Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Books
      • by Sharon Rich
      • Poetic Memories series
      • MacEddy Today book compilations
      • by other authors
    • Magazines
    • Calendars
    • Special Packages
    • Sale/Closeout/One-of-a-Kind
  • Blog
  • Jeanette & Nelson
    • Biography – Overview
      • Part 1
      • Part 2
      • Part 3
      • Part 4
      • Part 5
    • Filmography
    • Eyewitness Accounts
    • Read Book Excerpts
      • JM: The Irving Stone Letters
      • NE: The Opera Years Excerpt
      • JM: Autobiography
      • J/N: The Rosary
    • Nelson Eddy, Artist
    • Photo Gallery
  • Sweethearts
    • About Sweethearts
    • Sweethearts Reviews
    • Sweethearts Excerpt
    • Sweethearts Promo Video
    • Sweethearts Documentation
  • About Us
    • Mac/Eddy Today Magazine
    • Magazines in stock
    • Sample Articles & Interviews
      • Al Caiazza
      • Betty Jaynes
      • Frank Laric
      • J/N Genealogy
      • John Pickard
      • K.T. Ernshaw
      • Lawrence Tibbett, Jr.
      • Nelson Eddy Drive
      • Miliza Korjus
      • Phyllis Woodbury
      • Risë Stevens
      • Rose Bampton
      • Sandy Reiss
      • Susanna Foster
    • Editorial
    • Watch our “Master Class” videos
  • Contact
  • My Account
    • Register or Login
    • Edit my address or email
  • 0 items
July 15, 2015

Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years back on Amazon Best Seller list!

maceddy Announcements 0 Comments

Today Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years can be purchased as a Kindle book – for free!

I just love it when Nelson and/or Jeanette hit a Best Seller list – where everyone can see them and new folks can discover them! Yay!!! And today, July 15, 2015, Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years is once again on Amazon’s Best Seller list – at position #82 on the paid ebooks in the Music category!

Please note that today Amazon is having a special Prime Day anniversary day; if you’re not signed up you can do so and have a 30-day Prime free trial and get the Nelson Eddy: The Opera Years ebook for free by “buying” it with “Kindle Unlimited.” You don’t actually need to own a Kindle though, you can read ebooks on your desktop (they have a free reader program that you can download and install) or on a smartphone or tablet with the Kindle app. Here is the link which – possibly for today only – is free as a Kindle book with the “Kindle Unlimited” option. Enjoy!

PS: Amazon has also put our ebook edition of The Rosary on sale at half-price at $4.99. This book has the special introductory chapter that I wrote giving the background story of this 1909 best seller and with all the information and photos of Jeanette and Nelson who had planned to turn this book into a comeback film for themselves in 1948.  The link for The Rosary ebook is here, please note that if you want the softcover edition it is available on our website at this link. The link on Amazon for the softcover edition is here.

July 11, 2015

Nelson Eddy: Why “rape”?

maceddy Announcements documentation 3 Comments


This is going to be a very frank discussion of  a very uncomfortable subject. It deals with the first sexual encounter between Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald so those who find the subject abhorrent, please be warned in advance.

The photo above is on the set of Maytime, showing an unusual shot of hostility between them. And yes, they sometimes fought bitterly. Another shot of them glaring at each other:

The text from my book Sweethearts that seems to offend some goes as follows: “He…described in graphic detail what he was going to do to her to make sure she never forgot she was his. Then he threw her down on the bed and raped her.”

To put this into context, the time period we’re talking about is during the filming of their first movie together, Naughty Marietta. I do not know the exact date of this incident but the film went into production in late 1934 and was released in March of 1935. Most likely this occurred in December 1934 or January 1935.

First off, I quoted the events exactly as described to me. The version you read in the book is precisely how I and my then-research partner, Diane Goodrich, were told about this episode. The setting, the dialogue, the quarrel that preceded this episode, Nelson completely losing his temper and acting out so that Jeanette was for the first time exposed to his “Jekyll and Hyde personality” as she termed it – all this was described to us.

Diane and I were duly horrified at hearing this. Diane, who had known Nelson, angrily told me, “Nelson would never do that!” We discussed it and had pressed our sources for all the details they knew. (Marie Collick was the first source but we subsequently asked a few other people about it.) And then I said, “Let’s see what Blossom says.”

As you can read in Sweethearts, Blossom  not only confirmed the story but added the aftermath, in which the second round was definitely consensual and Jeanette happily commented upon it to her sister some time afterwards.

To this day I remember exactly where we were when we finally asked Blossom about it; we had eaten lunch in Paradise Cove, Diane was driving us through Beverly Hills, on Sunset Blvd and then we ended up on Doheny Drive. Blossom was in the front passenger seat giving Diane directions by pointing to the right or left. I was in the back seat. We brought it up tentatively, apologetically, um…we had heard something and didn’t know whether to believe it or not…please don’t be angry or offended by this question…but…

And Blossom laughed as she set the record straight on this episode.

