The Glenn Miller Story

One of Glenn Miller's trombones is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH, along with other Miller memorabilia. According to the display notes, the Miller estate allowed James Stewart to "play" this trombone in this film. Another trombone and additional memorabilia are displayed at the Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum in Clarinda, IA.

In perhaps the film's most notorious goof for the sake of dramatic license, Miller's famed swing instrumental of "Little Brown Jug" is depicted in the closing scene as a "special arrangement" Glenn created for a Christmas 1944 radio broadcast by Miller's AAF Band from Paris. In fact, it was one of the real Miller Band's first bona fide hits in 1939, arranged by the recently hired Bill Finegan, who became, along with arranger Jerry Gray, two of the key behind-the-scenes craftsmen that helped mold Miller's civilian band into the enduring commercial and artistic powerhouse it became.

Most current prints in circulation are the slightly shortened 113-minute 1959 re-release version.

Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to James Stewart (1980)