Boom Shot
Boom Shot is a 1942 song composed by Glenn Miller and Billy May for the 20th Century Fox movie Orchestra Wives starring George Montgomery and Ann Rutherford.
Billy May is credited as his first wife, Arletta May, because he had signed an exclusive composer's contract with Charlie Barnet that prohibited him from writing anything for Miller under his own name.[1] The song was published by Chappell and Company.
"Boom Shot" appears in the movie Orchestra Wives in two scenes, once played on the Wurlitzer jukebox in the soda shop as a 78 by Gene Morrison and His Orchestra, then during the outdoor dance scene in a segue featuring Harry Morgan with Ann Rutherford although it is uncredited on the soundtrack for the film. Glenn Miller as Gene Morrison is shown conducting his orchestra on the bandstand. The title comes from the wide-angle, mobile camera shot used to film the scene, known as a boom shot. The arrangement is by George Williams.[2]
Recordings
"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. "Boom Shot" also appeared on the reissued albums Glenn Miller's Original Film Sound Tracks as Fox-3020, 3021, TFS-3020e, 3021e, in two volumes, which was reissued in 2009 by Hallmark. It is slso on the 2000 Jasmine CD Glenn Miller On Film, Remember Glenn: Selections from the Sound Tracks of Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives, 20th Century, T-904, and the 2008 Acrobat Music CD On the Alamo.
In May, 1959, "Boom Shot" was released as a 7" 45 A side single by the British Top Rank label with "You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby" by the Glenn Miller Six as JAR-114. "Boom Shot" features a trumpet solo by Johnny Best, which is edited out in the film, with Billy May on muted trumpet, Ernie Caceres on alto saxophone, and Glenn Miller on trombone.[3] Ray McKinley and the New Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded the song as "Boomshot" on the 1959 RCA Victor LP album Dance Anyone?, LPM-2193. The Jack Million Band recorded it on the album In the Mood for Glenn Miller, Vol. 2.
The Jack Million Band performed "Boom Shot" at the 2008 Glenn Miller Festival on June 13, 2008 in the Clarinda High School auditorium in Clarinda, Iowa.
References
Sources
- Flower, John. Moonlight Serenade: A Bio-discography of the Glenn Miller Civilian Band. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1972.
- Simon, George Thomas. Simon Says. New York: Galahad, 1971. ISBN 0-88365-001-0.
- Simon, George T. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, De Capo Press, 1980. ISBN 0-306-80129-9.
