January 14 – Remembering Jeanette MacDonald and Blossom MacDonald Rock

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Jeanette MacDonald True Confessions magazine cover

January 14 is a doubly sad day for fans of Jeanette MacDonald. For not only is it the day that she died at age 61 in 1965 but thirteen years later, Jeanette’s older sister Blossom died on the very same day at age 82.

Most of the time fans do not mourn siblings of their idols but in the case of Jeanette MacDonald, we owe much to Blossom. She fiercely loved her sister and throughout the decades was known to speak candidly about Jeanette’s life. Because of Blossom opening up her private phone book all those years ago and encouraging me to call this person or that…the personal story of Jeanette’s life began to be revealed. Not the Hollywood version but the stranger-than-fiction version which Jeanette – and Nelson – buried and publicly denied as best they could in their lifetimes.

It is because of Blossom’s feisty nature and insistence that her sister not be forgotten that we are all here today celebrating not only the life, movies and music of Jeanette MacDonald but the complicated and fascinating relationship she had with Nelson Eddy.

So today – January 14th – let’s celebrate the lives of two sisters. Blossom was no doubt Jeanette’s closest confidante and we have ample documentation to show how many times Blossom was there for Jeanette in moments of physical or spiritual crisis.

In the photo above, Jeanette and Blossom are pictured with their mother, Anna MacDonald.

If you would like to share your remembrances of where you were and how you learned of Jeanette’s passing in 1965, please email it to me.

January 14, 1965… Remembering Jeanette – Listen!

Forty-five years ago, the front page of worldwide newspapers announced the death of movie star Jeanette MacDonald. It was a shock to many that she died so young. But fans that had kept in touch with her via her fan club were aware that she had struggled with ill health for many years.

Her closest confidante – her older sister Blossom – also died on January 14th – thirteen years later. Without Blossom, we would not have investigated beyond the public facade behind the "song-filled life" of Jeanette MacDonald.

Let’s celebrate the lives of both sisters today.

Here is some music for you to listen to or download:

Dream Lover (from her first film, The Love Parade)
Will You Remember (duet with Nelson Eddy and yes, we will remember!)
Italian Street Song (just fabulous!)
San Francisco (the one and only!)
Farewell to Dreams (duet with Nelson Eddy, his favorite recording with her)
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes

PS: The photo above was Jeanette’s favorite.

eanette MacDonald I Married an Angel.jpg

Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy Yahoo Group 7th Anniversary!

Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy 7th Anniversary

Wow! It’s been 7 years since our club member Bernadette Schwartz took over the daunting task of running our Yahoo! group. This has provided Mac/Eddy Club  fans a forum to discuss anything Jeanette MacDonald and/or Nelson Eddy. Bern, as she is affectionately called, has done a great job and I want to give her a hearty THANK YOU! It is not easy running a “social network” group as you can well imagine.  Folks sometimes have strong opinions, bad hair days..or just need to vent.  That Bern has managed to keep the “blips” to a minimum and has a happy, growing membership says a lot about her. As of today we have 91 people in our Yahoo! group.

If you have not yet joined our Yahoo! group you should do so. We have a wealth of photos, music files, other documents and very cool memorabilia uploaded for members to enjoy. Also, we have among the group some that either knew Nelson/Jeanette themselves or have excellent connections about some of the information that I’ve written about the Jeanette-Nelson story over the years. In the group one can be as active as they like or just read the posts and keep up with the latest. Bern and the group also act as my eyes and ears for news items that come up pertaining to our stars. I can’t be everywhere and don’t profess to know everything…so I greatly appreciate the contributions of the group members to keep up with timely events for all of us.

The other person I want to thank is Vonnie Krotts. She does gorgeous Jeanette/Nelson artwork and provided this beautiful anniversary postcard on behalf of our Yahoo! group. Thank you, Vonnie!

Here’s to another 7+ years of all things Jeanette and Nelson!

The direct link to join our Mac/Eddy Yahoo! group is here.

Have a great weekend!

Sharon

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