Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Blog

Tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano dead at 86

the associated press

Tuesday, March 4th 2008, 4:00 AM

ROME - Giuseppe Di Stefano, one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century and a celebrated singing partner of soprano Maria Callas, died Monday, his wife said. He was 86.

Di Stefano died at home in Santa Maria Hoe, north of Milan, from injuries sustained in a November 2004 attack at his family’s villa in Kenya, wife Monika Curth said.

Unidentified assailants struck the retired tenor on the head during the attack. Di Stefano underwent surgery twice in Mombasa before being flown to Milan. He awakened from a coma, but never fully recovered.

“He was 100% disabled, he couldn’t even eat alone,” Curth said. “Lately he frequently had colds and pneumonia.”

Di Stefano, born in Sicily in 1921, made his debut in 1946 in the northern city of Reggio Emilia with Massenet’s “Manon,” and went on to sing at the world’s top opera houses, including Milan’s La Scala, New York’s Metropolitan, and in Vienna and Berlin.

His last performance was in Rome in 1992.

Link

Note: I mention Di Stefano’s passing here because I am reminded of my good friend - the late, great John Martin. John was a devout Jeanette and Nelson fan and it was his persistence and genius that resulted in Jeanette’s “lost” Fox films being saved for us to enjoy today. Those of you who attended early Mac/Eddy club events in Los Angeles will remember John as both our film projectionist and piano accompanist for singers at our events.

In his younger years, John lived in New York City. As an accompanist he moved in musical circles and saw all the of operatic greats of that era. I asked him once who were the most memorable stars he’d seen in person (aside from Jeanette and Nelson, of course). For Wagnerian opera - Lauritz Melchior and Kirsten Flagstad in Tristan and Isolde. For the opera Andrea Chenier: Mario del Monaco and Renata Tebaldi. For several other operas: Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano.

John explained that some of the above may not have had the greatest voices from a technical point of view but seeing them in a live performance was a totally different story. And sometimes a particular performance was simply - magic.

I understood what John was saying. My paternal grandmother nearly half of her life in New York City, deeply involved in the music world. She, for instance, saw Jeanette on Broadway and heard Nelson’s debut in Beethoven’s 9th at Lewisohn Stadium. I once asked her the same question: what was the greatest live performance she’d ever seen? Her response: Caruso live at the Met, in any opera. She sniffed at listening to “restored” Caruso records, saying that he didn’t sound anything like that in person, you had to be there to experience it.

I am reminded repeatedly by those who saw Nelson or Jeanette live in concert, that they were “even better” singers off-screen than on. For Jeanette, we at least have one of her Hollywood Bowl recitals on CD that shows how in love with her that audience was - screaming and shouting their love - and song titles that they wanted her to sing! One wishes that a concert recording of Nelson’s from the earlier days would surface, although we can “feel the love” from the audiences at some of his live radio shows.

One wonders where the generations of the 21st century will find their opera greats. The Metropolitan Opera is making an effort to find new audiences by broadcasting live performances in movie theaters in High Definition. Young baritone Josh Groban is probably the closest singer we have today to Nelson Eddy - an operatic voice who has successfully crossed over to rock star fame.

Tags: R.I.P. by maceddy
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You may not be aware, but last fall there was much-to-do about a blind gossip item regarding “Shimmy” and “Timmy,” causing a scandalous fury around the Internet as movie buffs attempted to figure out the identity of a 1930s Oscar-winning character actress who, suffering from cancer, had a “stand-in” replace her at times both on the screen and off for public appearances (even the Academy Awards!).

After nearly a month of tremendous speculation (and some correct guesses), the person who posted this blind item identified the actress (”Shimmy”) as Alice Brady and her impersonator “Timmy” as Arthur Blake.

Alice Brady was the star of one of Nelson’s first MGM films, “Broadway to Hollywood” (1933), which also co-starred Frank Morgan and Mickey Rooney. Nelson had a walk-on that consisted of him singing one number on-stage while off-stage, Brady and Morgan had a loud argument. The camera spends most of the time on Brady and Morgan and their yelling at each other pretty much drowns out Nelson’s singing!

