Hello! Just a quick reminder about tomorrow’s club event in Studio City, California!!
We are having a new guest speaker and everyone attending will get a special gift. I think you will find the event highly informative…fun…and a celebration of Jeanette and Nelson’s birthdays!
Although I turned in a “final” headcount to the hotel, we did make allowances for the those of you that may decide to come at the last minute. So – just show up!
Jeanette MacDonald & Lassie in The Sun Comes Up (1949)
Those who cling to the image of André Previn as a Wunderkind in a turtleneck may be gobsmacked to learn that April 6 marked his 80th birthday. In the course of a multifaceted career, Mr. Previn has distinguished himself as a symphonic conductor, a chamber musician, a jazz pianist, and a composer of symphonic and chamber music, opera, Broadway shows, concert song, popular American song, and Hollywood film scores. To mark this banner year, Mr. Previn has been involved in an exhausting international performance schedule….
Of his modus operandi as a composer, Mr. Previn asserts: “No notebooks or sketches. I just get to work on the first blank page. Even if I throw out the first week’s work, I’ve got to write something down. Once I’m over that hurdle, I write very quickly. It’s a habit that comes from my shabby Hollywood background,” he says with a chuckle, “writing scores under strict deadlines for MGM.”
Mr. Previn wrote his first soundtrack exactly half a century ago. It was for a distinctly minor picture, “The Sun Comes Up.” “Jeanette MacDonald, Lloyd Nolan and Lassie — go figure that billing. In any case, I was a kid at the time and just thrilled to see my name on that screen. After that, MGM knew I could handle their assignments, so I got an endless stream of cheap, fast movies. I like to think I’m writing better music than that now.”
“I also grew up during the World War II years and can remember that families were issued food stamp rationing books allotted by the government to make food purchases. War stamps and war bonds were sold by the government at post offices and banks to help the war effort. Blackout drills were held throughout the war years. War bond rallies to help raise money were successful in helping to win the war. At these rallies, some movie stars would appear and I was fortunate to see Marlene Dietrich and Jeanette MacDonald, two well- known actresses at that time.”
More thoughts on the birthday of Jeanette MacDonald:
Implacabile Deasays:
Let the critics say what they will regarding Miss MacDonald’s vocalism. I found out what opera was by watching her movies. The charm and vitality that she exuded could serve this current generation of singers well.
What a beautiful lady…
mrmystersays:
Dea – J. MacD was perhaps the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I met her once backstage at a performance of Faust in Hartford; she had come to watch the tenor as she was singing the role of Marguerite the following week in Philadelphia. MacD had come back stage to see D. Kirsten after the performance; I happened to be in Kirsten’s dressing room when J. came in — unbelievable beauty. The hair! The skin color! The sculpted face …. the nuanced and vivid speaking voice! NOW, if only her singing voice had been able to match that! But it did what was needed at the time, and as to you, she brought operatic experience to millions of people. God bless her; I loved her! But I preferred to listen to Steber and Kirsten and Traubel and Flagstad!
Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy in Naughty Marietta
Rotten Tomatoes was honored to sit down with Betty White to discuss her Five Favorite Films (hint: she’s a romantic at heart) and to revisit her incredible career in Hollywood — an impressive body of work that includes hosting her own self-titled talk show, her own variety show, creating iconic characters like “The Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, and winning five Emmys — all before jumping headfirst into movie roles. Read on to learn Betty White’s Five Favorite Films and hear her insights into great television writing, silly moments on the set of The Proposal, and her take on the art of the conversation.
Her five favorite films: Naughty Marietta, Out of Africa, Lost Horizon, The Bridges of Madison County, Kramer vs. Kramer. Re: her first choice:
I don’t think I’d be in this business if it wasn’t for Naughty Marietta, with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. I was 14 and I was SO in love with Nelson Eddy I thought it was the end of the world, and I didn’t just like Jeanette MacDonald, I was Jeanette MacDonald! You know, at 14. And at 14 I also thought, Nelson Eddy married somebody and I thought he needed a much younger woman. I think I saw Naughty Marietta 48 times. I wasn’t even interested in show business until then; I did school plays and that kind of thing, but I hadn’t thought of it as a career until I got hooked.
Happy Birthday, Jeanette MacDonald! Born today in 1903…106 years young!
For those of you wanting to see some of her films on TCM – nothing today – but starting next week there will be several of her films alone and with Nelson Eddy airing, as part of a month-long tribute to great movie directors – including Woody Van Dyke, who directed most of her MGM hits!
Below is the list of films on the TCM schedule – all times are Eastern. Nelson Eddy, also celebrating a birthday this month – June 29, will be featured in one of his solo films, as noted below. Set your DVRs or VCRs!
The Merry Widow (1934) PLAYING ON TCM: 06/23/2009 12:00:00 AM
A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country. C AST: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Una Merkel. DIR: Ernst Lubitsch. Musical. BW 99 mins.
Naughty Marietta (1935)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/24/2009 12:00:00 PM
A French princess in Colonial America gets involved with an Indian scout. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan. DIR: W.S. Van Dyke II. Musical. BW 104 mins.
