.730 say he was making $20 ,000 a week. Yes. Now, 00:12:11.830 --> 00:12:14.309 inflation calculators can be tricky. But if we 00:12:14.309 --> 00:12:17.190 adjust that to 2024 dollars, that is roughly 00:12:17.190 --> 00:12:20.730 $385 ,000. Per week. Per week. That is nearly 00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:24.870 $20 million a year. In 1942, he is wealthy beyond 00:12:24.870 --> 00:12:27.720 imagination. He is 38 years old. He's married. 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.659 He wears glasses. And the draft board classifies 00:12:30.659 --> 00:12:34.639 him as 3A, which means deferred due to dependency 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:38.899 or basically low priority. The military did not 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:41.340 want him. He was too old and he was too valuable 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:44.039 as a taxpayer. So he could have sat in his mansion 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:47.519 in New Jersey, counted his money and waited out 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.899 the war. Easily. Nobody would have blamed him. 00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:52.720 In fact, people probably expected him to. But 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.899 he doesn't. And this is where the character of 00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:57.360 the man really shines through. He walks away 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.440 from $20 ,000 a week to volunteer for the army. 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.379 He actually tried the Navy first. He shopped 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.720 around for a uniform. He did. He approached the 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:08.399 Navy and they turned him down. They were afraid 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.200 of a scandal. There was a lot of sensitivity 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:12.700 about celebrities getting cushy commissions. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:14.279 They didn't want to look like they were handing 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:16.700 out favors. So the Navy said no, but the Army? 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.419 The Army eventually said yes. He fought to get 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:21.779 in. He wrote letters. He pulled strings. He was 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:24.860 determined. So he trades his tailored suits for 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:27.200 fatigues. But he didn't just want to carry a 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.000 rifle, right? He had a vision. He was a man with 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.639 a plan. He wrote a letter to a brigadier general 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.179 and basically said, I want to be put in charge 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.860 of a modernized army band. He wanted to streamline 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:41.759 military music. What does that mean? What did 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:43.679 military music sound like back then? Well, up 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:47.559 until 1942, military music meant one thing. John 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:49.399 Philip Sousa. The Stars and Stripes forever? 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:54.259 Exactly. Oompa Paa, marches, very stiff, very 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:57.460 traditional. It was music from World War I. Miller 00:13:57.460 --> 00:13:59.100 argued that the soldiers fighting in World War 00:13:59.100 --> 00:14:01.700 II were swing kids. They didn't march to Sousa. 00:14:01.779 --> 00:14:04.360 They jitterbugged. He wanted to bring the sound 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:06.779 of 1942 into the army. I imagine the generals 00:14:06.779 --> 00:14:08.980 loved that idea. Oh, they hated it. There was 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:11.200 massive friction. There's a famous story where 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.539 a major reprimanded Miller for his arrangement 00:14:13.539 --> 00:14:15.679 of the St. Louis Blues. A blues song. Miller 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:18.259 arranged it as a march, a swinging march. And 00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:20.759 the major said, that's not a march. And Miller, 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:23.399 now a captain himself, basically said, tell that 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.720 to the soldiers. He knew his audience. He did. 00:14:26.190 --> 00:14:28.190 And despite the pushback from the Army purists, 00:14:28.330 --> 00:14:31.610 the result was undeniable. He formed the Major 00:14:31.610 --> 00:14:34.549 Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra. And this 00:14:34.549 --> 00:14:37.090 wasn't just a dance band. This was a super group. 00:14:37.269 --> 00:14:39.590 He had the budget of the U .S. Army behind him. 00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:41.929 He could get anyone he wanted. He raided the 00:14:41.929 --> 00:14:44.409 symphonies. He had string sections, violins, 00:14:44.509 --> 00:14:47.250 cellos mixed with the best jazz players who had 00:14:47.250 --> 00:14:51.590 been drafted. It was massive, lush, and powerful. 