Still, Nelson found time for a short romance with Alice Brady who, born in 1992, was nine years his senior. The only candid photo with Nelson from that film that we’ve ever found is the one pictured here, on the set with Brady.

She went on to win the 1937 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film “In Old Chicago” but was too ill to attend the award ceremony. Her Oscar statuette disappeared after the presentation and she passed away before it could be replaced - just days short of her 47th birthday.

Here is the original blind item: “I don’t remember the first time I met JJ. It just seemed like from the first day I started at my first position he was there. It seems like he has always said he is retired, but at the same time it seems like he always has a piece of every project. JJ is pushing 90 if he isn’t there already. He started in the business when he was a kid doing gofer work and his career rise has matched the rise of films through their infancy all the way to the present day. He knows everyone and for those few people he doesn’t know, they certainly know him. I’ve always told him he needs to write a book about his life and times and let future generations have an insight into his life and what he has seen. I get the feeling he has, although he hasn’t ever confirmed it. Maybe he is waiting to publish it after he dies. I don’t know. With what I do now I don’t come into contact with JJ much anymore on a professional basis but I always stay in touch on a personal basis. Every other month or so we get together for brunch and I get entertained for a few hours. I’m not sure what JJ gets out of it except for some company and some free food. Somehow I think I’m getting the better part of the deal. This past Sunday the conversation turned towards an event he had hinted at previously, but had never really finished the story and I took the opportunity this time to get the answers I wanted. All I will say about these events are they happened within the past 50 years and only about ten people know the whole story. Timmy was a gay man at a time when gay men were treated miserably, not only in Hollywood but in the rest of the country as well. Timmy’s homosexuality was compounded by the fact that he was very slightly built, had very pale features and a skin condition that prevented much hair growth on his body. What Timmy had going for him was a personality that wouldn’t quit and a way of capturing an audience whether one person, five hundred or through film that was unlike anything most people had seen previously. Timmy grew up in the Northeast in a small town where he really and truly didn’t fit in. At some point he knew he wanted to be an actor and began performing in theatres across the country. He would stick in a city long enough to work in some plays and shows and then move on when he heard of another opportunity in a bigger town or for more money somewhere else. Each of these moves pushed him further and further west to his ultimate destination in Hollywood. When he first arrived in LA, the studio system was still going strong and most performers were tied to a studio for many years. They would often work on several films simultaneously and often share accommodations with other performers of the same level who also worked at the same studio. Timmy worked often, but nothing more than a few lines here or there and spent a great deal of time in the “chorus” sections of musicals which were still fairly popular. To supplement his income Timmy began performing in local theatre productions. One night the lead actress was unable to perform and there was no understudy. A sold out audience was going to be sent home unless something was done. Enter Timmy. With the audience none the wiser, Timmy performed the entire two hour show as the lead actress and received a standing ovation. He was brilliant and there was even a review in the paper which talked about this understudy who was even better than the regular actress. As good as Timmy was, it was only for one night, and he went back to his regular role the next night. Timmy was excited about the possibilities the night before had held though and the response he received was never far from his mind. After another year working at the studio without getting much further than bit parts, Timmy decided to do something which would put him in the spotlight. When his studio contract ended he basically reversed his original trek to LA and began performing in small town theatres again, but this time as a woman. Timmy traveled and did the theatre route for almost two years while building up a resume and a background for his new persona. When he finally felt as if he had it down, Timmy returned to Hollywood. This time as a woman. From his very first screen test as a woman, Timmy was destined to become a star. Timmy was initially given meaty supporting roles and moved into an apartment with two other women who worked at the studio. One of those women was JJ’s wife. There was just no way for Timmy to keep his masculinity a secret in such close quarters and so the two women became Timmy’s confidantes and helped him whenever possible. Over the next two years, Timmy worked steadily as a woman and kept getting better and better roles. He was very rarely the lead, but in memorable role he was cast as the lead opposite a very closeted A list at the time actor who also remained single for his entire life. The two began a relationship which was always kept quiet but lasted for many years. Shortly after Timmy was cast as the lead, he was cast in another role which is the subject of the blind. Timmy was incredible in this role and whether his acting was as a result of his new found love or as a result of just the right part at the right time, Hollywood took notice and so did the critics. During award season, Timmy began winning regularly for his role. I want to make it perfectly clear that none of these organizations knew Timmy was actually a man when they were honoring him with awards as an actress. This award season was a blessing because it honored Timmy for his work, but at the same time the increased publicity and probes into his background were causing a great deal of stress and Timmy began getting hives and breaking out as the stress of trying to maintain three different persona’s. Timmy himself, Timmy the actress, and Timmy the gay man in a loving relationship with a closeted star. When it came to the very big award, the one with all the television viewers, Timmy won again. There he was, the woman who was really a gay man was being honored for being the Best Supporting Actress/Best Actress of the year. Its up to you to figure out which of the two he won. After the award season, Timmy thought the hives and his skin would go back to normal, but if anything they became worse. The severe outbreak he had been dealing with had altered his body to the point where it just wouldn’t go back to normal. At that time there was no CGI, and makeup could only do so much. Timmy the award winning actress was having trouble finding work because of his condition and so he saw his career slowly work its way back down the ladder over the course of three or four years. Timmy considered trying to resume a film career as a man but the skin condition made that impossible because it would have been one hell of a coincidence that two people who looked remarkably alike had the same condition. What he could do though was return to the theatre, and he did so, as a man and worked as a man until his death from AIDS related complications. Sunday after brunch I went to Blockbuster and I rented the award winning film, and even knowing what I knew, when I watched it Sunday night it was almost impossible to tell. If you watch it carefully there is one giveaway which is a scar. It’s not a big scar, but its evident in photos of the male Timmy which you can still find online in old cast photos and in the female version of Timmy as she acts her way to one of the biggest awards in films. Timmy as an actor and actress was in over 100 films and theatre productions from Topeka to Broadway, but this is about one role and one award.”

You can read the “solution” for this blind item with lots of film clips of both Alice Brady and Arthur Blake playing her at this link. It’s certainly a fascinating piece of Hollywood history!

Tags: NELSON EDDY, Other Celebrities by maceddy
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Robbie Board: ‘A kindly, gentle spirit’

Robbie Board was a slightly built tower of strength — a woman who worked and raised three children alone after her husband died. She was passionate about justice, say those who knew her, and she always spoke her mind.

Board died June 21, 2006, at age 100. Hers is not a name heard often when people speak of the history of civil rights and desegregation in Roanoke. Yet Board, some say, was an unsung hero of that time and beyond.

“She was a great believer in equal rights for everybody,” recalled her daughter, Jeane Hale Marsh of Roanoke.

“She was a great person, and because she came this way, we’re a better family and this is a better community,” her other daughter, Jackie Bolden said.

Old friends

Robbie Board lived a colorful and eventful life. As a young woman, she worked as a housekeeper at the house of a young John Payne, who would become the Roanoke Valley’s most famous movie star. (Payne was a staple in mid-century movie musicals, but is best remembered as co-star of “Miracle on 34th Street,” along with Maureen O’Hara and a very young Natalie Wood. Payne was the lawyer who defended Santa Claus.)

Board was in her 20s at the time, with three children of her own. (Her first husband, William Hale, had died very young with pneumonia, Jackie Bolden said. Robbie Board was married a second time, to Lynwood Board, when the children were already grown.) Board recalled in interviews that Payne was always clowning around in his kitchen and asking her to critique his singing. “He should have been a comedian,” Board told The Roanoke Times at age 94.

Sometimes Payne took her to the movies. “With his hat turned up, Mr. Payne was the sportiest man in town,” Board told the Roanoker magazine in 1992. Board also said she once cooked country ham and fried potatoes at the Payne house for singer Nelson Eddy.

Link

Tags: NELSON EDDY, R.I.P. by maceddy
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“Flesh was born in Seattle in 1933. Her mother, Kaye Brinker, was an actress on radio soap operas. Her stepfather, Manfred B. Lee, was the creator and co-author of the Ellery Queen mystery novels, radio and TV shows and movies. She fell in love with dancing after seeing a performance as a child.

At 17, she got “this harebrained idea to go to Paris to study ballet. My parents let me go, but I didn’t study a lot,” she recalled.

She learned enough to win a position with what was then called Ballet Theatre, and she later became part of the corps de ballet for the Chicago Lyric Opera and toured in the DeMille shows with such stars as Zero Mostel, Barbara Cook and Jeanette MacDonald.

Link to complete article

Tags: R.I.P. by maceddy
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Frederick Kohner’s daughter talks about being “Gidget”, her father’s best-selling book and his screenwriting career.

“Kohner was a screenwriter in Hollywood. In 1939, he was nominated for best writing original story in ‘Mad About Music,’ in which a young woman at a boarding school in Switzerland writes herself letters from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father.

His credits include numerous stories such as ‘Bride for Sale,’ ‘The Men in Her Life,’ and ‘Three Daring Daughters’ that were made into films starring some of the greatest leading ladies of the day, including Loretta Young, Jeanette MacDonald and Rosalind Russell. His style of writing about spunky women was perfectly suited for ‘Gidget,’ and the book became a national bestseller, reaching seventh on the chart, above Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road.’:

Link to complete article

Tags: Other Celebrities by maceddy
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Argentina Brunetti, an actress and member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. since 1967, died of natural causes in Rome Dec. 20. She was 98.

Born in Buenos Aires to actress Mimi Aguglia, she came to Hollywood and was hired by MGM to dub the voices of Jeanette MacDonald and Norma Shearer into Italian.

She appeared in dozens of films including “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “My Cousin Rachel.” She had a recurring role on “General Hospital” in 1985-86 and appeared on TV shows including “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Quincy,” “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza.”

Brunetti became an interviewer for Voice of America, interviewing American actors for broadcast in Italy. She continued writing about Hollywood and was awarded the title of Cavalier of the Republic by the government of Italy for her efforts in enhancing Italian-U.S. relations through her film portrayals of Italians and Italian Americans.

Brunetti recently published a novel “In Sicilian Company” about her theatrical family.

Her son, Mario, plans to continue her showbiz blog at argentinabrunetti.com.

Link

Tags: R.I.P. by maceddy
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Margaret Truman, author and former singer, daughter of President Harry S. Truman, died today at age 83.

Though most famous for her murder mystery novels, in 1947 the President’s daughter tried to launch a singing career like her idols, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

The following year, Margaret met both stars. Jeanette MacDonald attended Margaret’s 25th Birthday party on February 17, 1948, held at the Washington, D.C. Mayflower Hotel. Then Nelson Eddy, who was on a concert tour, was invited to dinner at the White House with President and Mrs. Truman, and Margaret. He wrote about it in a letter from early May 1948: “They all talked about [Jeanette] constantly, and Margaret seems to fairly worship her. The President remarked that it was the ambition of her (Margaret’s) life to sing on my [radio] program - so I said of course that would be an honor for me and perhaps it could be arranged this summer if he was willing. We left it at that but I know that would please Jeanette, as no one else has been able to arrange that - so it would be a feather in my cap. Margaret told me Jeanette had invited her as a house guest if she comes to Hollywood this summer. My little minx is always looking out for her husband’s (sic) interests. Margaret, by the way, is a very charming girl - plain and sincere.”

Nelson’s summer radio program was The Kraft Music Hall. The above quote is from the book Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, page 392.

Link to obituary

Tags: JEANETTE MACDONALD, NELSON EDDY, R.I.P. by maceddy
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