A fan letter from India…
I asked our one and only club member from India to write us a little about her interest in Jeanette and Nelson. Here was her reply:
Dearest Sharon,I thank you once again from the core of my heart for your genuine concern. It is indeed a great honor for me to share my feelings regarding Nelson and Jeanette with someone like you who is keeping their legacy alive.
My interest in Nelson and Jeanette started due to a younger cousin brother who is very different from other boys of his age. His life revolves around Nelson, Jeanette, Deanna Durbin, Arthur Tracy etc. and books.
It all started when he was in school. While his friends were interested in the modern gadgets and external extravagance, he was busy collecting old gramophone records. This interest was noted by an old Anglo-Indian teacher who had some records of Nelson Eddy. During Christmas time, this gentleman invited my brother to his house. He gifted those records to him and what better gifts could he expect for Christmas? Ever since, songs like At the Balalaika and Song of the Volga Boatmen became his national anthem. Nelson Eddy became his source of sustenance.
My brother is not a techno-savvy person. He seems to be from another planet. One day, he requested me to gather information about his favorite personalities from the internet. He made me listen to Nelson Eddy and I was awe-struck. My husband too, was enchanted and my mother-in-law was mesmerized. We decided that we would set up a library of our own where we would collect old books, music and movies. We named our library Rainbow Home Library celebrating the myriad colors of life.
This is how our affliction with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald started. We have just adored your writings on Nelson and Jeanette. My brother is a great fan of yours. He has read your books on Nelson and Jeanette several times. Your book Sweethearts is like the Holy Bible to him. My husband is very fond of Farewell to Dreams which you have written along with Diane Goodrich.
We can proudly say that we are the only ones in India to be madly in love with Nelson and Jeanette. Life without them would be a drudgery for us. It is a great privilege for us to be associated with you and we aspire to add to our collection with your aid in the coming days. May God keep you hale and hearty and flood your life with everlasting sunshine. Please accept lots of love and greetings from my brother, mother-in-law, husband and myself.
With lots of everything that is good,
Rituparna
Hugs to you and your family, Rituparna, and maybe in the future we can have a truly international get-together online (on Skype, perhaps) where our members from around the planet can meet and chat in real time!