00:14:51.830 --> 00:14:54.820 And the soldiers loved it. They adored it. General 00:14:54.820 --> 00:14:57.100 James Doolittle, the hero of the Doolittle Raid, 00:14:57.100 --> 00:14:59.320 told Miller that next to a letter from home, 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:01.879 his band was the greatest morale booster in the 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.120 European theater. Next to a letter from home, 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:05.860 that really puts it in perspective. It wasn't 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.360 just entertainment. For those guys in the trenches, 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.519 that sound, that Miller sound, was a connection 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:14.019 to the girls they left behind, soda shops, the 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:16.580 normalcy. It was a lifeline. It was a piece of 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:18.779 America delivered right to the front lines. So? 00:15:19.210 --> 00:15:22.289 He's in England. It's late 1944. The Allies have 00:15:22.289 --> 00:15:24.330 landed at Normandy. Paris has been liberated. 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:27.230 And Miller is preparing to move this massive 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:29.710 musical operation from London to Paris to be 00:15:29.710 --> 00:15:32.629 closer to the troops. And this brings us to Section 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:37.649 4, The Disappearance. December 15th, 1944. We 00:15:37.649 --> 00:15:39.970 need to set the scene here because the environment 00:15:39.970 --> 00:15:42.529 is the biggest culprit in this story. It's winter 00:15:42.529 --> 00:15:45.759 in England. It's miserable. Thick fog, freezing 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.559 temperatures, what's called Pisu fog. The English 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:51.580 Channel is churned up. Miller is stressed. He's 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:53.860 a perfectionist, remember? He needs to be in 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:55.860 Paris to set up the arrangements, get the hall 00:15:55.860 --> 00:15:57.960 ready for the band's arrival. But all the scheduled 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.120 flights are grounded. Everything is grounded. 00:16:00.259 --> 00:16:02.580 No official transport is moving. He's stuck. 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:05.820 And for a guy like Miller, being stuck... Is 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:07.779 torture. He's a man of action. Exactly. He's 00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:10.620 pacing. He's angry. And then he bumps into an 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:13.100 acquaintance at the officer's club or the airfield 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:15.039 lieutenant colonel Norman Bessel. And Bessel 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.139 isn't a transport pilot, right? He's not with 00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:21.519 the regular transport command. No. Asel is. Well, 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:23.799 the sources describe him as a bit of a cowboy. 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:28.620 He had a small plane, a Nordoin UC -64 Norseman. 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:32.100 It's a single engine utility aircraft. Canvas 00:16:32.100 --> 00:16:35.059 covered. Basically a flying truck. Not exactly 00:16:35.059 --> 00:16:38.059 a luxury liner. Not at all. And Basil says, hey, 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:40.759 I'm flying to Paris. Hop in. It was a casual 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:43.879 flight. Casual is the military term for unauthorized. 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:46.559 No flight plan was filed with the main transport 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.860 command. He didn't tell his superiors. He essentially 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:52.340 hitchhiked on a buddy's plane. And this decision, 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.919 this moment of impatience is what killed him. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:57.519 It was. They take off from RAF Twinwood Farm 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.080 at 1 .55 p .m. There are three people on board. 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.279 Miller, Basil, and the pilot, John Morgan. And 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:06.039 they fly into the soup. They fly straight into 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:08.000 the fog. And that is the last time anyone ever 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.059 saw Olden Glenn Miller. Now here's the part that 00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:11.980 is haunting. Because it was an unauthorized flight, 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.039 nobody knew he was gone. Right. It wasn't on 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.240 any official manifest. His unit thought he was 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.319 already in Paris or waiting for another flight. 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:20.259 The unit in Paris thought he was still in England. 