Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald photographed on a date together, attending an LA operetta performance of Maytime. This photo was taken before they made the film version.

We have seen another shot from this backstage moment. The right side of the photo was cropped in every magazine or newspaper that ran the photo…so we could barely see that Nelson’s left arm was around Jeanette’s waist. One has to wonder if that cropping was intentional. But this photo is even more interesting. His hand is no longer on her waist. Look at the finger play between the two of them with their left hands.

This is an intimate moment and one can observe Jeanette’s self-assurance with Nelson holding her tight to him even though he has that flirtatious smile for someone else. She looks radiant and we can see that they are together and happy at this time.

We have read and heard many accounts of people who saw Nelson and Jeanette together at parties or events where observers watched the intimacy between them and commented on it. Here is one such example. When you read in Sweethearts this quote from Charles Blackwell, who saw Nelson and Jeanette at a party together during the war years – as a couple – you can get a visual idea now:

“[They] looked very much in love. I remember his hands on her waist the whole time. She was dazzling and everyone commented on how happy they looked…They couldn’t keep their hands off each other.”

Photo from the Maria Escano collection

This screenshot from the movie Sweethearts shows us again that Jeanette MacDonald was very pregnant during the summer of 1938. But what’s different about this shot is the side of Jeanette’s gown that is showing. We can see that the dress has been altered, the left seam opened, the waist area enlarged and appears to be fastened now with a Velcro-type forerunner or some other manner that isn’t precise since it rides up a bit above the waist.

Thanks to Katie Gardner for capturing and sharing this photo.

Here is a photo of Nelson Eddy taken in Canada in February, 1965, about a month after the death of Jeanette MacDonald. I’ve had a small photo of this for many years but now seeing it larger, it has even more impact.

Despite the evident socializing going on – notice Gale Sherwood watching and gently smiling – Nelson is in his own world. His face looks vacant and terribly sad. He’s very thin. He looks lost.

I don’t know about you but I find it difficult to look at this picture.  And yet it shows us visually what many fans and acquaintances commented about in the days or months after Jeanette’s death when they met or spoke with Nelson – when he wasn’t on show.

My screenwriter friend Judy Burns met Nelson around this time, she knocked on his door at the Ashdale house, he answered and invited her inside. Her observation on that short meeting: “Nelson Eddy was the saddest man I ever met. He had miles on him and you could see it in his face. Jeanette said he wouldn’t outlive her by long and he didn’t. He went down fast once she was gone and you could see his loss and his pain.”

Another account related by Angela Messino: “I was talking with an older gentleman who saw him in one of the famous and elegant Hollywood bars in the 1960s. Nelson was seated at a round table, all by himself with a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne in front of him and a single glass. He said he was the saddest man he’d ever seen.”

Photo from the Maria Escano collection