Let me also clarify something. In the context of that time period, the definition of “rape” was – per 1927 law – “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.” According to a CNN article on the revision of this law, “That meant it was only an act of rape if a man forcibly penetrated a woman through her vagina. It excluded oral and anal penetration.”

It appears that normally easygoing, lovesick “puppy dog” Nelson finally was pushed beyond his own endurance by Jeanette’s behavior and finally just pounced without warning or self-control.

Tonight I discussed this subject with a grandmother who said, “Then they might have called what Nelson did rape but today we would call it rough sex.”

Others point out that there were a few incidents noted during their early dates together where Nelson “got carried away” but he managed to remain a gentleman and not go too far.  Jeanette no doubt had to wonder at his courtship of her, so unusual in their world, she told her sister “He’s so strange.” One wouldn’t put it past her to goad him to that last step – as it happened, if only to see what was up with this guy. For Nelson, it must have been tough on her to watch her daily on the Naughty Marietta set as makeup man Fred Phillips noted that Nelson was always scoping her out.

Another question arises; even if Jeanette had discussed the incident in detail with her older sister and others had heard about it as well…Why would I even want to discuss such a lurid incident in a biography about the two? Good question. There are four reasons that make it vital, no matter how one views the act.

1. It happened.  And it was, as noted above, Jeanette’s first introduction to Nelson’s temper and his jealous rages. By this time they had known each other about a year; he had proposed marriage to her a week after their first date, she turned him down so he backed off and exhibited very gentlemanly manners all through 1934. But working with her on the film and being near her and seeing her in ever-changing lovely costumes was very hard on him…as noted in this un-retouched photo of them below on the set.

2. It showed that Nelson had interest in sex, wasn’t “The Singing Capon” as some snide people termed him, and that he was indeed sexually attracted to and in fact obsessed with Jeanette MacDonald. Nelson once made this crude but obviously accurate statement: “I get within a mile of her and I’ve got a hard-on.” Below is another shot of him with Jeanette on the Maytime set in which demonstrates his arousal. And here’s a link to an article with some screenshots from The Girl of the Golden West, in which Jeanette’s nearness was again a huge problem for Nelson.

All puns aside, the next two reasons are the most important:

3. This was not an isolated incident, there is a vague mention of another angry attack by Nelson in August 1936 that resulted in Jeanette breaking up with him and accepting the marriage proposal of Gene Raymond.  It should be noted that Nelson was terribly frustrated with Jeanette and he was fed up with her acting “like a yo-yo”. He wanted to marry her, he wanted her by his side and instead she put her career first. Something triggered him off again but we have no real detail on the incident, just its outcome.

4. Based on his past behavior, Nelson believed himself capable of this kind of boorish behavior – forcing himself on a woman – so when Ann Franklin “told me a nightmare of a story about my becoming violent in my lovemaking” while Nelson asserted he was both drunk and drugged and had no memory of it – HE BELIEVED HER! And according to what Nelson wrote to Jeanette, this is the reason he married Ann. (Whether it was the self shame of what he purportedly did to Ann or the fear that Ann would provide a full detailed report to Jeanette – which would no doubt result in Jeanette breaking up with him – Nelson could find no way out of his predicament.)

This is why it was necessary, I felt, to show the irrational pattern of behavior Nelson demonstrated on rare occasions, usually a mild-mannered gentleman but also capable of being pushed to his limit and finally blowing up and acting out.  As his mother Isabel once wrote, “Living with Nelson is like living with World War II in your house.”

Finally, for those of you wondering how or why we would learn such detailed descriptions of their intimate moments, I direct you to read Sweethearts where Nelson mostly (but sometimes Jeanette) can be quoted from letters discussing such matters endlessly, sometimes in vivid and graphic detail. This is who these people were, this is what made them tick and how and why they kept their love going for decades. My job was simply to share the story which – for the most part – they were happy to tell themselves, in their own words.

By the way, it should also be noted that there is never any mention after that August 1936 incident of Nelson acting out toward Jeanette in such a manner again. Ever.

This isn’t to say that they didn’t have their issues in the coming years, namely Nelson’s stamina vs. Jeanette’s frailty, her pregnancies, her heart problem, their many separations due to work and travel, his infidelities and the muddled scene with their spouses. But somehow they managed to work it out for themselves, having learned the hard way that they needed to be together.

To end this article on a more cheerful note, the photo below shows them when personally they were happy in their personal lives together…what a difference!

July 7, 2015

Madeline Bayless discusses Nelson Eddy in the Master Class #6 video!

maceddy Jeanette & Nelson YouTube 0 Comments

Shown above is Jim Bayless, Sr., the original Vice President of Capitol Records. This was a tribute album cover presented to him upon his retirement. His son Jim, Jr. succeeded him and his daughter Madeline has at our Los Angeles events, “gone public” about her family’s friendship and working relationship with Nelson Eddy beginning with his earliest days in Hollywood.

Pictured below is Nelson with his home recording setup built by Jim Bayless.

