Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy “Bitter Sweet” on DVD!
Another of the eight Jeanette MacDonald–Nelson Eddy films has been released on DVD!
Bitter Sweet is now available… It was their 7th film together and their second together in Technicolor.
Another of the eight Jeanette MacDonald–Nelson Eddy films has been released on DVD!
Bitter Sweet is now available… It was their 7th film together and their second together in Technicolor.
The Jeanette MacDonald version of “Smilin’ Through” (1941), in Technicolor and co-starring her off-screen husband Gene Raymond, and Brian Aherne, has been released on DVD!
Jeanette looks beautiful in color playing dual roles. Trivia alert: the cameo she wears in this film was her own – a gift to her from Nelson Eddy. It belonged to his great-grandmother and he added diamonds to it.
The original cast of this project was supposed to be Jeanette with Robert Taylor and Jimmy Stewart. But Stewart joined the army and Taylor went on a two-month vacation with his wife, Barbara Stanwyck. Brian Ahern was signed to replace Jimmy Stewart. Gene Raymond wasn’t signed until after the first week of filming!
Listen to him singing with Jeanette MacDonald…their most famous song…Indian Love Call.
Plus…In honor of his birthday we have released 4 new CDs of his music.
Click here for details.
June 18 is a special day for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans. Happy 108th Birthday, Jeanette!
In Jeanette’s honor,the maceddy.com website is having a special sale on many items, with discounts ranging from 10-50% off. See everything that is on sale at this link. (Note: Lifetime Members get an additional 10% off their order!)
Here is some of Jeanette MacDonald’s music for you to listen to or download:
Dream Lover (from her 1929 first film, The Love Parade)
Will You Remember (duet with Nelson Eddy and yes, we will remember!)
Italian Street Song (just fabulous!)
San Francisco (the one and only!)
Farewell to Dreams (duet with Nelson Eddy, cut from the film Maytime, his favorite recording with her)
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
And Nelson Eddy’s praise and poignant comments about her on the day of her death:
On Sunday, April 10, 2011, Sharon Rich will be joining a large group of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans for a book signing afternoon on Long Island in Holbrook, New York. As of April 7, attendance is filled to capacity.
However, the Q&A part of the event will be going live on Skype with fans around the world participating and asking Sharon Rich questions.
If you are interested in joining the group via Skype you must join up with the Mac/Eddy Yahoo Group. Contact Bern, the group moderator, at this link to join and for more information.
For those of you that have read in Journal #69 (available here) about the similarities of the 1930 movie Viennese Nights to the lost 1936 Maytime, you can watch the only available version of it online. It’s broken up into 7 parts and Part One opens with a scene, not credits. The credits come a minute or so later.
These are the first 2 Jeanette-Nelson team films to be released on commercial DVD.
UPDATE: They are both available at Amazon.com.
Enjoy!
January 14 is a doubly sad day for fans of Jeanette MacDonald. For not only is it the day that she died at age 61 in 1965 but thirteen years later, Jeanette’s older sister Blossom died on the very same day at age 82.
Most of the time fans do not mourn siblings of their idols but in the case of Jeanette MacDonald, we owe much to Blossom. She fiercely loved her sister and throughout the decades was known to speak candidly about Jeanette’s life. Because of Blossom opening up her private phone book all those years ago and encouraging me to call this person or that…the personal story of Jeanette’s life began to be revealed. Not the Hollywood version but the stranger-than-fiction version which Jeanette – and Nelson – buried and publicly denied as best they could in their lifetimes.
It is because of Blossom’s feisty nature and insistence that her sister not be forgotten that we are all here today celebrating not only the life, movies and music of Jeanette MacDonald but the complicated and fascinating relationship she had with Nelson Eddy.
So today – January 14th – let’s celebrate the lives of two sisters. Blossom was no doubt Jeanette’s closest confidante and we have ample documentation to show how many times Blossom was there for Jeanette in moments of physical or spiritual crisis.
In the photo above, Jeanette and Blossom are pictured with their mother, Anna MacDonald.
If you would like to share your remembrances of where you were and how you learned of Jeanette’s passing in 1965, please email it to me.
Forty-five years ago, the front page of worldwide newspapers announced the death of movie star Jeanette MacDonald. It was a shock to many that she died so young. But fans that had kept in touch with her via her fan club were aware that she had struggled with ill health for many years.
Her closest confidante – her older sister Blossom – also died on January 14th – thirteen years later. Without Blossom, we would not have investigated beyond the public facade behind the "song-filled life" of Jeanette MacDonald.
Let’s celebrate the lives of both sisters today.
Here is some music for you to listen to or download:
Dream Lover (from her first film, The Love Parade)
Will You Remember (duet with Nelson Eddy and yes, we will remember!)
Italian Street Song (just fabulous!)
San Francisco (the one and only!)
Farewell to Dreams (duet with Nelson Eddy, his favorite recording with her)
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
PS: The photo above was Jeanette’s favorite.
eanette MacDonald I Married an Angel.jpg