More emails…met Nelson Eddy around 1935

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Hi, I’m writing for my cousin Mary Anspach….

She’s referring to the conversation with you at the recent Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy Club Meeting at the Sportsman Lodge in Studio City. She wants to let you know that she talked with her sister and Phyllis verified that they were ages 4 and 5 years old. They were at the Pier in Santa Monica in the summer of 1935 or 1936. Her sister, Phyllis, remembers that Nelson came to them when he heard Mary crying (she caught her finger in the car door) and took them (with their mother and Aunt Mary Surina, a dress designer) to, they think, his house. He dressed the wound and then walked them to their car.

Mary says that she had a great time listening to you and your adventures. She is taking me with her to the next meeting. Thank you for all of your graciousness. Jackie Golden

We get email…

I was a dubbing recordist at MGM in the early ’80’s. While I was there I got work on the first restorations and re-mixes of their films starting with “Rose Marie.” My boss, Norm Jost, could not believe someone as young as I was (I was 21 at the time) knew these films. So I sang a few tunes, and really surprised him by demonstrating the ability to quote most of the dialog from “Naughty Marietta,” a feat I can still do today.

In 1980, all 8 of the films Nelson did with Jeanette for VHS. I don’t know if they all made it to DVD.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your website.

Best Regards,

Duncan McEwan

Calabasas television ace Roy LaViolette dies, helped record Nelson Eddy

Longtime Calabasas resident and city television chief engineer Roy LaViolette has died.

LaViolette joined the city’s media operations team in 1991, first as a volunteer and then as a consultant and engineer for CTV. LaViolette worked on Wed., Aug. 20, and then died in his sleep sometime that night, a spokesperson said.

LaViolette and his late wife Doris contributed to the incorporation of Calabasas and lived in the city for more than 40 years.

LaViolette worked as an engineer on CBS radio broadcasts before joining Columbia Records, where he helped record such artists as Harry James and Nelson Eddy. He later worked behind the scenes for television stations KLAC, KCOP and KTLA in Los Angeles.

“Roy was an inspiration to all of us in the media department and the entire city of Calabasas,” said Deborah Steller, Calabasas media operations manager. “He lived through, and was part of, the technological revolution and always stayed on top of the latest gadgets and technology until the day he died.”

A CTV “Living History” program is being aired in his honor.

LaViolette was named Citizen of the Year by the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation in 2001. And in May 2007, he was honored for outstanding community service by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County’s Commission on Aging and the Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging.

LaViolette is survived by his daughter Julie Coomes; son-in-law Scott Coomes; son Robert LaViolette; daughter-in-law Ann Harper; granddaughter Nicolle LaViolette Keenan Meijia; grandson Brandon Coomes; grandson Andrew Coomes; and granddaughter Lauren LaViolette.

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