The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 42

8 Entertainment The Leader-Post Regina, Saskatchewan Saturday, December 22, 1984 -i i 4 death sill mystery chatting and planning their post-war lives Miller said he wanted to slow down a bit, spend more time at hiroe with his wiferand do some fishing. The next morning was another miserably foggy day and a misty, cold drizzle was falling. Still, the officer whod promised Miller the ride suggested Haynes and Miller meet him at the airport for lunch There was talk the weather would break in the afternoon and the flight could go as scheduled During lunch the pilot rang-up and confirmed he would be flying that afternoon Both Haynes and Miller scoffed but were told if anyone could fly such foul weather it was the man they were waiting for, Flight Officer John Morgan, a veteran combat flier. Around noon, Haynes, Miller and the officer went out onto the runway, where the plane was supposed to land to pick them up. A half hour passed and Miller glared up at the clouds, no more than 200 feet above them.

The temperature was at the freezing mark. They were just about to return to the mess when they heard the sound of a plane overhead Presently, Morgans single-engine C-64 Norseman airplane descended from the clouds, landed and taxied up to its loading spot Morgan apologized for the delay, Id have been here sooner if 1 could have seen the runway, he said with a laugh. Miller and his travelling companion scrambled aboard the plane. Miller stopped just long enough to shake Haynes' hand Haynes wished him luck. Thanks Haynsey, he said We may need it.

Miller then turned to Morgan and asked, Hey, where the hell are the parachutes. Whats the matter Miller, do you want to live forever, came the reply. Haynes and the orchestra arrived three days later in Paris and thought it odd Miller wasnt at the airport to greet them It was only after Haynes asked that he was told Millers plane was overdue and presumed lost. The evidence was it had crashed or been shot down over the English Channel, there were no survivors. Embarrassed military big-shots were asking those responsible how it was that the C-64 had been flying in such weather, especially when it wasnt equipped with de-icing gear or instruments for sightless flying.

A massive search turned-up no trace of the missing plane and finally, eight days later Dec. 23 the official word could be delayed no longer: Glenn Miller was missing and presumed dead Millers wife, Helen, got the grim neys in a standard military cablegram It arrived at the couple's New Jersey home just minutes after the prearranged gift Miller had sent. The general publid refused to accept the fact of Millers death and rumors were rampant One story had it Miller had only been seriously injured in a crash and was too badly hurt to appear in public. Another had it he'd never left London and had been shot dead by a jealous British Army officer who found the musician in bed with his wife. Still another had Miller mg at the hands of black marketeers Paris.

Years later, Millers younger brother, Herbert, even went so far as to hire a medium to help him contact Glenn in the spiritworld so the truth could be learned. His findings7 Miller, he claimed, had staged his own disappearance and death because he had terminal cancer and didnt want his mother to see him wasting away Explains Herbert Miller- Glenn smoked about four packs of cigarettes a day and was in poor health Anyone can look at pictures of him made before the alleged crash and see his uniforms didn't fit I think he was a very sick man suffering from lung cancer and losing weight faster than his tailor could alter his uniforms A weary world had a lot on its mind that Christmas 40 years ago The war was still raging the Pacific; Europe, Hitlers army was making its last stand in the Battle of the Bulge, and millions of persons were shedding private tears for loved ones far away, some of whom would never return. Yet the world paused to remember Glenn Miller. In February, 1945, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and in June of that year his show business friends staged a gala New York concert in his memory. Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Eddie Cantor, Perry Como, Kate Smith and a host of others raised an astounding $4 7-million for the war effort in just a few hours that night.

The Miller memory lingered. It still lingers and it always will as long as people love the music that made Miller legend Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction, In the Mood, Chatanooga Choo-Choo, String of Pearls, Elmer's Tune, American Patrol, Pennsylvania 6-5000, Little Brown Jug By Ken Cuthbertson for Weekender pin the dial on your radio any time of the day or night and chances are good you'll tune-in to a radio station somewhere that's playing a Glenn Miller song. It's 40 years ago tomorrow, Dec. 23, 1944, that the world I learned of the mysterious disappearance and death of the greatest of all Big Band leaders. The 40-year-old Miller was one of the most popular musicians of the era, a superstar a world of stars.

Thats one reason American military authorities actually delayed news of his tragic death for eight days in a vain hope Miller would somehow turn-up alive The delay was also due in part to the fact no one really knew just what had happened to Miller. Even today there's still mystery surrounding his death There were and still are those who say Glenn Miller did not die in December, 1944. But there was never really any proof they were right and so as the painful truth of Miller's death began to sink in the world mourned. And so too does each new generation as it discovers the unique beauty of the distinctive Miller sound It was being heard in early December 1944 in London, where the bespectacled trombonist and his U.S. armed forces orchestra were entertaining Allied troops When orders came down from Gen.

