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7 unusual facts about Sun Valley Serenade


I'm Headin' For California

Glenn Miller lived in California during the filming of Sun Valley Serenade in 1941.

In the Mood

It topped the charts in 1940 in the U.S. and one year later was featured in the movie Sun Valley Serenade.

Sun Valley Serenade

It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996, and was awarded the first Gold Record for sales of 1.2 million.

The film became a Hollywood hit, and served as a recruiting effort for the elite ski corps of the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Camp Hale in Colorado.

Sun Valley Serenade is the first of the only two movies featuring The Glenn Miller Orchestra (the other is 1942's Orchestra Wives).

This scene begins in the practice studio with the Glenn Miller Orchestra practicing "Chattanooga Choo Choo".

The scene includes two choruses of the song sung by Tex Beneke in a musical exchange with The Modernaires.


Boom Shot

"Boom Shot" was first released on the 1958 gatefold, double LP released by Twentieth Century Fox entitled Original Film Sound Tracks by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, TCF 100-2, which featured music from both the Orchestra Wives and Sun Valley Serenade movies.


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