John,

I wouldn't worry too much about potential "mangling" because as I recall, Frank Mills and His Orchestra specialised in dance music, i.e. popular ballroom type of dancing, as enjoyed by my parents and their contemporaries. Mills was never considered to be a composer or practitioner of music of an extremely *serious* nature, and Music Box Dancer is a good example of a simple melody and effective arrangement which appealed to a very wide range of people. I consider it to be a very clever piece which crossed a lot of musical boundaries. It's main problem was that so many people fell in love with it that it got overplayed ad nauseum when it was released, so it's charm began to wear thin.

Believe me, I am not trying to cast nasturtiums on his work, but just trying to put it into context.

Helen