Nelson Eddy: The Kraft Music Hall

Nelson Eddy starred on the “Kraft Music Hall” radio series for three summers, 1947-49. For the first time, the complete series has been released on CD.

In 1947, his co-star was Nadine Conner. For the 1948 and 1949 seasons, Dorothy Kirsten took over.  For one show in 1948 Kirsten fell ill and was replaced by Jeanette MacDonald.

The “Kraft Music Hall” was a popular radio show from 1933 until Nelson Eddy’s final show in 1949. Other hosts during the years included Paul Whiteman, Bing Crosby and Al Jolson. But by the fall of 1949, television had replaced radio in popularity.

Click here to see the entire series.

Nelson Eddy

Nelson Eddy…43 years ago today he died at age 65, too young and too soon. While he brought pleasure to millions with his voice, his personal life wasn’t particularly blissful. There’s no doubt that stress and unhappiness helped lead him to an early death.

In the midst of this Oscar weekend in which Hollywood and the film industry is celebrated, this is one sad note for the many Nelson Eddy fans who still remember.

It is always a sore point that Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald never had one of their great films acknowledged by the Academy with a Best Picture Oscar.  Their movie Maytime, the highest grossing movie worldwide of 1937, wasn’t even nominated! In fact, it only received a single nomination for the score by Herbert Stothart.

I attended an Oscar party once and I held a real Oscar in my hands. It was heavy and yes, there was something special about it.

But all the awards in the world don’t replace undying loyalty and caring of filmgoers or fans that endures for half a century and even more. Or a movie that is entertaining, timeless and enjoyable as well as excellent – even decades after its first release. Being able to watch a film over and over – 20 or 50 or 100 times – and still love it and find something new to see or hear – now that is a Best Picture!

Thank you, Nelson, for the musical legacy you left us.

Sharon

This chandelier from the Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy movie "Maytime" now hangs in the Mishler Theatre, Altoona, PA

The Jeanette MacDonald – Nelson Eddy story will be featured in the musical stage production of “A Scandalous Affair” on March 13, 2010. Location: Mishler Theatre, Altoona, PA. Tickets: $35. The show stars international opera singers Hallie Neill and Theodore Lambrinos (formerly of the Metropolitan Opera). “A Scandalous Affair” was written by Hallie Neill and and based on the best-selling biography Sweethearts by Sharon Rich. Rich will be a featured guest and will answer questions and sign books after the performance. This event is a fundraiser for the theatre.

The Mishler website link is here and ticket info here. A highlight for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans is that an original chandelier used in the 1937 movie Maytime was purchased at the MGM auction and now hangs in the Mishler Theatre.

Sharon Rich was friends with Jeanette MacDonald’s older sister Blossom Rock (”grandmama” on the original TV series The Addams Family). Ms. Rock wanted her sister’s bittersweet life story told and authorized Rich to write it. Rich not only interviewed over 200 people in researching Sweethearts but also had access to Jeanette MacDonald’s unpublished autobiography, the unfinished memoirs of Nelson Eddy’s mother, plus hundreds of pages of handwritten love letters, diary entries and other contemporary source materials.

Read a newspaper article about this event here.

Kathryn Grayson

I just received news that Kathryn Grayson passed away last night at age 88.

No formal announcement has been made yet and it isn’t in the news yet. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 days before an official press release is announced; this was the case when Susanna Foster died.  But I wanted to let everyone know.

Kathryn Grayson was a kind lady who in the early days of the club attended our Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy club meetings in Los Angeles. Grayson was a fan of MacDonald’s and also, when she first came to MGM she was supposed to co-star with Nelson Eddy in what would have been his final movie there, Lucky Star.  In that movie Nelson would have played 2 roles and he had already read and made written notations on his script when he decided instead to buy out his contract and leave MGM.

More recently Kathryn Grayson attended the Nelson Eddy Drive ceremony at Hollywood Forever.  She spoke afterward to the group there. You can see pictures of her at the dedication ceremony at this link.

Sharon

Calling all fans of Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy fans…particularly if you live in the Baltimore area…or can get there easily!

It’s getting down to the wire but here’s still a week left – you can still make a reservation and come with us on the cruise!

