Surprising links between Fox Theatre shows, Southwest Nebraska

It's surprising how many young people have never heard of him, but if any of them have ever watched a movie about World War II, they've heard the music of Glenn Miller in the sound track.

If you're younger, say, than a baby boomer, you may not be able to name that tune when "Tuxedo Junction," Moonlight Serenade" or "Chattanooga Choo Choo" comes on the radio (or is it Sirius or Pandora?), but you will probably recognize the melody.

You can bet your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents enjoyed Glenn Miller tunes at local dances when the McCook Army Air Base was in full swing. Perhaps a local historian knows whether Miller and his orchestra performed in McCook, but it's not out of the realm of possibilities.

While Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa, March 1, 1904, he and his family moved to North Platte when he was 2. They then moved to Tryon for five years, then to Hershey, then back to North Platte until 1916, when they moved to Grant City, Mississippi.

The music was frozen in time by Miller's tragic death when his plane was lost over the English Channel in 1944, but his Glenn Miller Orchestra carries on the tradition of live swing music to this day.

Area residents will be able to enjoy the full experience at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, as the Lied Center's Arts Across Nebraska Glenn Miller Orchestra tour comes to the Fox Theatre, thanks to the Friends of Lied, Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Richard P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation and Rebecca R. Anderson, with artist transportation by Sid Dillon.

Admission is free, with a free-will donation to the Fox Theatre renovation project.

McCook's best downtown venue is also being put to good use this week with another production, hearkening back to the 1940s and with local ties.

The Southwest Nebraska Community Theatre Association production of "Annie Get Your Gun" is on stage again this weekend, 7:30 Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday at 2 p.m.

The play, first staged on Broadway in 1946, is a fictionalized account of sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her romance with sharpshooter Frank Butler, both performers in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, founded in North Platte in 1883.

Buffalo Bill is credited with misnaming Red Willow County by misinterpreting the Dakota term for "Red Dogwood Creek," and famously hosted the Grand Duke Alexis and others on a buffalo hunt in Hayes County. He would have no trouble assembling plenty of talent for a modern-day reincarnation of his show, judging from the singers and actors taking part in the currents SWNCTA production, including many newcomers and 30-year veterans of local community theater productions.

We hope you will take in both of these great entertainment opportunities and help support a great local venue.