Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Blog

Nelson Eddy

Here’s a great Nelson Eddy story…while filming “Maytime”, Nelson revealed that during his death scene, when John Barrymore comes to Nelson’s flat, says a few words and then pulls a revolver, Nelson’s scene was filming without Barrymore on the set! If you look carefully, you’ll notice that there are shots of Nelson at the piano, then rising and speaking to Barrymore, and then closeup shots of Barrymore as he does the grim deed. The two men are not in the same shot.

If you have a Nelson Eddy story to tell, please add your comments here.

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Nelson Eddy

Happy Birthday, Nelson!

You can make your own ringtone of his most famous duet with Jeanette, “Indian Love Call.” Here are the instructions:

Download it to your phone in the following ways: click on this link and download the mp3 file to your PC then transfer to your phone with a data cable or bluetooth. Or - download it direct to your mobile phone by WAP.

If you don’t understand the instructions above. then ask someone who is computer/cell phone savvy to help you! (That’s what I did!)

Enjoy!

PS: There is a sale today at www.maceddy.com on books about Nelson Eddy’s life and career:

Sweethearts, an eye-opening duo-biography of Nelson and Jeanette MacDonald.

Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years, includes reproductions of Nelson’s personal scrapbooks and the most comprehensive study of his pre-Hollywood career ever published.

The Rosary: The #1 best seller of 1911, Nelson Eddy chose this novel as a possible film vehicle for himself and Jeanette MacDonald in a proposed 1948 return to MGM as a team. The story is similar to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre but the hero/heroine are singers. A new introduction includes excerpts from written correspondence between Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald about the plot’s similarity to their own lives.

Nelson Eddy Lifesize Bust, self-portrait. Yes, Nelson Eddy was a man of many talents, including sculpting. This lifesize bust was done around 1942.

More Nelson Eddy news about the sculpture he did of actress Anna May Wong here at the link.

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Hello! Just a quick reminder about tomorrow’s club event in Studio City, California!!

We are having a new guest speaker and everyone attending will get a special gift. I think you will find the event highly informative…fun…and a celebration of Jeanette and Nelson’s birthdays!

Although I turned in a “final” headcount to the hotel, we did make allowances for the those of you that may decide to come at the last minute. So - just show up!

Details and directions at the link.

Sharon

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Jeanette MacDonald & Lassie in The Sun Comes Up (1949)

Those who cling to the image of André Previn as a Wunderkind in a turtleneck may be gobsmacked to learn that April 6 marked his 80th birthday. In the course of a multifaceted career, Mr. Previn has distinguished himself as a symphonic conductor, a chamber musician, a jazz pianist, and a composer of symphonic and chamber music, opera, Broadway shows, concert song, popular American song, and Hollywood film scores. To mark this banner year, Mr. Previn has been involved in an exhausting international performance schedule….

Of his modus operandi as a composer, Mr. Previn asserts: “No notebooks or sketches. I just get to work on the first blank page. Even if I throw out the first week’s work, I’ve got to write something down. Once I’m over that hurdle, I write very quickly. It’s a habit that comes from my shabby Hollywood background,” he says with a chuckle, “writing scores under strict deadlines for MGM.”

Mr. Previn wrote his first soundtrack exactly half a century ago. It was for a distinctly minor picture, “The Sun Comes Up.” “Jeanette MacDonald, Lloyd Nolan and Lassie — go figure that billing. In any case, I was a kid at the time and just thrilled to see my name on that screen. After that, MGM knew I could handle their assignments, so I got an endless stream of cheap, fast movies. I like to think I’m writing better music than that now.”

Link

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Grew up during World War II

“I also grew up during the World War II years and can remember that families were issued food stamp rationing books allotted by the government to make food purchases. War stamps and war bonds were sold by the government at post offices and banks to help the war effort. Blackout drills were held throughout the war years. War bond rallies to help raise money were successful in helping to win the war. At these rallies, some movie stars would appear and I was fortunate to see Marlene Dietrich and Jeanette MacDonald, two well- known actresses at that time.”

Link to full article

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Jeanette MacDonald

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Jeanette MacDonald in Don't Bet on Women with Edmund Lowe

In honor of  Jeanette MacDonald’s birthday June 18, get 10% off both her Autobiography and the collection of her handwritten love letters to her 1927-8 beau, Irving Stone.

Also, two of her rarest films, thought to be lost for decades, are available at 20% off today - Oh, For a Man! (1930) and Don’t Bet on Women (1930).

