"At Last": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video

"At Last"

Other songs written for Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook:

In 1941 and 1942, Twentieth Century Fox made two movies featuring Glen Miller and His Orchestra just before he joined the Army-Airforce. That this led to his being lost during a flight over the English channel in 1944 made the two movies, Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942) his only two feature films.

Although "At Last" is commonly thought of as having been written for the second movie Orchestra Wives, Warren and Gordon originally wrote it for the first movie Sun Valley Serenade. The intention was to have the song sung in Sun Valley Serenade by John Payne and Pat Friday (dubbing for Lynn Bari), but that version was cut before the film was released. As a result, only an instrumental version was heard in the earlier movie (See below). The music with lyrics was then used, and therefore first heard on screen, when it was played by the Glenn Miller Orchestra and sung by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday (dubbing for Lynn Bari) in Orchestra Wives.
Ed.'s note: An interesting discussion that traces the history of "At Last" in these two films can be found on an IMDB discussion board on the Sun Valley Serenade page.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday (dubbing Lynn Bari) and featuring Bobby Hackett (playing trumpet for George Montgomery) perform "At Last"
in the 1942 movie Orchestra Wives.

Click here to listen to an instrumental version of "At Last" used to accompany Sonja Henie's ice-dancing in the finale of the movie Sun Valley Serenade (1941) -- The "At Last" portion of the finale begins about two minutes in. The use of Warren's music for At Last" in Sun Valley Serenade constitute its debut -- at least of the melody.

Notes

for Sun Valley Serenade :
1. Chattanooga Choo Choo
2. I Know Why (and so do you)
for Orchestra Wives: none
For a completel listing of songs used in Sun Valley Serenade , see IMDB soundtrack .
For a complete listing of songs used in Orchestra Wives , see IMDB soundtrack .

Questions

What is At Last?

Other songs written for Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives currently included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook :

How should At Last be cited?

Cite this page as ""At Last": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video," Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/at_last.html

Which Cafe Songbook pages are related?

Also read "At Long Last Love" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/at_long_last_love.html); "Ask Me Again" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/ask_me_again.html); "At Sundown" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/at_sundown.html); "As Time Goes By" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/as_time_goes_by.html).

Cite this page: "At Last": Song History, Commentary, Discography, Performances on Video, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/a/at_last.html