The overwhelming facts that Jeanette and Nelson were in love are there. There are too many people that have come forward and post out their experiences with seeing Jeanette and Nelson when they should never have been seen there together.

I have told this story before to this group. I myself went to Senior Thanksgiving dinner years ago, and at the table we got to talking about Nelson and Jeanette. The lady next to me told the table of how she and her husband had no children. They both adored Nelson and Jeanette. They had money and nothing to do, so they decided to ‘follow’ Nelson and Gale in America.

This nice lady told us how they soon discovered that Jeanette was in the audience no matter where they went to see Nelson perform throughout the USA – sure enough, Jeanette was there. A table up front, sometimes a table further back, Jeanette was usually alone, yet there. There were even a few times that Gene was with Jeanette if they were singing around Los Angeles, but Gene was never there while Nelson performed around the country… but Jeanetee was there, always. When Gene was with her, Nelson never came out at the end to get her. Jeanette and Gene always got up and left with the attending crowd. People would talk to Jeanette after the show in the lobby. This woman claimed this event went on all over the country, for over the year that they followed Nelson, until things happened at home that did not give them the time to follow Nelson as they had, for over a year.

I said to the lady, well they say Jeanette and Nelson were in love…and the lady said, oh, no, they were just friends. I started to laugh, yeah, just friends.

The lady said, oh, yes, Jeanette just liked his voice. So, I said… then why didn’t Jeanette just buy some records and stay home and listen to them. NOBODY follows a friend around the country for a year – and is just friends. NOBODY. This lady said oh, no, Jeanette just liked his voice.

Okayyyy… if you insist!!!!

Well – this lady insisted, Jeanette was there – all the time – front and center the entire time they followed Nelson around the country themselves. Sometimes Nelson would have Jeanette come up and sing with him – but most of the time he would come down after the performance and get her and they would go backstage together. Nelson always acknowledged Jeanette as soon as he saw her even when she was with Gene, he would acknowledge them both. Nelson would come down from the stage and shake hands with Gene. Nelson never asked Jeanette to sing with him when Gene Raymond was around.

Now…she had no reason to tell us she followed Nelson around the country. To anyone that did not know Nelson, this woman would have sounded like some sort of nutcase. No one would ever know that Jeanette was always there to hear Nelson sing. He moved from city to city. Only this couple that moved from city to city with Nelson would ever know that Jeanette was there too.

No. Naahhh…. this lady was telling me what she saw going on without her ever knowing she was talking to a sinner that believed in the romance of Jeanette and Nelson – while this little ole lady, insisted that they were just friends.

Yeah, right. Just friends.

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Hi Sharon,

I am reading your book Sweethearts and I have watched Maytime,  Rose Marie and Sweethearts twice in the last couple of weeks.  As a result, I have fallen madly in love with these two gorgeous and talented people and their glorious voices, and at the same time have been devastated by their frustrating inability to find a way to join their lives in a harmonious and stable marriage when they were so obviously meant to do so.

Your richly detailed and informative book makes me believe that they were in fact all things to each other:  lover, friend, brother/sister, father/mother, child.  Their volatile passion—especially Nelson’s for Jeanette—as well as their compassion and tender regard for one another’s welfare are just two of the many facets of their relationship.  It is an amazing story and I am unable to put it aside for very long, no matter that I have to go to work every day and try to live a reasonable and productive life myself.

Just now I learned through Amazon that there are South American versions of their films on DVD.  What is your opinion of these products?  Am I wrong, or is it true that no one in this country is planning to issue them on DVD anytime soon?  If not, that is really too bad considering that it isn’t going to be long before VCRs will be obsolete.

Thank you for your time and for making this information about these fascinating people available to us.  I am truly grateful to have this peek into their personal lives, an experience which makes me wish I could have known them.

Best wishes,

Barb

Answer: I have seen the South American DVDs of Rose Marie and Maytime. Once you turn off the Portuguese subtitles, the films are excellent quality and sound. If you’re desperate to have them on DVD, this certainly is an option.

Thank you for sending the links to the MacDonald/Eddy Holiday music.  I NEVER get tired of listening
to them.  They were my very first album I bought with earned money from doing ironing back in 1978.  I would play their album on my stereo and do housework for my mother.

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

And again, I loved reading your book.  I never had a clue they were lovers until then, but I kind of suspected it.

Sincerely,
Karen Ritter

Love your site – a real find, thanks much.
– Ron Lingg

Hi, I’m writing for my cousin Mary Anspach….

She’s referring to the conversation with you at the recent Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy Club Meeting at the Sportsman Lodge in Studio City. She wants to let you know that she talked with her sister and Phyllis verified that they were ages 4 and 5 years old. They were at the Pier in Santa Monica in the summer of 1935 or 1936. Her sister, Phyllis, remembers that Nelson came to them when he heard Mary crying (she caught her finger in the car door) and took them (with their mother and Aunt Mary Surina, a dress designer) to, they think, his house. He dressed the wound and then walked them to their car.

Mary says that she had a great time listening to you and your adventures. She is taking me with her to the next meeting. Thank you for all of your graciousness. Jackie Golden

I was a dubbing recordist at MGM in the early ’80′s. While I was there I got work on the first restorations and re-mixes of their films starting with “Rose Marie.” My boss, Norm Jost, could not believe someone as young as I was (I was 21 at the time) knew these films. So I sang a few tunes, and really surprised him by demonstrating the ability to quote most of the dialog from “Naughty Marietta,” a feat I can still do today.

In 1980, all 8 of the films Nelson did with Jeanette for VHS. I don’t know if they all made it to DVD.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your website.

Best Regards,

Duncan McEwan

“I came across their movies at our church flea market 2yrs ago in May and after watching “Naughty Marietta” I got hooked. I think my Mom told me that Nelson Eddy married another woman and Jeanette married another man when I was a young girl. I was so much in love with them just from watching them on TV and disappointed that they didn’t marry one another. Thank you again for giving us the truth even as sad as it was.”
Molly

“Sharon.

I love you for all the effort you and your team put in to share all this news around and about Nelson and Jeanette.

You mention that they had a love relationship, this is not hard to believe, for two people to share the same love and interests as closely as Jeanette and Nelson did, to fall romantically in love with each other would be a natural consequence!

Once more thank you, and I do appreciate the new “blog.”

Fred