00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:23.339 So no one raised the alarm. No one. The band 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:25.779 arrived in Paris a few days later, expecting 00:17:25.779 --> 00:17:28.900 to see him. And he wasn't there. And the timing 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:31.720 is horrific. The very next morning, December 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:34.420 16th, the Germans launched the Battle of the 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:37.619 Bulge. The entire Western Front exploded into 00:17:37.619 --> 00:17:40.640 chaos. The Army had bigger problems than a missing 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.259 bandleader. So communications were a mess. Everything 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:45.900 was focused on the battle. Exactly. It wasn't 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:48.700 until December 18th, three days later, that the 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:51.099 command really said, wait, where is Major Miller? 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:54.259 By then, it was far too late. Now, whenever someone 00:17:54.259 --> 00:17:56.599 this famous disappears, the conspiracy theories 00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:58.980 start. I've heard them all over the years. He 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:01.380 was a spy on a secret mission to assassinate 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:03.880 Hitler. He was killed in a brothel in Paris, 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:05.720 and they covered it up. There's always a brothel 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.420 story. Always. And the friendly fire one. That 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.559 one seems to have legs. The friendly fire one 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:13.220 was very popular for a long time. The theory 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:15.700 was that returning bombers, jettisoning their 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:18.059 unused Brahms over the channel to land safely, 00:18:18.220 --> 00:18:21.519 accidentally hit his small plane. It sounds plausible. 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:23.420 It's the kind of tragic accident that happens 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:26.799 in war. It does. But the source material we have... 00:18:27.069 --> 00:18:28.970 Specifically, the work by Dennis Sprague and 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:31.410 Glenn Miller, Declassified, completely debunks 00:18:31.410 --> 00:18:34.029 this. Sprague got access to all the Declassified 00:18:34.029 --> 00:18:36.269 military records. They looked at the flight logs, 00:18:36.490 --> 00:18:38.970 the bombing mission reports. The bombers weren't 00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:41.609 in that sector at that time. So, no spies, no 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:44.309 friendly fire. What really happened? The most 00:18:44.309 --> 00:18:46.509 boring and tragic answer is usually the right 00:18:46.509 --> 00:18:50.190 one. Physics and weather. Simple as that. The 00:18:50.190 --> 00:18:53.529 Norseman aircraft had a carburetor. In cold, 00:18:53.569 --> 00:18:57.430 moist air. Like a foggy December day, over -the 00:18:57.430 --> 00:18:59.930 -channel carburetors are prone to icing. The 00:18:59.930 --> 00:19:02.690 ice jerks the engine. Exactly. The ice builds 00:19:02.690 --> 00:19:05.230 up, blocks the fuel -air mixture. The engine 00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:08.369 likely coughed and died. The pilot was an instrument 00:19:08.369 --> 00:19:10.509 rated for those conditions. He was flying low 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:13.109 to try and see the water. The engine quits. They 00:19:13.109 --> 00:19:14.750 hit the water in seconds. And in the English 00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:16.950 Channel in December, you don't survive that. 00:19:17.609 --> 00:19:19.769 Hypothermia would be instant. And the plane? 00:19:20.299 --> 00:19:22.380 Well, it's mostly wooden canvas. It would break 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:24.140 apart at impact or sink into the silt at the 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:25.500 bottom of the channel. It's never been found. 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:28.779 It's just, it's so sudden. One minute you are 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:30.880 the voice of a generation, the next you are just 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:33.779 gone. And there is a cruel irony here. He had 00:19:33.779 --> 00:19:36.460 this idea of the Miller luck. Tell me about that. 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:40.359 Miller believed he was lucky. Just before he 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:42.039 left for Paris while he was staying in London, 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:46.490 a V -1 flying bomb. A buzz bomb landed directly 00:19:46.490 --> 00:19:49.210 on his quarters. Blew it up. Flattened it. Killed 00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:51.589 nearly 100 people in the building. But Miller 00:19:51.589 --> 00:19:54.289 wasn't there. He had moved the band to Bedford 00:19:54.289 --> 00:19:57.170 the day before. He reportedly told a lieutenant, 00:19:57.369 --> 00:19:59.769 as long as the middle luck stays with us, we 00:19:59.769 --> 00:20:01.769 have nothing to worry about. He thought he was 00:20:01.769 --> 00:20:04.130 invincible. He used up all his luck dodging that 00:20:04.130 --> 00:20:07.009 bomb. Less than a month later, the luck ran out 00:20:07.009 --> 00:20:08.910 over the water. And because the plane was never 00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:11.470 found, there's no closure, there's no body, no 00:20:11.470 --> 00:20:15.119 funeral. Just silence. Just silence. But, and 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.460 this is the testament to what he built, the music 00:20:17.460 --> 00:20:20.059 didn't stay silent. Which brings us to section 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:23.339 five, the legacy. Usually when a band leader 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:25.640 dies, the band folds. Maybe they do a tribute 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:28.000 concert and then everyone goes home. Right. It's 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.259 over. But the Glenn Miller Orchestra is different. 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:32.940 It became a franchise. A ghost band. The ultimate 00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:35.839 ghost band. After the war, the Miller estate 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:39.059 authorized an official band led by Tex Beneke, 00:20:39.180 --> 00:20:41.720 who was a sax player and a singer in the original 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:44.710 group. A familiar face to lead the charge. Exactly. 00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:48.230 But even that had drama. Of course. But Nicky 00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:50.430 wanted to evolve. He wanted to play new songs, 00:20:50.470 --> 00:20:52.250 new arrangements. He was a musician. He wanted 00:20:52.250 --> 00:20:55.789 to grow. But the Miller estate said, no. The 00:20:55.789 --> 00:20:58.569 brand is the sound. Play the hits exactly how 00:20:58.569 --> 00:21:00.529 Glenn wrote them. Don't mess with the formula. 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:04.089 Precisely. And eventually, they split. It was 00:21:04.089 --> 00:21:07.390 a messy, acrimonious divorce. But since then, 00:21:07.509 --> 00:21:10.250 the estate has authorized official Glenn Miller 00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:12.869 orchestras. There was one for the US, one for 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:15.130 the UK, one for Europe, one for Scandinavia. 00:21:15.190 --> 00:21:17.049 It's like the McDonald's of swing music. You 00:21:17.049 --> 00:21:18.609 know exactly what you're going to get anywhere 00:21:18.609 --> 00:21:20.710 in the world. And it keeps the music alive for 00:21:20.710 --> 00:21:23.849 new generations. But his legacy isn't just in 00:21:23.849 --> 00:21:26.549 the civilian world. He is considered the father 00:21:26.549 --> 00:21:29.509 of modern US military bands. Well, the Airmen 00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:31.970 of Note, the premier jazz ensemble of the Air 00:21:31.970 --> 00:21:35.410 Force, was created specifically to carry on his 00:21:35.410 --> 00:21:38.880 tradition. He proved that modern popular music 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.440 had a place in the military, that it was a powerful 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:44.900 tool for morale. So every time you hear a military 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.339 band playing a jazz number, that's Glenn Miller's 00:21:47.339 --> 00:21:50.079 DNA. Absolutely. Now before we wrap up, I want 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.700 to pivot to something weird. Because we've painted 00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:56.460 a picture of this guy. Strict, perfectionist, 00:21:56.460 --> 00:21:59.539 serious military officer. But our research stack 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:02.059 included a note about his habits that is just... 00:22:02.909 --> 00:22:04.930 Bizarre. The true fact section. Yes. We have 00:22:04.930 --> 00:22:07.109 to talk about the snacks. We do. Apparently, 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:09.930 when Miller was writing music, he had a ritual, 00:22:09.990 --> 00:22:12.609 a very specific combination of foods that he 00:22:12.609 --> 00:22:15.769 felt fueled his creativity. I'm going to read 00:22:15.769 --> 00:22:17.730 this list from the notes, and I need you to tell 00:22:17.730 --> 00:22:19.549 me if this sounds like the diet of a musical 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:23.130 genius. I'm ready. Okay. He claimed this mix 00:22:23.130 --> 00:22:25.450 helped him write Chattanooga Choo Choo. It is. 00:22:25.750 --> 00:22:27.910 Burry black pudding, Lancashire cheese, and... 00:22:28.709 --> 00:22:30.869 Fiddler's Lancashire Sauce Flavored Crisps. Wait, 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:33.130 what? That's what it says. Sauce Flavored Crisps. 00:22:33.289 --> 00:22:36.150 Flavored potato chips in 1941. Was he a time 00:22:36.150 --> 00:22:39.089 traveler? I know. That detail in the source material 00:22:39.089 --> 00:22:41.750 stopped me in my tracks, too. I mean, that has 00:22:41.750 --> 00:22:43.630 to be a modern embellishment or a misunderstanding, 00:22:44.109 --> 00:22:46.109 right? It must be. I don't think Lay's was doing 00:22:46.109 --> 00:22:48.369 barbecue back then, let alone Lancashire sauce. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:51.160 It's likely that the source material we have 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:54.759 is referencing a modern tribute snack or maybe 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:57.460 a specific local legend that has gotten mixed 00:22:57.460 --> 00:23:00.099 up with modern branding. But the core of it, 00:23:00.140 --> 00:23:02.380 the black pudding and the cheese, that is very 00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:04.700 specific. Black pudding is blood sausage, right? 00:23:04.819 --> 00:23:07.940 It is. It's a very hearty, very heavy British, 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:11.059 specifically Northern English food. So imagine 00:23:11.059 --> 00:23:13.759 this. The guy who writes Moonlight Serenade, 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:17.079 this delicate, shimmering piece of music. is 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:19.519 sitting there chowing down on blood sausage and 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:21.859 heavy cheese. And washing it down with a Bowen 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:24.160 Brewery Pilsner, according to the notes. It just 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.140 humanizes him, doesn't it? It breaks the robot 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:28.220 image. He was a guy who liked his weird snacks. 00:23:28.660 --> 00:23:30.599 It does. It reminds us that behind the uniform 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.400 and the baton, he was just a person. A person 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.140 with very particular and maybe questionable tastes. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:39.599 So as we close the book on Glenn Miller, what 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.619 is the takeaway? Why are we still talking about 00:23:41.619 --> 00:23:44.109 him 80 years later? I think the final assessment 00:23:44.109 --> 00:23:47.589 is that Miller's music was a safe space before 00:23:47.589 --> 00:23:49.769 we use that term. You have to remember the context. 00:23:50.049 --> 00:23:52.849 The world was on fire. People were dying by the 00:23:52.849 --> 00:23:56.029 millions. There was chaos, rationing, fear. And 00:23:56.029 --> 00:23:58.509 here comes this music that is orderly. Exactly. 00:23:58.509 --> 00:24:01.589 It was precise. It was harmonious. It was sweet. 00:24:01.750 --> 00:24:05.390 It wasn't about wild anxiety or chaotic improvisation. 00:24:05.410 --> 00:24:07.950 It was about comfort. It sounded like home. It 00:24:07.950 --> 00:24:10.029 was the audio equivalent of a warm blanket. It 00:24:10.029 --> 00:24:12.150 was. And the fact that he has an empty grave. 00:24:12.779 --> 00:24:15.319 There is a memorial headstone at Arlington National 00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:18.559 Cemetery, placed at his daughter's request, and 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.480 his name is on the wall of the missing in Cambridge. 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:25.420 But nobody. It freezes him. He never got old. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:27.940 He never put out a bad disco album in the 70s. 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:30.519 He never lost his hair. He never became irrelevant. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.240 He vanished at the exact moment his style of 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:36.099 music was at its absolute zenith. Which leaves 00:24:36.099 --> 00:24:38.440 us with a provocative thought. If Glenn Miller 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:41.240 had survived that flight, if the carburetor hadn't 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:43.519 frozen, What would have happened to him and his 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.500 music? It's the great what if. The war ended 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:50.299 in 45. By the late 40s, bebop was taking over 00:24:50.299 --> 00:24:54.339 jazz fast, complex, aggressive. Everything Miller's 00:24:54.339 --> 00:24:57.200 music wasn't. By the mid 50s, Elvis and rock 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.240 and roll were kicking down the door. Would Miller 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:01.799 have adapted? That's the question. Would the 00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:04.759 man who hated wild jazz and valued perfection 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:08.079 have embraced the electric guitar? Would he have 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:10.650 worked with Elvis? Or would he become a grumpy 00:25:10.650 --> 00:25:13.049 old man, fighting against the tide of history, 00:25:13.210 --> 00:25:15.269 complaining about the noise the kids were listening 00:25:15.269 --> 00:25:18.049 to? We will never know. He remains forever 40 00:25:18.049 --> 00:25:20.230 years old, somewhere over the English Channel, 00:25:20.430 --> 00:25:22.569 playing the soundtrack of the greatest generation. 00:25:22.910 --> 00:25:25.069 A perfectionist to the end. And on that note, 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:27.250 we're going to sign off. Thanks for listening 00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:29.329 to this deep dive into the mystery of Glenn Miller. 00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:30.549 We'll catch you on the next one.