Dwight D. Eisenhowers office that Miller was to fly to Paris Dec. 14 for a series of morale-building concerts, he was eager to be off Those who knew him remember Glenn Miller as an impatient, energetic man who could never wait for others to do things for him, He was always ready to roll up his sleeves and get at whatever needed doing. This gung-ho attitude, a Miller trademark, was one of his greatest strengths. But it also proved his undoing and led him to an untimely death.

Glenn Miller was born March 1, 1904, at Clarmda, Iowa, the third of the four children of Louis and Mattie-Lou Miller. Although he was christened Alton Glenn Miller after Alton B. Parker, the unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate in 1904 he hated the name Alton and never used It. Louis Miller, like his son after him, was an ambitious, restless man. And in the first 14 years of Glenns life the family moved four times, before finally settling down in Fort Morgan, Colo a small town 75 miles northeast of Denver.

It was here that young Glenn joined the high school band and learned to play the trombone. Miller wasnt much of a student (he once got a 50 in music), but it was quickly apparent he had a real talent for his instrument. He practised day and night and told anyone whod listen he was going to be a professional musician. The day he graduated from high school he was off auditioning for a job in a band so his mother accepted his diploma for him. No one was much surprised when, in 1923, Miller dropped-out of his first year at the University of Colorado and threw himself into a full-time music career His big break came just a few months later, when he was hired by Ben Pollock, a popular band leader of the day.

However, Miller soon outgrew the arranging and performing work Pollock gave him He moved-on to play with a succession of orchestras, including the Dorsey brothers all-star" group of the mid-'30s. By 1936, Miller decided the time was right to set out on his own; he formed his own band that overnight became one of North Americas favorites Miller applied for an officers commission in the S. Army in 1942, at a time when he was on top of the world He had fame, fortune and his own network radio show. Everyone knew or wanted to know him, Bing Crosby was his character reference when he handed in his Army application. Miller could have asked for and got a safe, cushy office job in the S.

as most show business figures did But that wasnt the Miller style and he told family and friends he wanted to do his part in the war effort. -Miller pressed to be allowed to form a military orchestra that would tour the front lines entertaining servicemen The military brass, cool to the idea, begrudgingly gave in when he persisted Even so, Miller was constantly frustrated by army red tape. On one occasion, a military "adviser" took him aside and suggested ways in which he could give his band more showmanship. Another time, Miller had just finished a concert at an air force base New Haven, Conn when the commanding officer stormed up to him and demanded, What sort of junk was that anyway? Weve been playing Glenn straight music for years and weve been turning out some pretty fair soldiers. After all, we won the last war without this jazz, didnt we? Miller eyes the man coldly.

Tell me one thing Major, he said Are you still flying the same planes in this war as you flew the last one? Faced with that sort of hidebound thinking it's not surprising that Miller soon adopted an "act-first-ask-later approach to get things done. But it also landed him in plenty of Miller was due to fly to Paris, as Eisenhower had ordered, on Dec 14. However, his band manager, Don Haynes, had a flight a day earlier and so Miller talked him into changing places on the excuse he had a lot to do in Paris before the band arrived. Dec. 13 dawned cold, wet and foggy.

Nothing was flying, not even reconnaissance or combat aircraft and certainly not transport and passenger planes. Haynes recorded in his diary, "The fog was so thick that the conductors of the big double-decker buses were walking three feet in front of them with a torch pointed back towards the bus driver so he wouldnt run over the curbing or smash into another vehicle. The fog was still heavy the following day, Dec. 14, and Miller was pacing impatiently. Haynes badgered an 'officer friend and arranged a seat for Miller on the following "day.

Haynes and Miller spent that night at the American Red Cross headquarters in London. Neither of them could sleep, so they stayed up till 3.30 a m. Sumner follows William Devane home Miller So what they do is throw it In my lap and they always do that within a couple of days of the scene, so you have no time to fight it. We had some conflict over this. It should have been worked out where it made sense.

We have too many stories on Knots Landing where, if they are stuck, somebody falls." And its times like that, his family ducks for cover. The kids come in and they know. (Josh is 20, Jake is 17). They turn left into the yard, or go upstairs. They dont confront it.

They know acting, and they understand its a weird business. He says it was especially a drag around the house when Gregory Sumner was being elected. "But after the election, Sumner took a dive for five or six episodes, and life became a little different The Gregory Sumner part of me takes over when the story is on my shoulders. My wife and my family know it is going to be a pain if I do it for another two years unless we can find a way to compromise and keep Sumner in an area where there is as much positive as there is negative. As Gregory Sumner increasingly becomes pivotal to poison, Devane has taken note of an attitude on the show that says he could become the next He doesnt like this.