For some reason this final video presentation written by Madeline was never uploaded to YouTube but here it is now, the sixth in the series written Madeline Bayless.  This is Master Class #6 from  June 29, 2014. From the video description:

Madeline Bayless completes her series of Master Classes discussing 1930s movie star and singer Nelson Eddy, who became a family friend upon signing with MGM (where Madeline’s father worked in the sound department). Nelson came to their home and Madeline had many interactions with him. Jim Bayless Sr. set up and installed Nelson’s home recording equipment and Jim Bayless Jr. was witness to  Nelson and Jeanette MacDonald’s early romance, including seeing them together when Jeanette stayed overnight at Nelson’s house. In later years, Bayless Sr. recorded Nelson’s weekly radio shows, burned them to disc and brought them to Nelson for his self-critiquing.  Madeline accompanied her father to see Nelson at his hideaway home known as “Mists” and the MacDonald-Eddy romance was discussed by Nelson himself and by her family (“What the hell has Nelson done?” asked Bayless Sr. upon learning that Nelson had eloped with someone else). Madeline also recalls some studio shenanigans and unsuccessful efforts by MGM boss Louie B. Mayer to cause trouble between Nelson and Jeanette. (Her father was the one who alerted Nelson.) Jim Bayless Sr. left MGM around the same time Nelson and Jeanette did, and became Vice President at newly formed Capitol Records. (He and Bayless Jr. remained with Capitol Records for the rest of their careers.)

For those of you unfamiliar with Madeline, she was a club member but it wasn’t until September 1996 that she broke her silence (two years after the first edition of Sweethearts came out, I might add). We were on the Lake Tahoe tour, we were sitting in the hotel lobby where everyone was staying… and she overheard some saints snickering at me and saying none of it was true…she looked over at me and asked to speak with me and to my surprise she started to cry. She said she knew for a fact it was true and she couldn’t stand to see how those folks were treating me and she wanted to tell me what she knew and how she knew it, etc. That was why she finally came forward.

Later, back in Los Angeles, Madeline fully briefed me and in 2000 finally agreed to be videotaped by myself and Judy Burns telling what she knew. It amazed us that Madeline knew about this story as early as 1934!! But even when she finally talked, it was all to be kept secret and I was not to mention her name…you all today in 2015 don’t know how lucky you are in the here and now that we can discuss this openly. It took a lot of courage for Madeline (and others who knew them) to step forward. But once Madeline agreed to start presenting just a tiny bit of what she knew in her “Master Class” presentations, she never looked back! And of course, in the latest edition of Sweethearts I have finally been able to quote Madeline by name and have included her involvement in Nelson’s life.

Thank you to Madeline Bayless for sharing her personal memories of Nelson Eddy over these last several years. (Thanks to Tracy Wilborn for editing this one.) To watch the other videos in this series, check out this link.

«‹ 44 45 46 47›»

Today in J/N History

1936 A day after the official announcement of the Jeanette MacDonald - Gene Raymond engagement, there is a blurb suggesting that they supposedly planned to secretly marry in Yuma.

Social Links

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • RSS

Upcoming Events

Los Angeles, June 22, 2025

Featured Book

Sweethearts Documentation

Frequently updated…

Catalog



Books
Magazines
2025 Calendar

Jeanette & Nelson Biography

Latest News

  • Jeanette MacDonald: A Pictorial Treasury – 50th Anniversary edition!
  • Claude Jarman, Jr. passes at age 90
  • Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald: Christmas Songs!
  • Two new releases: Jeanette/Nelson calendar and book!

Recent Comments

  • GreatestRomanceJnN: The most romantic movie of all time! Although everything wi…
  • beekind2dayplz: I have always adored Jeanette and Nelson together and their…
  • maceddy: It's not too late to make reservations for the LA event lat…

Login * Register * Log Out

My Account * Lost Password

Shipping Policy & Terms of Service

Contact Us * Privacy Policy

Blog Tags

a scandalous affair blossom rock Book Reviews by Sharon Rich christmas costumes cruise czaritza darryl winston documentation DVDs Events eyewitness accounts Facebook Grammys In the News J/N Tribute Show Jeanette funeral Jeanette MacDonald Kindle louis b. mayer Mac/Eddy Club Mac/Eddy Today Mail Bag maytime mp3 my magic you my wonder one naughty marietta Nelson Eddy Nelson Eddy art phantom of the opera Photos R.I.P. recipes rosalie san francisco Shirley Temple songs & lyrics Susanna Foster Sweethearts book Their homes We will remember WWII YouTube

All News

  • Happy Birthday, Blossom Rock! (1895-1978)
  • Blythe Kearney Interview re: Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy
  • Happy Birthday, Nelson Eddy!
  • Happy birthday, Jeanette MacDonald!
  • Mac/Eddy Today Issues #79 and #80 released today!
  • Join us! Los Angeles event celebrating “Naughty Marietta” 90th anniversary!
  • Remembering Nelson Eddy (1901-1967)

Archives

↑

Copyright ©1996-2025 Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page | Mac/Eddy Club All rights reserved.