CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

THE FIRST GOLD RECORD

Eighty years ago, Glenn Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo became the first gold record in history. On February 10, 1942, RCA Victor-Bluebird records awarded Miller with a gold-painted and framed copy of the 78rpm disc after sales had passed one million, two hundred thousand copies. Moreover, Chattanooga Choo Choo would eventually result in millions of additional sales. Furthermore, it was Glenn Miller’s all-time best-selling recoding. But from its conception as a novelty tune for a motion picture, Chattanooga Choo Choo was quite far from a certain success. In fact, its ultimate popularity came about in spite of many substantive obstacles. Consequently, to celebrate its anniversary, this is the story of Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade, Tuesday, February 10, 1942, 10:00-10:15 p.m., CBS Radio Theatre No. 2, 251 West 45th Street, New York (CBS); Paul Douglas, announcer; W. Wallace Early, RCA Victor-Bluebird Records, guest, Award Presentation of Gold Record to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo. Vocal by Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires. Listen to the complete award presentation and the song in mint audio quality from the restored actual broadcast:

AMERICA’S NUMER ONE BAND

Chattanooga Choo Choo had its genesis in the planning for a spring 1941 feature film at Twentieth Century-Fox in Hollywood. Because of the tremendous popularity of Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, Fox executives led by Darryl F. Zanuck decided to sign the Miller band for the project. Therefore, in the fall of 1940 Miller signed a contract to report for work at Fox on March 25, 1941. Likewise, the project would take several months. Miller prepared to broadcast his prime-time radio series from CBS in Hollywood. Moreover, the Hollywood Palladium booked the band for an engagement following their film assignment. Meanwhile, Miller was juggling female vocalists, replacing pregnant Marion Hutton with contractually problematic Dorothy Claire and then Paula Kelly, wife of Hal Dickinson of the Modernaires. After winter engagements at the legendary Café Rouge of Hotel Pennsylvania and New York’s famed Paramount Theater, America’s number one band headed west.

SUN VALLEY SERENADE

The name of the project was Sun Valley. Zanuck and other Hollywood personalities frequented the new Idaho ski resort built by future diplomat W. Averell Harriman and his Union Pacific Railroad. The idea was to promote northern skiing destinations versus the warm desert resorts served by the rival Santa Fe Railroad. Fox assigned the brilliant songwriting team of composer Harry Warren and lyricist Mack Gordon to the Miller film project. Fox cast notables including the reliable John Payne and Lynn Bari, with famed ice skater Sonja Henie as lead actors. Zanuck intended Sun Valley (renamed Sun Valley Serenade) and Glenn Miller to rejuvenate the expensive and temperamental Henie’s lagging popularity. Additionally, for comic relief, Fox cast Milton Berle, and Joan Davis. Zanuck sent a second unit to film difficult outdoor and ski sequences in Idaho. Cinematographer Edward Cronjager, and Sun Valley’s expert Alpine skiers created an Oscar-nominated, winter landscape masterpiece.

Discover the comprehensive Sun Valley Serenade history, documented in rich detail here:

ALL ABOARD ON TRACK 29

Meanwhile, among other tunes including the novelties It Happened in Sun Valley and The Kiss Polka, Warren and Gordon wrote the beautiful ballads I Know Why (And So Do You) and At Last for the film. However, At Last was cut and saved for the 1942 Miller Fox film, Orchestra Wives). Moreover, they submitted a collaboration appropriate for railroads but appearing to have nothing to do with an Idaho ski resort, Chattanooga Choo Choo. Indeed, the Southern Railway and the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee would later adopt the tune and the band as their own. But for the moment, all Glenn Miller, his chief arranger Jerry Gray and the musicians believed was that they had a throw-away loser on their hands. Brilliant dancer Fayard Nicholas recalled that Miller told him at the first rehearsal that, “it stinks.” Star Tenor saxophonist and vocalist Tex Beneke thought “it was a dog.”

Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, Hollywood, California, March 1941, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, with vocals by Tex Beneke, Paula Kelly and the Modernaires followed by Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers. Firstly, this is the restored and complete soundtrack recording copy from the Fox Studio acetates for Sun Valley Serenade held by the Estate of Glenn Miller and provided to RCA Victor for 10″ EP 33rpm and 12″ LP 33rpm releases. Additionally, there are two parts, the arrangement that was trimmed for the commercial record release, followed by the famous Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge dance routine.

