This month is fairly meager for films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, despite the fact that it’s the “31 Days of Oscar” month! Here’s the schedule (all times Eastern):
February 9, 10:30 AM: San Francisco
Feb 15: 2 AM (actually is early Sunday morning on the east coast) The Love Parade
Nelson Eddy…at last a screenshot that captures his emotion during the operatic number, “Czaritza”, with co-star Jeanette MacDonald, from the 1937 film Maytime. Thank goodness for today’s high-definition which allows us to see what was generally only spotted in 35mm theater prints of this film – and only if you knew precisely when to look closely and catch the light reflecting on Nelson’s tears. (In 16 mm prints and on VHS tapes, the picture quality was always slightly muddied and details like this were harder to spot.)
Art mirrored life at this time; in the film sequence the two characters loved each other but were forced to part. Same as it was in life, for Jeanette was recently engaged to actor Gene Raymond and Nelson tried in vain to get her to call off that marriage, warning her that she would regret it the rest of her life.
Did she live to regret it? There is much evidence to substantiate that in a big way. Even the naysayers who want to believe all the hundreds of happily posed shots of Jeanette and Gene over the years – have to ask themselves why Jeanette suffered breakdowns in the late ’40s and early ’50s. These were admitted to both in the press and by Jeanette herself in her autobiography. If so happy with her life, why would this normally optimistic, focused woman emotionally flounder and crumble?
Thanks to Kitty Job for catching the screenshot and to Katie Gardner for forwarding it to me, with this comment:
The guy is crying. This of course is right before she reaches up and strokes his hair…..So you know, either Nelson was ONE HELL of an actor or……he wasn’t!
Did Nelson Eddy make an appearance in the 1942 movie Cairo starring Jeanette MacDonald, Robert Young and Ethel Waters? You betcha! See the screenshots above for proof! Here’s the back story: in 1942, both stars had one project remaining under their MGM contract. Nelson, disgusted with studio head Louie B. Mayer, decided to buy out his contract instead before his last film, Lucky Star (which would have co-starred teenaged Kathryn Grayson) began production. Jeanette’s last film under her contract was the above-mentioned Cairo, a WWII spy spoof. Jeanette was initially far more upset and destabilized than Nelson by leaving the studio that had been her professional home since 1933. But director Woody Van Dyke found a way to cheer her up with one of his pranks – see the lifesize photo of Nelson hanging in the movie theater lobby during this scene with Jeanette, Robert Young and Ethel Waters.