This magazine takes a very detailed look at the year 1948, in which – according to Jeanette MacDonald’s autobiography – her husband Gene Raymond was ready for a divorce. The reasons for such a decision on his part are not satisfactorily enlightened upon in that manuscript, but contemporary 1948 letters reveal what was really going on behind the scenes. This included Gene moving out of the main house and into the property’s guest house. The main house had a guest bedroom strategically situated between Jeanette and Gene’s separate bedrooms; and at this time, Nelson Eddy brought over some of his necessary possessions and parked them in the guest bedroom, basically moving in with Jeanette for a time!
The answers as to why this shuffling around of “husbands” occurred, and why Gene eventually moved back into the main house, are all addressed in the lengthy text (quoting extensively from 1948 letters) and photo-filled main article.
The magazine has an additional featured article, the balance of the Sybil Thomas interview notes written up around 1981. She was one of Nelson’s early mentors and remained a friend over the years, another confidante who spent time with Isabel Eddy as well. Because this woman did not particularly like Jeanette, feeling that Nelson had wasted/ruined his life and career over her, Sybil provided a more candid retelling of what she knew and witnessed. Although biased, her account of events swings to the other extreme of those – like Isabel Eddy – who wrote more mushy and lovey-dovey accounts of events. Sometimes the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these eyewitness accounts.
We’ve had rave reviews for this magazine, which you can order at this link.