DEVELOPING A HIT

But when Miller and Gray got their hands on it and cleaned it up, the melody began to show promise. Furthermore, Fox intended it as a background for an enthusiastic dance sequence with the brilliant Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, with Dorothy Dandridge. The result was electrifying. Shot on a sound stage set up to resemble the Duchin Room at the Sun Valley Lodge, Miller’s playful band, with Beneke, Paula Kelly and the Modernaires, set up the dance sequence to excellent effect. This was the first time many had seen the band that they had heard on the radio and records. When the movie premiered around the 1941 Labor Day weekend, Chattanooga Choo Choo quickly caught the attention of a receptive public. Meanwhile, the RCA record started flying off store shelves. However, Glenn Miller could not broadcast Chattanooga Choo Choo.

RCA actually released Chattanooga Choo Choo as the “B” side of Bluebird B-11230. The expected hit, I Know Why (And So Do You) was the “A” side. Listen to the complete May 7, 1941, recording session, “On the Record,” here:      

BILLBOARD NUMBER ONE

During 1940, the radio industry, embroiled in a dispute with the music-licensing giant ASCAP, formed their own licensing agency, BMI. Consequently, beginning January 1, 1941, the broadcasters banned ASCAP-licensed music from the airwaves. The parties settled their dispute on October 30, 1941. Therefore, Glenn Miller could not broadcast Chattanooga Choo Choo, an ASCAP-licensed tune, until that date. But almost all of his broadcasts soon included the tune. His Sunset Serenade program over NBC for the USO and servicemen included an RCA radio-phonograph contest. Soon all five military base contestants all selected Chattanooga Choo Choo as their favorite. Therefore, Miller was stuck for five prizes. By December 7, 1941, and the Day of Infamy that brought America into World War II, Chattanooga Choo Choo was atop the Billboard Top Ten. Moreover, it would also remain #1 for an unprecedented nine weeks and in the Top 10 for twenty-one weeks.

Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade, Thursday, December 25, 1941, 10:00-10:15 p.m., CBS Radio Theatre No. 2, 251 West 45th Street, New York (CBS); Paul Douglas, announcer; Emily Barnes, Southern Railway, guest; Award Presentation of Honorary Citizenship and Key to the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee to Glenn Miller from Mayor Ed Bass. Vocal by Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires. Listen to the complete award presentation, the song and Christmas broadcast closing theme Slumber Song in mint audio quality from the restored actual broadcast:

HONORED LEGACY

Chattanooga Choo Choo overcame the skepticism of Glenn Miller and others, and the ASCAP-BMI struggle to become a major hit and ultimately exceptional example of the great American songbook. Furthermore, its honored legacy included several awards. On the Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade broadcast of December 25, 1941, Glenn and the band received their first honor. Representing Mayor Ed Bass and the citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Emily Barnes of the Southern Railway presented Glenn and the band with the key to the city and certificates naming them as honorable citizens. Then RCA Victor-Bluebird records awarded the gold record on February 10, 1942. Although this predated the RIAA’s official recognition of gold records, the organization retroactively recognized Chattanooga Choo Choo as the first. The tune appears in the opening sequence of Miller’s 1942 film, Orchestra Wives. Furthermore, the 1954 Glenn Miller Story from Universal-International featured it, and many other artists recorded it.

Glenn Miller followed the Billboard dominance of Chattanooga Choo Choo with an unprecedented series of consecutive number one hits for months, including Elmer’s Tune, A String of Pearls and Moonlight Cocktail. Moreover, later in 1942 and into 1943, Miller had number one hits with I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo and That Old Black Magic. The gold record of Chattanooga Choo Choo that RCA Victor-Bluebird records presented to Glenn Miller is permanently preserved by the Glenn Miller Collections of the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Following a recent restoration, it is handsomely displayed in the Glenn Miller Gallery at the University of Colorado Heritage Henter. Alton Glenn Miller is a CU Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, and his wife Helen Dorothy Burger is also a CU alumna. Today’s Glenn Miller Orchestra is the world’s leading touring big band.