Link to sale

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Jeanette MacDonald

More thoughts on the birthday of Jeanette MacDonald:

Implacabile Dea says:

Let the critics say what they will regarding Miss MacDonald’s vocalism. I found out what opera was by watching her movies. The charm and vitality that she exuded could serve this current generation of singers well.

What a beautiful lady…

mrmyster says:

Dea – J. MacD was perhaps the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I met her once backstage at a performance of Faust in Hartford; she had come to watch the tenor as she was singing the role of Marguerite the following week in Philadelphia. MacD had come back stage to see D. Kirsten after the performance; I happened to be in Kirsten’s dressing room when J. came in — unbelievable beauty. The hair! The skin color! The sculpted face …. the nuanced and vivid speaking voice! NOW, if only her singing voice had been able to match that! But it did what was needed at the time, and as to you, she brought operatic experience to millions of people. God bless her; I loved her! But I preferred to listen to Steber and Kirsten and Traubel and Flagstad!

Link

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Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy in Naughty Marietta

Rotten Tomatoes was honored to sit down with Betty White to discuss her Five Favorite Films (hint: she’s a romantic at heart) and to revisit her incredible career in Hollywood — an impressive body of work that includes hosting her own self-titled talk show, her own variety show, creating iconic characters like “The Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, and winning five Emmys — all before jumping headfirst into movie roles. Read on to learn Betty White’s Five Favorite Films and hear her insights into great television writing, silly moments on the set of The Proposal, and her take on the art of the conversation.

Her five favorite films: Naughty Marietta, Out of Africa, Lost Horizon, The Bridges of Madison County, Kramer vs. Kramer. Re: her first choice:

I don’t think I’d be in this business if it wasn’t for Naughty Marietta, with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. I was 14 and I was SO in love with Nelson Eddy I thought it was the end of the world, and I didn’t just like Jeanette MacDonald, I was Jeanette MacDonald! You know, at 14. And at 14 I also thought, Nelson Eddy married somebody and I thought he needed a much younger woman. I think I saw Naughty Marietta 48 times. I wasn’t even interested in show business until then; I did school plays and that kind of thing, but I hadn’t thought of it as a career until I got hooked.

Link

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Jeanette MacDonald in Sweethearts (1938)

Happy Birthday, Jeanette MacDonald!  Born today in 1903…106 years young!

For those of you wanting to see some of her films on TCM - nothing today - but starting next week there will be several of her films alone and with Nelson Eddy airing, as part of a month-long tribute to great movie directors - including Woody Van Dyke, who directed most of her MGM hits!

Below is the list of films on the TCM schedule - all times are Eastern. Nelson Eddy, also celebrating a birthday this month - June 29, will  be featured in one of his solo films, as noted below. Set your DVRs or VCRs!

The Merry Widow (1934)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/23/2009 12:00:00 AM

A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country. C AST: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Una Merkel. DIR: Ernst Lubitsch. Musical. BW 99 mins.

Naughty Marietta (1935)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/24/2009 12:00:00 PM
A French princess in Colonial America gets involved with an Indian scout. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan. DIR: W.S. Van Dyke II. Musical. BW 104 mins.

San Francisco (1936)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/24/2009 02:00:00 PM
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the big earthquake. CAST: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy. DIR: W.S. Van Dyke II. Epic. BW 115 mins.

Maytime (1937)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/30/2009 01:30:00 PM
An opera star’s manager tries to stop her romance with a penniless singer. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore. DIR: Robert Z. Leonard. Musical. BW 132 mins.

Let Freedom Ring (1939)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/04/2009 08:30:00 AM
A crusader returns to his Western hometown to root out corruption. CAST: Nelson Eddy, Victor McLaglen, Lionel Barrymore. DIR: Jack Conway. Musical. BW 87 mins.

Rose Marie (1936)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/25/2009 12:15:00 AM
An opera singer goes undercover in the Canadian wilderness to hunt for her criminal brother.
CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, James Stewart. DIR: W. S. Van Dyke II. Musical. BW 111 mins.

The Firefly (1937)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/25/2009 10:00:00 PM
A Spanish spy masquerades as a singer to sabotage Napoleon’s forces. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Warren William. DIR: Robert Z. Leonard. Musical. BW 130 mins.

NOTE: If you will be in the Los Angeles area on June 28,  join us for a special afternoon celebrating the birthdays of  Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy! Details here!

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