Author Sharon Rich will be on hand to answer questions.  If you have questions about the lives or films of Jeanette MacDonald or Nelson Eddy, you can get your questions answered. We will also watch New Moon, Sweethearts and Rose Marie along with rare private footage and interviews with people that knew Jeanette or Nelson.

Escape the cold winter weather and sail to the Bahamas with us!

Right now there are still inside cabins and some suites available. The ship is nearly sold out but you can still go if you want to, and at a good price.

You must book with our group, via our website. You will also get $100 per cabin shipboard credit to spend!

At the Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy cruise website you can the registration form and we’ll call you immediately to get your cabin booked with Carnival. If you are a U.S. citizen you can bring adrivers license AND birth certificate.  Your passport or new passport card will work fine as well.

If you are a fan and want a last-minute trip this month, join us!

Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans: Click here to see the entire cruise gear line of Jeanette and Nelson shirts, mugs, tote bags and other items! You don’t have to be actually joining us on this year’s cruise to be with us in spirit!

Celebrate the life of Jeanette MacDonald by listening to some of her best recordings at this link.

Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy holiday sale on books, DVDs, CDs and magazines!

Today only: take 10% all books, DVDs, CDs and magazines at www.maceddy.com.

Use this coupon code at checkout: DEC2009

MGM logo - once Hollywood's greatest studio

In the heyday of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, MGM was the most prestigious movie studio in Hollywood, boasting “more stars than there are heaven.” Studio mogul Louis B. Mayer always attributed the studio’s success to himself and sure enough, when he was finally toppled from his throne in the 1950s, MGM began a slow decline from which it never recovered.  Additionally, the new moguls did away with a studio tour which was briefly available in the 1960s. Rather than turn history into a thriving tourist attraction – as Universal Studios did, MGM’s back lots were sold off for real estate value. Studio treasures such as costumes, sets, props, were sold at auction and other memorabilia such as movie stills and negatives were literally destroyed in mass burnings.  I know this to be true because at the time, we had a friend who was employed at MGM and managed to salvage hundreds of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy film stills before they were trashed. This was done at great risk to himself, because employees were fired on the spot if they were caught saving anything. Needless to say, many employees tried to protect MGM’s history as best they could, and all this memorabilia has scattered across the globe into private collections.

In recent years, Sony took over the legendary studio grounds and has its own low-key tour. I’ve taken it and it’s fine for what it is. I enjoyed seeing the music building where Herbert Stothart worked, conducting his orchestra while Jeanette and Nelson sang along and recorded their songs such as “Indian Love Call” and “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.”

The other memorable spot was the sound stage in which the tour guide said: “Under this current flooring is the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz.” Gee, don’t you think MGM could have build an entire studio tour empire just around that one sound stage?

The friends I was with during the tour were familiar with the studio from the “old days” and were able to point out to me what films (that history cares about) were filmed in which sound stages. The tour guide was asking them questions!

Today, in 2009, MGM faces yet another crisis, and soon may exist only as a name, a memory of Hollywood’s golden years. According to this press release, all that is left is their film library and current film rights:

MGM’s creditors have rejected a proposal to turn their $3.7 billion in loans to the company into equity as part of a restructuring plan to keep the studio out of bankruptcy, BusinessWeek reported today (Wednesday), citing a source with knowledge of a November 4 meeting between the creditors committee and MGM CEO Stephen Cooper. Instead, two days after the meeting, they asked Cooper to seek a buyer for the company but were told that it was unlikely that the studio would fetch more than $1.5 billion, roughly what the studio’s rights to the James Bond franchise alone might be worth, the magazine said. It noted that several studios are interested in buying MGM — but not to maintain it as a viable studio. They are interested instead in its film library, the Bond franchise, and MGM’s share of the rights to the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit.

Ironic that the once “lesser” studios, Paramount, Universal, 20th Century Fox, have all reinvented themselves and continue to flourish into the 21st century.

Link

Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald in their first Technicolor film, Sweethearts (1938)

Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy fans…join us on our second annual Valentines Week cruise. If you’re a singer, bring your sheet music and join our talent night! If you have some memories to share, you can be interviewed on-camera for an upcoming documentary!

TCM’s press release on the event can be read at the link.