Vocalist Margaret Whiting, daughter of songwriter Richard Whiting, introduced this number in 1944, and it was her first big hit. She recorded it again 10 years later, and this version charted as well:

• Billy Butterfield and His Orchestra (1945, Margaret Whiting, vocal, #15)
• Margaret Whiting (1954, vocal, #29)

Capitol Records began operation on April 8, 1942. The brainchild of lyricist/vocalist Johnny Mercer, it was intended to be the West Coast competition for big East Coast recording companies like RCA Victor and Columbia. At the time of its formation, the American Federation of Musicians strike loomed, and Capitol quickly recorded and released several sides, two of which (by bandleader/pianist Freddie Slack and Johnny Mercer), became big hits. Once the strike hit, and then the wartime usage of shellac (the material records were made of at the time) made the material scarce, the company put future plans on hold.

Margaret Whiting was one of the vocalists Capitol recorded prior to the ban. Eighteen in 1942, she recorded a session with Freddie Slack and his band and one with a big band under the leadership of trumpeter Billy Butterfield. Although neither produced a huge hit, the records sold well and Capitol president and artists-and-repertory director Johnny Mercer thought Whiting had hit potential.

Because Mercer was operating on a small budget, he needed vocalists and musical groups that were in need of exposure--artists with talent whose careers needed a boost. Trumpeter Billy Butterfield had graced the bands of Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, was a swinging jazz artist, and had the experience to organize and direct a big band. His initial recording session for Capitol with Whiting impressed Mercer. Once the A.F. of M. ban was settled, Mercer hired Butterfield to back Whiting.

Whiting met with Mercer and Capitol musical director Paul Weston to select material to record. One number, by John M. Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf, caught the fancy of the young Whiting, but she didn’t really comprehend Blackburn’s lyrics. Mercer came to the rescue, encouraging her to imagine what Vermont was like in the fall. In her autobiography It Might As Well Be Spring, Whiting explains: “Johnny had worked so hard with me before we came into the studio. Breaking the song into sections, I could feel the sad warmth of fall, the smell of leaves. I began to sing. The band was wonderful. Then, when Billy Butterfield’s trumpet came in, all silver and glittering, it changed my voice. We were like two instruments.” When Mercer heard the playback, he knew he had a hit.

“Moonlight in Vermont” sold two million copies in the first two years following its release in 1944. The number was a special favorite of the troops overseas, since the song so poignantly describes what many longed for back home.

The tune was scheduled to appear in a 1943 motion picture with the same name, but was pulled prior to the picture’s release, proving to be a major error by Universal Studios since the rest of the soundtrack music, with the exception of Rodgers and Hart’s “Lover,” went nowhere.