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.
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.
The ultimate cruise for fans of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Join us for Valentines Week 2010. We are calling you-oo-oo!
If you sing, bring your sheet music and join our talent night show!
I have updated the “fyi” section to answer your questions, and the online registration form is at the link.
Ahoy Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy Fans!
We have finalized plans for our 2010 Valentine’s week cruise – a 7-day on the Carnival Pride, sailing from Baltimore, MD. Date: February 7-14, 2010!
I have set up a separate informational website with all the cruise details in one place. You also need to make your reservations there – fill in the registration form online. A $25 deposit will hold your cabin. The cruise website: http://www.maceddy.com/cruise.
Your reservations need to be made in the next week or so, to get the prices that are quoted on that website.
Last time, the Convention Fee was combined into the overall price. This time, we will collect the convention fee separately on our main website, at this link. We will process your cruise payments for you directly to Carnival.
We are excited about putting this cruise together ourselves, and definitely want your input about which 3 films to show, talent night and any other activities you’d like to do during our time together.
Every year, the Mac/Eddy Club holds a Birthday Bash honoring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy on the last Sunday of June. Afterwards, or usually on Nelson’s birthday (since it’s always close to the date of our event) some of the fans visit their graves and place flowers.
The gals that were responsible for purchasing the urns in front of the grave markers – on behalf of the Mac/Eddy Club – made their yearly visit on Nelson’s birthday. The next day they visited Jeanette’s grave. They graciously emailed us pictures to share with you, along with this email:
Thank you for a lovely meeting on Sunday. Everyone truly enjoyed the Brent Perry interview.
We went to the Hollywood Forever cemetery to bring our birthday flowers for Nelson. When we arrived, no one had been there. We did our usual trimming and cleaning…We always put in an hour’s worth of trimming and grooming the site and placing our flowers before [the NEAS rep arrives], and add their flowers. We have been doing this for nearly 10 years.
I have attached the “after” (with our flowers) , complete with our flags for the Fourth of July to symbolize Nelson’s love of country. It would be nice if you would post the photo of the way we left the site with our flowers….Brian and Beryl [members from the U.K.] brought the lovely basket in the middle.
Today, we made a special trip to Forest Lawn to visit Jeanette’s site and took two small bouquets, each containing two pink roses which we placed on each side of her crypt in memory of Nelson’s love for her.
Here are the photos showing the lovely flowers. Thank you, gals, for your loving care every year, as always!
As you may know, we own the original of Nelson Eddy‘s excellent lifesize sculpture of the famous Chinese-American movie star, Anna May Wong. Although the sculpture is undated, we have a photo of Nelson working on it in 1943. On the back of it are his initials and the date “43”.
We did offer this years ago and sold exactly one replica of it. Recently we’ve had some requests for it again but needed a few orders to cover the costs of prep work and a new molding to make it available again.
We have had enough interest to resume the project…so are making it available again. The bust is lifesize but actually a larger piece because more of Ms. Wong’s torso is sculpted – not just a head shot. Many who have seen it think it is Nelson’s best sculpture.
Please contact us if interested in owning a lifesize copy of this Anna May Wong bust.
Here’s a great Nelson Eddy story…while filming “Maytime”, Nelson revealed that during his death scene, when John Barrymore comes to Nelson’s flat, says a few words and then pulls a revolver, Nelson’s scene was filming without Barrymore on the set! If you look carefully, you’ll notice that there are shots of Nelson at the piano, then rising and speaking to Barrymore, and then closeup shots of Barrymore as he does the grim deed. The two men are not in the same shot.
If you have a Nelson Eddy story to tell, please add your comments here.
Happy Birthday, Nelson!
You can make your own ringtone of his most famous duet with Jeanette, “Indian Love Call.” Here are the instructions:
Download it to your phone in the following ways: click on this link and download the mp3 file to your PC then transfer to your phone with a data cable or bluetooth. Or – download it direct to your mobile phone by WAP.
If you don’t understand the instructions above. then ask someone who is computer/cell phone savvy to help you! (That’s what I did!)
Enjoy!
PS: There is a sale today at www.maceddy.com on books about Nelson Eddy’s life and career:
Sweethearts, an eye-opening duo-biography of Nelson and Jeanette MacDonald.
Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years, includes reproductions of Nelson’s personal scrapbooks and the most comprehensive study of his pre-Hollywood career ever published.
The Rosary: The #1 best seller of 1911, Nelson Eddy chose this novel as a possible film vehicle for himself and Jeanette MacDonald in a proposed 1948 return to MGM as a team. The story is similar to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre but the hero/heroine are singers. A new introduction includes excerpts from written correspondence between Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald about the plot’s similarity to their own lives.
Nelson Eddy Lifesize Bust, self-portrait. Yes, Nelson Eddy was a man of many talents, including sculpting. This lifesize bust was done around 1942.
More Nelson Eddy news about the sculpture he did of actress Anna May Wong here at the link.
Every year, our club holds a Birthday Bash for Jeanette and Nelson on the last Sunday of June. Afterwards, or usually on Nelson’s birthday (since it’s always close to the date of our event) some of the fans visit their graves and place flowers.
The gals that were responsible for purchasing the urns in front of the grave markers – on behalf of the Mac/Eddy Club – made their yearly visit on Nelson’s birthday. The next day they visited Jeanette’s crypt. They graciously emailed us pictures to share with you, along with this email:
Thank you for a lovely meeting on Sunday. Everyone truly enjoyed the Brent Perry interview.
We went to the Hollywood Forever cemetery to bring our birthday flowers for Nelson. When we arrived, no one had been there. We did our usual trimming and cleaning…We always put in an hour’s worth of trimming and grooming the site and placing our flowers before [the NEAS rep arrives], and add their flowers. We have been doing this for nearly 10 years.
I have attached the "after" (with our flowers) , complete with our flags for the Fourth of July to symbolize Nelson’s love of country. It would be nice if you would post the photo of the way we left the site with our flowers….Brian and Beryl [members from the U.K.] brought the lovely basket in the middle.
Today, we made a special trip to Forest Lawn to visit Jeanette’s site and took two small bouquets, each containing two pink roses which we placed on each side of her crypt in memory of Nelson’s love for her.
Here are the photos showing the lovely flowers. Thank you, gals, for your loving care every year, as always!
MacEddy Meeting 62809 017 small.jpg
MacEddy Meeting 62809 017 small.jpg
