“It’s not easy. One minute he doesn’t care and one minute he’s angry,” Jeanette MacDonald told Blythe Kearney, when she boldly asked Jeanette how her husband dealt with Jeanette’s relationship with Nelson Eddy. Watch through to the end of the video, as Jeanette’s comments about her life and career are found throughout the interview.
Blythe knew Jeanette from her childhood onward. As a child, Blythe spent a day with Jeanette and Nelson when they were vacationing together in St. Petersburg, Florida, as a private couple in the late 1940s. Blythe’s grandmother, Mary Blythe (of the Barrymore family), was Jeanette’s friend from their high school days; Jeanette would come and visit Mary in Florida every so often, and Mary attended both Jeanette’s wedding and her funeral.
Whether Nelson ever joined Jeanette at other times in St. Pete is unknown; for this visit around 1947 or ’48, Blythe was staying with her grandparents when he and Jeanette arrived together. Years later, around 1958, Blythe had a long talk with Jeanette, and they discussed Nelson, Gene, and Jeanette’s advice about finding love.
This video is an excerpt from the 3-hour interview; a more complete written transcript of it was published in Mac/Eddy Today, Issue #78.
The Fall of 1948 was interesting for Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. On August 17, Jeanette sang a recital at the Hollywood Bowl. Her accompanist was none other than Ted Paxson, Nelson’s accompanist! Nelson was not seen by the public at the performance; however, a letter from the time indicates that he was actually backstage! He kept out of sight, not wanting to cause a commotion by sitting out front, which might distract from Jeanette’s solo triumph. She was in fabulous voice, by the way.
On September 5th, Jeanette hosted a party at her home for Eleanor Steber. Nelson and his wife Ann attended, and Jeanette’s husband Gene was of course also in attendance. The very next day, according to Jeanette’s desk diary, she as off to Lake Tahoe, where per letters from the time, she and Nelson had a private yearly “anniversary.”
Some might claim that Tahoe had some special meaning for Jeanette and Gene and who knows; there are several documented trips in which Jeanette travels with him for show; but once arrived, they often go off on their own adventures. This was not uncommon with them over the years. Jeanette obviously does not clarify this in her fan club write-ups; over time there was sometimes confusion when she mentioned her “husband” as to which man she was talking about. However, should one think a yearly Tahoe reunion had any romantic or emotional meaning for Jeanette and Gene, they are mistaken. While they had dated and Gene continued to woo her from afar at that time, he never came to Tahoe and Jeanette would not become engaged to him for nearly a year!
The man who did propose marriage to her at Tahoe was none other than Nelson, when they were filming Rose-Marie back in the Fall of 1935. This was verified by several people’s testimony including those who were there while filming. This included their co-star Jimmy Stewart who was interviewed in 1988 at the Pennsylvania Broadcasters’ Association, when he won an award. This was Stewart’s comment: “No, they didn’t hate each other. They couldn’t have sustained all their musicals if they did. They did not hate each other. Well… I can’t really say from any personal experience except for the one movie I was in with them… but it was the exact opposite.”
Jeanette accepted Nelson’s engagement ring but as we know, a series of events resulted in them breaking up at that time. Once they returned to Los Angeles, Gene had a stronger opportunity to move in as a rebound relationship.
The owners of Tahoe’s Chambers Lodge verified to researcher Carol Kaplan that Nelson and Jeanette made yearly trips to Tahoe and stayed together at the Lodge, in Jeanette’s cabin from 1935. It’s unknown how many years they continued this private reunion.
Back to 1948. After the Tahoe trip in early September, Nelson publicly sang again with Jeanette. He was the radio host of Kraft Music Hall; Dorothy Kirsten was his regular guest co-star but she fell ill. The night before the September 16 broadcast, Dorothy cancelled. Jeanette agreed to step in. For comparison, we are lucky enough to have both the afternoon rehearsal and the live evening show that followed. Enjoy!
For your listening pleasure this holiday week, here’s a Nelson Eddy solo radio show in which he sings Christmas songs for nearly a half hour! Enjoy and have a safe and healthy holiday!
