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Jeanette MacDonald Birthday June 18 – TCM Film Marathon!

Jeanette MacDonald 1940 Magazine Cover
Jeanette MacDonald 1940 Magazine Cover

Jeanette MacDonald – June 18 birthday TV tribute on TCM!

Set your DVR/VCRs, whatever! Here’s the schedule:

In celebration of Jeanette MacDonald’s birthday June 18, Turner Classic Movies will be running her movies all day, including four of them co-starring Nelson Eddy. (His birthday tribute will be on TCM on June 29.) Here is the schedule:

The Merry Widow – 7:15 am Eastern
Naughty Marietta – 9:15 am Eastern
Rose Marie – 11 am Eastern
Bitter Sweet – 1 pm Eastern
Smilin’ Through – 2:45 pm Eastern
I Married an Angel – 4:30 pm Eastern
Three Daring Daughters – 6 pm Eastern

Enjoy!

Reminder! June 26-27, 2010 Los Angeles events!

Photo above: an aerial photograph taken a few years ago of the Nelson Eddy – Jeanette MacDonald hideaway house known as “Mists.” Those wanting to see this house should join us in Los Angeles for the last weekend of this month!

In June we celebrate the birthdays of both Jeanette MacDonald (June 18) and Nelson Eddy (June 29). Join us in Los Angeles the last weekend of the month for a two-day event:

1. Saturday, June 26: a driving tour through the Beverly Hills area of the many homes owned by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. This tour will driving by most of their homes in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood, the beach house Nelson bought for his mother (and stayed at himself) and – Mists, the hideaway home Nelson had with Jeanette! There is no extra charge for Saturday’s tour but we will need to coordinate with people and cars. After you get your tickets for the Sunday luncheon, you’ll be provided you with all the details.

2. Sunday, June 27, 2010: 12 noon at Sportsmans’ Lodge HOTEL located at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon in Studio City. (Take the Coldwater Canyon exit on the 101 Freeway.) $45/person includes luncheon and program. Meeting runs from 12-4 pm. We will be showing rare film clips, have a book signing, Q&A session and more! One of the highlights of the event will be the surprising results of some recent detective work! By the way, if you are coming from out-of-town, you can stay right there in the hotel; call 800-821-8511 for reservations. More details at the ticket link below:

Link to get your event tickets

photo: 1330 angelo

Jeanette MacDonald in Mother’s Day screening of “Three Daring Daughters”

Jeanette MacDonald and co-stars in "Three Daring Daughters" (1948)
Jeanette MacDonald and co-stars in "Three Daring Daughters" (1948)

Mother’s Day TCM alert! Set your VCR/DVR, etc.!

May 9 – 8:00 AM Eastern Time Three Daring Daughters (1948)

Three young girls try to help their widowed mother find the right husband. Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell, Jose Iturbi. Dir: Fred M. Wilcox. C-115 mins, TV-G

Jose Iturbi ain’t Nelson Eddy…but besides seeing Jeanette in gorgeous Technicolor, there are some memorable moments in this wanna-be remake of Deanna Durbin’s Three Smart Girls. Watch as Jeanette sings a nostalgic version of “Sweethearts.” Also, her duet with Jane Powell (Grieg’s “Springtide”) is gorgeous. And finally, Jeanette’s irritating cruise dining partner “Mrs. Smith” is played by Moyna McGill – better known as the mother of Angela Lansbury!

Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy: We get mail…

Fan letter from "A Scandalous Affair"
Fan letter from "A Scandalous Affair"

A fan letter from the Altoona, PA Mishler Theatre production of the Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy story, “A Scandalous Affair” starring Hallie Neill and Theodore Lambrinos:

Dear Sharon

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know I was at the showing of A Scandalous Affair at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona. My son took us and we had a wonderful time. Jeanette and Nelson would be proud to know their story was being told so lovingly and with truth.

Thank you for everything you do.

Eva, Patrick, Michele and Susie Irwin

Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy: Live tweeting a week in the life of a film historian!

Follow us at twitter.com/maceddyclub
Follow us at twitter.com/maceddyclub

Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans: Join me for a week of live-tweeting of what it’s like to be me – a film historian researching and interacting with anything and everyone that can provide more information about – you guessed it – Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy!

I meant to start this on Saturday while in Altoona, PA, for the performance of  “A Scandalous Affair.”  The Mishler Theater there has the original chandelier used in the 1937 Jeanette-Nelson movie Maytime. The story of how the theater got this amazing piece of movie history was what led to the show about their lives being produced there. Anyway, I attempted to take a photo of the chandelier with my new phone camera but was all thumbs attempting to upload the picture as a tweet.  There was so much going on that I never had a free moment from them on to try to tweet anything. But…considering that some very awesome stuff has happened since then, I’m going to return to the original plan and fill everyone in.

Follow the tweets at http://www.twitter.com/maceddyclub.

Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy: “I Married an Angel” on TCM March 18!

I Married an Angel - Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
I Married an Angel - Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy

Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans: Tivo/DVR/VCR alert! Or – just watch it!

Their last film together, I Married an Angel, will screen on TCM on March 18, 2010 at 1:45 PM Eastern Time.

While general audiences didn’t know what to make of this “out there” comedy when it was first released in 1942, the sophistication goes over better today. Plus there’s awesome singing in it!

Watch for the scene early on when Jeanette MacDonald, in a homemade angel costume, hesitantly attempts to give Nelson’s character a birthday kiss. She leans forward, then Nelson Eddy the prankster crosses his eyes at her, which you can’t see. But you see her eyes following his for the moment and then she breaks character and laughs. It’s a gem…and thankfully director Woody Van Dyke left it in the film!

A Nelson Eddy project you can help with!

Nelson Eddy and the Hollywood Star Walk of Fame in the Los Angeles Times:

The Times is working on adding more biographical information about Nelson Eddy. Do you think Nelson Eddy should be a top priority for a more complete page? If so, leave a comment letting us know why.

As The Times continues to work on the Hollywood Star Walk database, readers are asked to help identify other stars on the Walk of Fame whom Nelson Eddy should be connected to, as well as locations in the world that were meaningful.

If you’d like to help with this project and give your comments, here is the link.

Nelson Eddy’s “Kraft Music Hall” series CD release

Nelson Eddy: The Kraft Music Hall
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.

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