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.
Nelson Eddy…43 years ago today he died at age 65, too young and too soon. While he brought pleasure to millions with his voice, his personal life wasn’t particularly blissful. There’s no doubt that stress and unhappiness helped lead him to an early death.
In the midst of this Oscar weekend in which Hollywood and the film industry is celebrated, this is one sad note for the many Nelson Eddy fans who still remember.
It is always a sore point that Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald never had one of their great films acknowledged by the Academy with a Best Picture Oscar. Their movie Maytime, the highest grossing movie worldwide of 1937, wasn’t even nominated! In fact, it only received a single nomination for the score by Herbert Stothart.
I attended an Oscar party once and I held a real Oscar in my hands. It was heavy and yes, there was something special about it.
But all the awards in the world don’t replace undying loyalty and caring of filmgoers or fans that endures for half a century and even more. Or a movie that is entertaining, timeless and enjoyable as well as excellent – even decades after its first release. Being able to watch a film over and over – 20 or 50 or 100 times – and still love it and find something new to see or hear – now that is a Best Picture!
Thank you, Nelson, for the musical legacy you left us.
This chandelier from the Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy movie "Maytime" now hangs in the Mishler Theatre, Altoona, PA
The Jeanette MacDonald – Nelson Eddy story will be featured in the musical stage production of “A Scandalous Affair” on March 13, 2010. Location: Mishler Theatre, Altoona, PA. Tickets: $35. The show stars international opera singers Hallie Neill and Theodore Lambrinos (formerly of the Metropolitan Opera). “A Scandalous Affair” was written by Hallie Neill and and based on the best-selling biography Sweethearts by Sharon Rich. Rich will be a featured guest and will answer questions and sign books after the performance. This event is a fundraiser for the theatre.
The Mishler website link is here andticket info here. A highlight for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans is that an original chandelier used in the 1937 movie Maytime was purchased at the MGM auction and now hangs in the Mishler Theatre.
Sharon Rich was friends with Jeanette MacDonald’s older sister Blossom Rock (“grandmama” on the original TV series The Addams Family). Ms. Rock wanted her sister’s bittersweet life story told and authorized Rich to write it. Rich not only interviewed over 200 people in researching Sweethearts but also had access to Jeanette MacDonald’s unpublished autobiography, the unfinished memoirs of Nelson Eddy’s mother, plus hundreds of pages of handwritten love letters, diary entries and other contemporary source materials.
