Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

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GLENN MILLER
Abou t 15 years ago, a gangling Iowa
farm boy traded in his trombone for a
much-needed pair of shoes and the music
world nearly lost one of its brightest lights _
But the town tailor soon came to his
rescue and Mr. and Mrs _ Miller's boy Glenn
was given another trombone in return for
running errands after schooL It is to this
point that the new sensation in the dance
world traces the beginnings of his musical
career.
Glenn's earliest memory of himself as a
trombonist is the fact that his practicing
"nearly drove father nuts_" He was also
continually getting into hot water for skip-
ping high school to practice, he admits_
He finished high school, however, and went
on to th e University of Colorado where he
joined the Sigma Nu fraternity and helped
himself through by playing on the college
dance band_
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
48
FOR
Af ter college he made his first splash in
musical circles by joining Ben Pollack's
all-star out fi t_ In the following years he
played with the Dorseys, Red Nichols,
Gene Krupa and Bix Biederbecke, and be-
gan to be known as a "m usician's musi-
cian" because of h is brilliant arrangements
and scoring_
I t was because of this ab ili ty and his
uncanny ability in picking and holding to-
gether th e temperamen tal artists necessary
to every good band th at h e was selected by
Maisch Completes
30 Years With Vidor
Ray Noble to organize an American orches-
tra and provide the musical library that
was to make Noble famous over here_ It
was while he was with Noble that he
worked out his distinctive scoring for the
reed section that has since been established
as the Miller trade mark.
For ten years Glenn arranged and
worked behind the scenes but always with
his own projected outfit in mind and he
managed to store away a good many ar-
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SELECTIVE REMOTE CONTlioL
rangements and musical tricks for his own
future use.
Few people know that Miller's present
orchestra is not his first but his third. And
he was ready to disband this unit not long
ago before his swing style caught on_ Once
when told tha t 120,000,000 Americans were
glad he didn't break it up, he remarked
fervently, "Make that 120,000,000 and one."
Although definitely committed to the
swing idiom, Glenn has built his orchestra
to last_ "I don't want to be King of Swing,"
he declares. "I want a kick in my band but
never at the expense of harmony."
His Bluebird Recordings have been con-
sistent money-makers for phonograph oper-
ators country-wide and each new release
is anx iously anticipated by these seasoned
Music Merchants.
Tall, rugged and good-looking, Glenn at
31 is married to the former Helen Dorothy
Burger, his college sweetheart. He likes
outdoor sports, plays a fast game of tennis
and gets a kick out of hunting. He hopes
one day to write serious music, but rue-
fully admits that he "doesn't begin to have
time now."
•
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THE BOX THAT
GETS THE BUCKS
There 's no " Summer Slump" with P LA - M 0 R
operators_ The bright, sparkl ing, aud ien ce -app e al -
ing beauty of t he Packard PLA-MOR Se lective
Remote Control ke eps busin e ss on a n eve n keel th e
year around for here is a Un it possessing un -
d ream e d of publ ic appeal and acce ptanc e _
Review Correspondent
Gets RCA Berth
Let us give you som e actual facts and figu re s on
location earn ings through PLA-MOR installations _
Th e se amazing figu res will help put you in t he
p rofit-plus cla ss of mon ey-making P LA - M 0 R
operators_
ALPHA DISTRIBUTING COMPANY
1025 N. Highland Ave.
Hollywood. Calif.
GRanite 4148
NEW YORK.-"Men are more tempera-
mental than women!" That was spoken like
a gentleman by Frederick 1. Maisch, who
recently celebrated his 30th anniversary as
a sound engineer for RCA Victor and he
ought to know! Maisch himself is married
and lives with his wife and 23-year old
daugh ter in a New Jersey suburb but he
d idn' t mention whether that statement was
sound in his own home_
"Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman and Al-
bert Spalding are three who can never be
interrupted," he explained. "Glenn Miller is
the most exacting and pains taking of mod-
ern jazz maestri. As a rule popular artists
are n't so temperamental." But if you girls
think the life of a dance orch estra is
. sweetly simple, listen to this: "They record
records at these weird ho urs . . . between
11 P.M. at night and 4 or 5 the next morn-
ing."
Getting back to temperament, Maisch still
has a kettle that was used to heat water
every time Caruso wanted a drink ... the
tenor couldn't drink anything cold. "Caruso
'won' the quartet from Rigoletto one time"
recalled Maisch. "It was back in the old
days when a horn and mixer were used for
recording. Caruso, Galli-Curci, Perini and
DeLuca each tried to outdo the other in
volume but it wasn't even a close race _ ..
Caruso's tremendous power was so great I
had to put him six feet back from the horn
to give the others a chance!"
•
PHILADELPHIA. - Record Sales Pro-
motion Manager is the title now worn by
Harry Bortnick, COIN MACHINE REVIEW
Correspondent, as a result of his joining
Raymond Rosen and Company. Rosen is
the local RCA-Victor distributor of Victor
and Bluebird records. Bortnick, who has a
six year record with the REVIEW, will con-
tinue his regular Philadelphia column.
Bortnick succeeds Eddie Heller, who has
been appointed traveling missionary repre-
sentative for Abe Lyman's band.
•
The Casa Loma exclusively
DEC C A
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