Nearly 40 years before Glenn Miller's ode to a female companion, our town was the setting for a number from a stage musical featuring the song "Kalamazoo Is No Place for You."

"The Jolly Baron or the Miller's Daughter" was a musical theatre production that hit never quite made it to Broadway but was performed in Chicago in 1904. The comic opera was told through 12 original songs, among them the lament of a would-be actress who is searching for her big break and her leading man. Knowing that she is unlikely to be discovered in Southwest Michigan, our gal is told: "Kalamazoo Is No Place for You." Hear the advice and find out if her dreams come true in this rare 1904 recording of the song.

Kalamazoo is no place for you- you ought to be in New York Town. On the stage, you’d be the rage…

Bonus Video: The History of Kalamazoo's Checker Motors

 

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