I am not interested in becoming enormously popular. I want to remain a working actor, to play really viable, interesting characters. He has also considered his career without Knots Landing. I know I could go into movies, be the third guy through the door on a feature, but the truth is 1 am not being offered anything that is as potentially interesting as Knots Landing could be over the next year. Even given the split-personality aspects of my woik presently, I am still a lot happier, having a place to go, having a job.

yhen I am not working, just seeking employment. I am a wreck It the same for all actors 1 dont The chip on his shoulder grew to a spear his hand to win him his first acting job carrying a spear in The Merchant of Venice. But his big break came from hanging out with Joe Papp. One day while casting was in session for MacBird, somebody noticed his strong resemblance to Bobby Kennedy. Soon after, he was cast toplay another Kennedy, The Missiles of October, and a career was launched.

Devane discovered a technique, about this time, to deal with character take-over. He moved into a hotel I lived in one room, with all my stuff, my pictures, my work I went home once a week so I never had to confront my family. My work in that picture was exceptional. I was also isolated when I did Yanks in Europe. Today Devane feels that actors who go for the gold simply should not marry, that they should take a cue from Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson.

Familv," he says, "constantly cuts across your line of concentration While he admits tjiat shutting off in this way is a tough road, he insists that actors who dont do it will not be as good as actors who do. It late afternoon, at the Equest-erian Centre in Los Angeles And theres William Devane, standing in mud, clipping winter hair off a quarter horse gelding he has shipped in from Chicago for $600. "My new polo pony, he says proudly. He runs the buzzing clippers down the horse's back, all the way to his nose. The horse doesnt move.

Devane likes that He talks about his ranch in Sundance, Utah, and a love for horses that goes back as far as he can remember. "They force you to be yourself, he sys. They wont deal with any excess baggage you might want to bring along Eugenie is here too, a tall, elegant lady with a quick smile. Weve put in the whole dav she savs And they'll also put in a good portion of the night: Eugenie announces she is going home to fetch her mans riding clothes, so he can play evening polo. Up in the Clubhouse, Devane orders diet Cokes two at a time and talks about Gregory Sumner, his brow knotting between eyes that already seem very close together.

I see Sumner as a hard-nosed guy who will do whatever he has to do to get what he wants, to get his own way He is caught up in the basic American drive for power. When I watch other actors, and see theyre not delivering, not making a certain part work, I usually say it is because he or she doesnt carry that particular club in life. So it follows that I have something of Gregory Sumner in me, although I do not perceive of myself as being the kind of person who would take advantage of somebody. "But I do have an edge, a little hard edge. I have a lot of anger.

Most people my age have either succumbed to this anger, or it has dissipated But I still have it. I call on it all the time. It frightens many people. Theyre not used to having that kind of anger around. "The heat is basically my own anger, which makes it something I can call on when I act.

Most people get analysis for this kind of stuff, but I havent gone through that process. Although Devane works only two or three days a week on Knots Landing, his scenes are invariably intense, as it has become his job to push the plot and thus create situations that will hold mgs He is not always in agreement with what the writers and producers have Gregory Sumner do to people like, killing St Claire, played by Joseph Chapman (who abducted Abby l. They should never have had me do that because it is absurd, totally out of chaiacter for Sumner On their part, it reflected total laziness They just hadn taken cate of business to begin with By Colin Dangaard International Features, Inc. On Knots Landing, Senator Gregory Sumner weaves evil, steals hearts and even draws blood to get his own way but worse, he follows actor William Devane home I do not leave my character at work," admits Devane, 44, introduced to Knots Landing to make as much trouble as possible It spills over and creates a lot of tension in my life I don't know if its worth it, to keep doing that If I am in a run where the character gets into some kind of bind, that carries over into my life, all week long, as long as that story lines goes My wife, she dreads the idea I could do it for two more years It gets miserable So the man who owes his television career to a politician he plaved John F. Kennedy so brilliantly The Missiles of October is now being sniped at by one in the recesses of his own mind The very elements that make William Devane such a distinctive actor anger, total commitment, passion are also creating difficulties at the end of the day.

But he has a secret weapon, one that has been around for centuries. Its called polo. As he explains: I become a healthy person, when I am around polo 1 am not a healthy person when I am around Gregory Sumner. Fortunately for his ife Eugenie, she has learned to cope with the strangers who have followed her man through the door over 22 years of marriage The Devanes met 25 years ago, at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York He was driving a cab, she was giving dancing lessons tteloscst Dcvane came to Bctmg-anhose days was, being hired asu haridjman by pi oducef Joseph JappMJO Evenjrqen, he had a whole lot of anger, reared in lean times tn Albany. with a behavior recoid at three schools that read like a sequel to Fast Times at Kidgemont High Devane William care if you're Robert Redford Today, he thanks polo for helping him handle the pressures of being nasty.

Its a really heady game, like chess. It's fascinating It is not for nothing that the most wealthy and the most powerful people in the woi Id have been playing it for centuries It's a game that tells you a lot about yourself Can you get two shots ahead of where the ball is Can you be placid, not plav off "This game has taught me you can be tough and mean, get your own way. take the power, and not be totally negative Devane is also helped by longstanding friendships with many of the cast. On a show like this, he says, it real important that everybody gets along Theres no comic relief on Knots Landing A mm.