San Francisco (1936)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/24/2009 02:00:00 PM
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the big earthquake. CAST: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy. DIR: W.S. Van Dyke II. Epic. BW 115 mins.
Maytime (1937)
PLAYING ON TCM: 06/30/2009 01:30:00 PM
An opera star’s manager tries to stop her romance with a penniless singer. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore. DIR: Robert Z. Leonard. Musical. BW 132 mins.
Let Freedom Ring (1939)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/04/2009 08:30:00 AM
A crusader returns to his Western hometown to root out corruption. CAST: Nelson Eddy, Victor McLaglen, Lionel Barrymore. DIR: Jack Conway. Musical. BW 87 mins.
Rose Marie (1936)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/25/2009 12:15:00 AM
An opera singer goes undercover in the Canadian wilderness to hunt for her criminal brother.
CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, James Stewart. DIR: W. S. Van Dyke II. Musical. BW 111 mins.
The Firefly (1937)
PLAYING ON TCM: 07/25/2009 10:00:00 PM
A Spanish spy masquerades as a singer to sabotage Napoleon’s forces. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Warren William. DIR: Robert Z. Leonard. Musical. BW 130 mins.
The overwhelming facts that Jeanette and Nelson were in love are there. There are too many people that have come forward and post out their experiences with seeing Jeanette and Nelson when they should never have been seen there together.
I have told this story before to this group. I myself went to Senior Thanksgiving dinner years ago, and at the table we got to talking about Nelson and Jeanette. The lady next to me told the table of how she and her husband had no children. They both adored Nelson and Jeanette. They had money and nothing to do, so they decided to ‘follow’ Nelson and Gale in America.
This nice lady told us how they soon discovered that Jeanette was in the audience no matter where they went to see Nelson perform throughout the USA – sure enough, Jeanette was there. A table up front, sometimes a table further back, Jeanette was usually alone, yet there. There were even a few times that Gene was with Jeanette if they were singing around Los Angeles, but Gene was never there while Nelson performed around the country… but Jeanetee was there, always. When Gene was with her, Nelson never came out at the end to get her. Jeanette and Gene always got up and left with the attending crowd. People would talk to Jeanette after the show in the lobby. This woman claimed this event went on all over the country, for over the year that they followed Nelson, until things happened at home that did not give them the time to follow Nelson as they had, for over a year.
I said to the lady, well they say Jeanette and Nelson were in love…and the lady said, oh, no, they were just friends. I started to laugh, yeah, just friends.
The lady said, oh, yes, Jeanette just liked his voice. So, I said… then why didn’t Jeanette just buy some records and stay home and listen to them. NOBODY follows a friend around the country for a year – and is just friends. NOBODY. This lady said oh, no, Jeanette just liked his voice.
Okayyyy… if you insist!!!!
Well – this lady insisted, Jeanette was there – all the time – front and center the entire time they followed Nelson around the country themselves. Sometimes Nelson would have Jeanette come up and sing with him – but most of the time he would come down after the performance and get her and they would go backstage together. Nelson always acknowledged Jeanette as soon as he saw her even when she was with Gene, he would acknowledge them both. Nelson would come down from the stage and shake hands with Gene. Nelson never asked Jeanette to sing with him when Gene Raymond was around.
Now…she had no reason to tell us she followed Nelson around the country. To anyone that did not know Nelson, this woman would have sounded like some sort of nutcase. No one would ever know that Jeanette was always there to hear Nelson sing. He moved from city to city. Only this couple that moved from city to city with Nelson would ever know that Jeanette was there too.
No. Naahhh…. this lady was telling me what she saw going on without her ever knowing she was talking to a sinner that believed in the romance of Jeanette and Nelson – while this little ole lady, insisted that they were just friends.
I am reading your book Sweethearts and I have watched Maytime, Rose Marie and Sweethearts twice in the last couple of weeks. As a result, I have fallen madly in love with these two gorgeous and talented people and their glorious voices, and at the same time have been devastated by their frustrating inability to find a way to join their lives in a harmonious and stable marriage when they were so obviously meant to do so.
Your richly detailed and informative book makes me believe that they were in fact all things to each other: lover, friend, brother/sister, father/mother, child. Their volatile passion—especially Nelson’s for Jeanette—as well as their compassion and tender regard for one another’s welfare are just two of the many facets of their relationship. It is an amazing story and I am unable to put it aside for very long, no matter that I have to go to work every day and try to live a reasonable and productive life myself.
Just now I learned through Amazon that there are South American versions of their films on DVD. What is your opinion of these products? Am I wrong, or is it true that no one in this country is planning to issue them on DVD anytime soon? If not, that is really too bad considering that it isn’t going to be long before VCRs will be obsolete.
Thank you for your time and for making this information about these fascinating people available to us. I am truly grateful to have this peek into their personal lives, an experience which makes me wish I could have known them.
Best wishes,
Barb
Answer: I have seen the South American DVDs of Rose Marie and Maytime. Once you turn off the Portuguese subtitles, the films are excellent quality and sound. If you’re desperate to have them on DVD, this certainly is an option.
