MONROE — Turner Hall of Monroe is welcoming back the legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 4 in the Grand Hall.
The orchestra first appeared at Turner Hall in 2018 to kick off a year of special events in celebration of Turner Hall’s sesquicentennial. Tickets are available at Turner Hall’s Ratskeller Restaurant, or can be mail-ordered through the Turner Hall website at turnerhallofmonroe.org/shs.html. Tickets will also be available at the door. The Ratskeller Restaurant in Turner Hall’s lower level will be open for dining before the concert, with reservations encouraged by calling 608-325-3461.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Turner Hall was synonymous with dancing, featuring many Swiss and “old time music” accordion bands. But some big band groups such as Blue Barron, Eddy Howard, Art Kassel, Lawrence Welk, Wayne King, Griff Williams and Guy Lombardo also made appearances there.
Although the Glenn Miller Orchestra never performed at Turner Hall during those big band years, the two do share a year of historical significance. Following a failed earlier attempt, 1938 was the year that the Glenn Miller Orchestra was successfully established, which is also the same year in which a “new” Turner Hall of Monroe reopened following the original structure’s demise by fire in 1936. At the height of its popularity, the Glenn Miller Orchestra disbanded in 1942 when Miller volunteered for the Army, where he organized and led the famous Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. On Dec. 15, 1944, Major Miller took off in a single engine plane from Europe to precede his band to France, disappearing over the English Channel, never to be seen again.
The Army declared him officially dead a year later. However, interest and popular demand fueled by the 1954 release of the film, The Glenn Miller Story, starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson, led the estate of Glenn Miller to authorize the reformation of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. On June 6, 1956 and under the direction of drummer Ray McKinley, who had become the unofficial leader of the Army Air Force Band after Miller’s disappearance, the reincarnated Glenn Miller Orchestra performed its first concert and has been on the road ever since.
The orchestra has performed in all 50 states, as well as throughout Europe, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Guam, the Philippines and South and Central Americas. All of its biggest hits are included in its regular programs, including its signature piece, “Moonlight Serenade.”
Although there are many German Turner Halls throughout the country, it is believed that Monroe’s Turner Hall is the only one of Swiss origin left in the United States. The current building, a Swiss Emmental-style chalet designed by innovative German architect, Max Hanisch, has been listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places since 1982. Its authentically Old World interior houses many irreplaceable paintings and Swiss artifacts as well as exemplary examples of Bauernmalerei (Swiss folk painting.)
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the mission and governance of Turner Hall of Monroe is essentially the same today as it was in 1868 at 1217 17th Avenue, two blocks south of Monroe’s downtown Square near the Monroe Middle School. Turner Hall is handicapped-accessible.
