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

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!

Just a reminder that we will be holding our annual Holiday Bash meeting in Studio City on Sunday, December 7 at 12 noon – and it will be our last time at the famed Sportsmans’ Lodge Restaurant (located at the corner of Ventura Blvd and Coldwater Canyon; Coldwater Canyon exit off the 101 freeway). The restaurant lost its lease and is closing at the end of this year.

Nelson Eddy, Clark Gable and other movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Years enjoyed eating at this restaurant, because they could fish trout from the pond and have it cooked fresh for them.

Author Sharon Rich  will be signing books – titles include Sweethearts, the Timeless Love Affair On-Screen and Off Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald Autobiography: The Lost Manuscript, Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years, Jeanette MacDonald: The Irving Stone Letters (Irving Stone was Jeanette’s boyfriend in 1927-8 so these are mostly original love letters handwritten by her), and The Rosary, a 1911 best seller novel that was once planned for a movie vehicle with MacDonald and Eddy.

Author K.T. Ernshaw will also attend. She will sign her book To Love Again, a novel in which her main character is based on the Nelson Eddy she knew. Ms. Ernshaw is one of the few women still with us that knew firsthand what was going on with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, since she was a part of the story herself!

The afternoon also includes lunch, film clips and a memorabilia sale.

Here’s more details about the event – you can still purchase tickets online or you can just pay at the door.

Link for tickets or more information

Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy...Los Angeles events…we have been meeting in Studio City at the Sportsmans Lodge Restaurant almost exclusively since moving from the USO building on Vine Street, where the earliest club events were held in the late 1970s!

Time marches on…It appears that our Holiday Los Angeles meeting on December 7 will be our last meeting at the Sportsmans Lodge Restaurant. It is still unclear whether the restaurant will close forever…but from the available data, the lease is up on New Year’s Eve and the current owners will pack up their swans and leave forever. If a new restaurant opens up in the same location, we may or may not choose to continue our club events there…so stay tuned!

In the meantime, you won’t want to miss the last club event at the restaurant that for so many decades had a nostalgic Hollywood charm. Nelson Eddy, Clark Gable and other stars enjoyed eating there because they could catch their own trout in the pond for supper. The fishing was discontinued years ago but the lovely swans have remained.

Click here for more information and to get your reservations. We need to have a fairly accurate head count so please don’t delay! We will celebrate Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy…and say goodbye to our longtime meeting spot!

More info on the restaurant closing:

This week the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City seems to have opened and closed more times than Homer Simpson’s refrigerator door (The light goes on; the light goes off; the light goes on; the light goes off). On Tuesday, the Sportsmen’s Lodge director, Linda Scott, told ABC News that the lodge is “destined for the wrecking ball.” The story was picked up on AP and widely reported yesterday.

Not so fast. According to the new owner, Richard Weintraub, the lodge will remain open, in spite of planned renovations, as yesterday’s Extra Extra suggested.

I am dismayed at the misleading and inaccurate representations on the part of my tenant,” Weintraub said in a statement. “As the owner of the Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel site, I have no plans, and never have had plans, to close all of the restaurant and banquet facilities.

Still, Patrick Holleran, who claims sole ownership of the Sportsmen’s Lodge, insists he will close the lodge on New Year’s Eve before his lease expires in January. “We are the Sportsmen’s Lodge, period,” states Holleran, who owns the liquor license, fixtures, and rights to the name. Hell, he even owns the swans.

The conflicting reports imply that Patrick Holleran plans to vacate the premises, taking his swans with him while Weintraub will be bringing in a hotel management company to take over banquet operations. So essentially, there will still be a restaurant there, but it will not be The Sportsmen’s Lodge as we know it. The 200-room Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel and Patio Cafe next door will still be available for extramarital affairs and vacation tour packages.

The 63-year old kitschy landmark on Ventura Boulevard was once a celebrity hangout for stars like Clark Gable and Bette Davis, as practically any place serving martinis sems to have been. At one time, diners at the lodge could even catch their own trout dinners. Sadly, that was one gimmick the restaurant didn’t bring back; it could have been a fad.

Let’s all lift a glass to the loss of green-and-orange-lit palm trees, and heave a collective sigh of relief that we will no longer have to suffer tacky weddings amongst the fish ponds nor choke down inedible banquet food at obligatory events. Goodbye, Chicken in Herb Sauce, farewell Spanish Rice. Three Bean Salad — we hardly knew ye.

Weintraub plans to open a Western-themed steakhouse while remaining faithful to the history of the lodge and what it means to the neighborhood.

I have fond memories of the Sportsmen’s Lodge growing up in Sherman Oaks,” Weintraub said. “And I want to bring it back to its grandeur, including events, banquets, fine dining, quality hotel space, incredible shopping and perhaps even a fishing pond.Weintraub will bring back fishing for your own dinner? Count us in! But what will happen to the swans?

Link to article
Link to purchase tickets for our Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Holiday event!

We’ll have a special new film compilation to show and also a new guest speaker. The afternoon includes a luncheon at the famous Sportsmans Lodge Restaurant, book signing, Q&A session, memorabilia sale and a gift for everyone!

Don’t miss it! Tickets are $45 per person. Details at the jump, tickets at this link.

Or – you can purchase tickets at the door.

At least Stouthearted Men will be in the production…to be held at the Wilshire United Methodist Church in Los Angeles on June 22. From the press release:

“Stouthearted Men” from The New Moon by Sigmund Romberg and made famous by Nelson Eddy is also known for its version by the US Navy…”

Link