Copies of old Chattanooga newspaper articles and ads from 1941
photo by John Shearer
December 1941 was a time of local fear and uncertainty, but also determination, after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on that Dec. 7.
But during those same unforgettable days 75 years ago this month, Chattanoogans were also experiencing some memories of the more positive kind on the musical front.
The song, “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time on Dec. 7, 1941, after being recorded several months earlier by the Glenn Miller Band for the movie, “Sun Valley Serenade.” And it would remain near the top for several weeks.
This song about a fictitious train ride from New York to Chattanooga was quite a source of joy for the community.
As the late former Convention and Visitors Bureau director Bob Elmore remarked about the song’s impact in a 1994 interview, “It was, I think, the single best thing that ever happened to Chattanooga as far as giving it worldwide name recognition.”
If a lot was written about the song and its success in the Chattanooga newspapers, it could not be found after a quick glance at microfilm, although some mention was made at the time “Sun Valley Serenade” played at the Tivoli six weeks or so earlier.
In December 1941, most of Chattanooga was focused more on national pride than local pride as a result of outrage over Japan’s attack that claimed numerous lives and left most Americans wanting to help defend the country.
But when the Dec. 7, 1941, Chattanooga Times arrived on doorsteps around town just hours before the faraway attack, the paper gave no hint of what was about to happen that day in Hawaii.
The news seemed very normal. For example, written up in a big spread on the paper’s then-popular society section was a story about a reception given at the Annehaven home of Paul and Anne Carter on Minnekahda Road in Riverview. It was for Mrs. Carter’s debutante daughter, Dorothy E. “Presh” Evans.
From 4 to 7 p.m., more than 600 guests passed through this home that in later years became the Chattanooga residence of U.S. Sen. Bob Corker.
“While it was a gala function, with a throng of guests, it was also an old-fashioned Southern ‘open house’ with utmost simplicity and cordiality prevailing through the arrangements and spirit of the occasion,” wrote the Times writer.
Mrs. Carter was the niece of Coca-Cola bottler J.T. Lupton and, while she had grown up in Virginia, had spent plenty of time at the Lupton’s Lyndhurst mansion a few hundred yards south in Riverview and had made her debut at a ball there.
On the sports page, the Times’ 32nd all-city high school football team was announced. Making the first team were Ben Huddleston of Central, Bo Stewart of City, Miles Stevens of Central, Joe Robinson of Baylor, Fred Pardue of City, Bill Healy of Baylor, Bill Craig of Notre Dame, Harry Love of Baylor, Harry Robinson of McCallie, Cecil Duffee of Baylor and Harold Spurlock of Central. Jim Sullivan of Baylor was named an honorary member after getting hurt before the season ended.
With Alabama and Texas A&M scheduled to play in the Cotton Bowl, the paper pointed out that Crimson Tide coach Frank Thomas and Aggie coach Homer Norton had met in 1928 when they were the coaches of Chattanooga and Centenary, respectively.
At the Tivoli Theatre, “Sergeant York,” starring Gary Cooper, was playing.
When the Pearl Harbor attack took place during what was the early afternoon hours of Dec. 7 Chattanooga time, almost all thoughts began to shift toward that.
The Times the next day said that many in Chattanooga had spent that afternoon listening closely to their radios. Some expressed surprise that the attack had come from a country with which the United States had good relations just a few years earlier.
Amateur radio operator Benton White of Chattanooga said he had been in contact in recent days with servicemen stationed at Schofield barracks in Hawaii. He said that, before the attack, the men had asked him to pass along messages to family throughout the United States. By the afternoon of Dec. 7, he feared that some of those men might now be dead.
A number of local parents were concerned because their sons were serving aboard Navy ships. Former Chattanoogan Hal Jones was believed to be on a ship in Pearl Harbor, while Pembroke Brawner was in the Philippines on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Numerous others, including apparently former Vanderbilt football star and McCallie graduate Bill Spears, were also already in the service.
Many also wanted to quickly enlist. The Army and Navy recruiting offices in the Federal Building were said to be doing brisk business on Dec. 8, although not all of the mostly young men were said to qualify for one reason or another.
As talk of the attack dominated conversation everywhere, the reaction from everyone seemed to be same. As a Times reporter wrote, “On all sides, one heard nothing but fervent wishes that the attack was being avenged.”
Although the attack had been thousands of miles away, it was being felt in Chattanooga physically as well as emotionally. As was the case after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, fears permeated that an attack was coming to Chattanooga. Some thought that air raids might take place at the newly opened Chickamauga Dam and at the Fort Oglethorpe Army base.
As a result, hundreds of infantrymen from Camp Forrest near Tullahoma began guarding around the clock such places as the dam and the road leading up to it, the water works, electric power substations, tunnels, some railroad bridges and defense industrial plants.
They were camping in Jackson Park, the former recreation area that later became part of the National Cemetery, as well as the old Fyffe National Guard barracks on Central Avenue and the new barracks at Montague Park.
Also, in a move that would later be criticized by some, the FBI investigated the backgrounds of Japanese residents living in East Tennessee. Two Japanese were said to be living in Knoxville, with one married to an American, while none was found in Chattanooga.
Even before the national emergency declared by President Franklin Roosevelt the previous summer, the FBI had recommended that defense-related plants in Chattanooga fingerprint all workers and have them wear identification badges.
One of these defense-related plants was the under-construction new Volunteer Ordnance works powder plant near Ooltewah.
A few days after Pearl Harbor, Chattanooga returned to normal as best as it could, although the war effort continued to dominate thoughts for the next four years.
Among the other local news in the few days after the attack, noted Buick automobile pioneer Walter Marr, who had retired to Signal Mountain, died at the age of 76 on Dec. 11. Also, some building trade union-related violence took place at the Winfield estates residential development in Brainerd near Hunt Avenue and Brainerd Road.
Chattanoogans also could continue to follow as a diversion the excitement over “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” It was part of the movie, “Sun Valley Serenade,” that had been shown first in Chattanooga at the Tivoli from Oct. 12-15, 1941.
The movie featured a storyline in which a band adopts a foreign refugee that the members think is a young foreign girl, but she turns out to be an adult played by former Norwegian skater and three-time gold medalist Sonja Henie. A complicated love story results as the band member played by John Payne sees his girlfriend soloist played by Lynn Bari leave in anger after Ms. Henie arrives with them at a gig in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The 1941 advertisement in the paper promoting the movie also mentioned the song. “Now you can hear ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo,’ ” it said.
Also, Sterchi Bros. furniture at 532 Market St. was encouraging locals to buy copies of the record in its record department.
The song – composed by Harry Warren and featuring lyrics by Mack Gordon reportedly put together while they were traveling on a train -- had been recorded on May 7, 1941, by the Glenn Miller Band. It was on the “B” side of an RCA Bluebird label record, with “I Know Why (And So Do You)” on the flip side.
Although other records had sold a million copies, this was the first in which a gold record was presented, a tradition that continued over the years with numerous other records. The song was also nominated for an Academy Award, losing to “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” and remained No. 1 for nine weeks.
“Chattanooga Choo-Choo” was actually prevented from being heard on many radio broadcasts throughout some of the months of 1941 due to a writers’/composers’ boycott over royalty fees.
But when it finally came on the air after being heard at the movie and on records, Chattanoogans would be prideful of it along with the red, white and blue.
It would go on to have a lasting appeal and appreciation as the decades passed, too, even as America’s various foreign conflicts brought differing levels of support.
As a Chattanooga Times article about “Sun Valley Serenade” predicted in October 1941, “The (song) is likely to become a civic theme song.”
Many would agree that it has.
Jcshearer2@comcast.net