Canned – The Real Truth Behind Miller’s Firing of Ray Eberle!

In June of 1942 approximately a year after the Glenn Miller Orchestra had completed the making of “Orchestra Wives”, the second and last film to feature The Glenn Miller Orchestra, the movie made by 20th Century Fox starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, and Glenn Miller was “one of the many more notable swing era musicals because its plot was more serious and realistic than the insubstantial story lines that were typical of the genre.” 

The band was playing at the Panther Room in Chicago’s Hotel Sherman when Ray Eberle turned up for work late one day and Glenn had had enough so as Ray walked in the door, Glenn shouted out to Eberle "YOUR FIRED" no explanation, no more conversation, that was it Ray was fired!

Over the last 70 or so years what really happened has been pooh-poohed and hushed up because of the embarrassment that it caused the Eberle family. I wanted to get to the bottom of this incident so I began really doing some serious research as to what really did happen that fateful day in June of 1942. I started making some phone calls to several of my resources who knew not only many of the original band members but several of the authorities who have access to some of the documentation of the incident itself. Low and behold much of what has been previously reported was really true and the public image that the family has tried to portray is really a real “White Wash” job to cover the real story of Ray Eberle and not only this incident but the true character of the man himself. 

Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – “People Like You and Me” from Orchestra Wives

George T. Simon, in his book, “Glenn Miller and His Orchestra” while interviewing Ray during research for his publication says, " Ray Eberle still insisted he quit the band and his main beef with Glenn was over money, the guys in the band were getting $50 per week against his $35". 

But according to George Simon's book there were numerous other reasons given by members of the orchestra why Ray was fired. In Glenn's account of the reason were Ray's persistent heavy drinking and his many late arrivals to work were the primary reason for the firing. This was corroborated by quite a number of other band members according George T. Simon in his book “Glenn Miller and His Orchestra” and especially Marion Hutton, Glenn’s girl singer.  George states that Marion told him “point blank” that Ray “was getting away with things that nobody else could do” and that “If Glenn hadn’t let him go, there would have been a revolt in the band” confirming Ray’s hard drinking and undisciplined attitude toward Glenn’s strict rules that band members had to adhere to.

In another account of what happened according to band member Maurice Purtill he states that “When we were at the Panther Room, we used to do a one-hour show. There was always some big number for Ray and the Modernaires just before we went into the closing ‘Bugle Call Rag.’ On this particular night, Janet, Ray’s wife, and her family came in  to catch the show and when it was time for Ray’s big number, Glenn for some reason or other skipped the tune and went right into ‘Bugle Call rag.’ Eberle took a burn and had a few belts and said he was going to kill Glenn.” Obviously when Glenn got word of this comment he was not very pleased. Once again in his state of drunkenness Ray had stepped over the line as Glenn saw it.

In another incident that really got Glenn’s dander up was when Ray blasted him in one of the industry publications of the time, Metronome or Billboard or one of the publications which followed the music industry, about Glenn being a cheap skate and unfair to him about what he was being paid and that Glenn was to much a taskmaster with his discipline. Glenn felt that Ray’s comments were uncalled for and that he was very vindictive when he was drinking heavily. 

Ray was not the most popular member of Glenn’s band because of his drinking problem, he was not all that popular with the music critics either and many of them were not all that impressed with Ray's voice, yet he was an integral part of the Miller line-up, singing on many of the group's biggest hits. Even though Miller's own musicians weren't happy with Eberle's style and often voiced their complaints, Miller stuck with him up until the Panther Room incident.

 Glenn Miller and His Orchestra – “At Last” from Orchestra Wives

Regardless of what really happened between Ray and Glenn, Eberle landed a job with Gene Krupa shortly before the end of 1942. He only stayed a short while with Krupa before leaving to go solo. It was rumored that Gene stated that he really didn’t need any more trouble since his arrest on January 20^th of 1943 for procession of marijuana and he felt that Ray’s drinking problem would only exacerbate his problem with the authorities so Ray went out on his own. The only thing that really even exists of this short stay with Krupa is a few air checks that still exist. Although I was unable to confirm these rumors with my sources they would not deny them either out of respect for Gene.

Seeing that he had already been in the two Glenn Miller movies he was able to garner a role in a Universal picture called “Mr. Big” where he had only a cameo role as himself. He also starred in several other movies in 1943, but by the end of the year he had entered the army. By the time of his discharge from the Army in 1945 he formed his own orchestra, where he attempted to cash in on his experience with Miller. By the mid 50s his orchestra had broken up but Ray continued to sing sometimes on TV but mostly on the nightclub circuit until 1970 when he joined Tex Beneke’s Orchestra for a national tour. After that he tried one again to form his own band but that too did not work out. He appeared as himself in a couple episodes of the TV series “Happy Days” but for all intents and purposes Ray’s career had come to an end except for his appearances in various night clubs around the country.

Years later according to George Simon, Ray didn’t seem to hold a grudge against Glenn for firing him and would talk about his time with the band as a very happy time for him. During a phone call to Ray from George Simon in the late 60’s Ray admitted that he had not done to well financially by going out on his own especially as a soloist in various night clubs around the country but he was at last happy and serene in his Non-alcoholic existence. By his own admittance to Simon he states “Now, when I get up in the morning, it’s nice knowing where I am.” 

Ray Eberle died from a heart attack on August 29^th 1979 in Douglasville, Georgia, broke and with little to nothing to show for all the years he had tried to live in the shadow of Glenn Miller.

Spencer K. Smartt
Dallas, TX.