(CBS Primetime, 1960) [this variety series featured the music of the Glenn Miller Orchestra under the direction of Ray McKinley; hosts were George De Witt and Keefe Brasselle]
[THEME of the "Glenn Miller Orchestra" from Big Band days; Big band trivia: Before this composition had the title of "Moonlight Serenade" it had at least three other titles and two other sets of words; Miller first composed the tune as part of his studies with a well-known music theory teacher named Joseph Schillinger who taught a mathematical "system" for composing music -- known as the "Schillinger Method" of composition; Miller first composed this tune around 1935 while he was studying with Schillinger; Originally the tune had no name; it was just a student composition written to show his teacher how he had applied what he learned; But it was a nice ballad tune, and Miller's friend Eddie Herman wrote a set of words to it by the morose title of "Now I Lay Me Down To Weep"; Later another lyric was attempted by George Simon entitled "Gone With The Dawn"; But this title and lyric didn't click with anyone either; Miller did arrange the tune for his band, and bandmembers remember the chart as an instrumental with the title of just "Miller's Tune" on their parts; It was so popular it was becoming the band's THEME song; So finally lyricist Mitchell Parish was asked to come up with a set of words to fit "Miller's Tune." Along with the lyric he wrote, was his title for it -- "Moonlight Serenade" -- and and it has been known by that title ever since] Composers: music by Glenn Miller (ASCAP) and lyric by Mitchell Parish (ASCAP) 1978 Publisher: Robbins Music Corp. (ASCAP) 2001 Publisher: EMI-Robbins Catalog, Inc. (ASCAP) c/o EMI Music Publishing, Inc. of New York, NY Composition Date [as "Moonlight Serenade"]: 1939 Copyright Date: Renewal Date: Recordings: