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This blog publishes on a daily basis 20-25 percent of one of G.D. Hamann's more than 170 books on Hollywood's Golden Age 1930-1949. For list of books please email request to GDHamann@Juno.Com. (c) G.D. Hamann, All Rights Reserved.
Posted by JMFC
September 1, 2006
Jeanette MacDonald In the 30's
1/3/1930 HDC Doris Denbo
John Garrick, known in Hollywood casting offices as "The Prince of Wales of
Pictures" because of his resemblance to the British royal hats, has been
signed for the leading male role opposite Jeanette MacDonald in Bride 66.
Arthur Hammerstein was impressed with his voice in Married In Hollywood, The
Sky Hawk and Song of My Heart and therefore signed him for this important
role. Garrick came to the U.S. from Australia with "The Wishing Well"
musical comedy company. He is a matinee idol in Australia. He joins Joseph
Macauley, New York stage baritone, Robert Chisholm, another noted singer,
Joe E. Brown and ZaSu Pitts in the cast of this promising extravaganza. They
tell me Rudolph Friml's music for this production is the most exquisite
creation of his career. I think we're in for a treat when this one is
released.
1/28/1930 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
Another picture which she is under obligation to make may prevent Lois Moran
from playing the feminine lead in Oscar Hammerstein's Bride 66.
This film, which Hammerstein is making for United Artists, is not going into
production quite as soon as was expected, hence the possible disappointment
to the young actress.
It is rumored about that Jeanette MacDonald is likely to be the new choice
to play the role. It is she who is making such a hit opposite Maurice
Chevalier in The Love Song.
1/17/1930 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
With all the talk about the approaching premiere of The Love Parade it is
interesting to learn that Jeanette MacDonald again is to be directed in an
operetta by Ernst Lubitsch.
Everyone is chary of information, but this column hears that the actress is
to play a Polish girl, and will speak with an accent in the new Lubitsch
film.
Miss MacDonald represents another case of an actress whose reputation is
established before she appears for the first time on the local screen. Los
Angeles gets its initial glimpse of her in the Chevalier film.
But in the meantime, she is on her third picture for Paramount. When The
Love Parade was finished, she did The Vagabond King and is at present
working in Let's Go Native.
1/18/1930 EH DAWN CALMS HER, SHE SLEEPS WOES
AWAY
By Dick Hunt
It is a peculiar condition, but it seems that things in general are always
wrong around a studio. And the day I met Jeanette MacDonald was no
exception.
While waiting on the set I listened to her sing a number over and over
again. On each attempt there seemed to be trouble. One time the sound
department was at fault, on another one the lights flickered, a third was
discarded because a supervisor, business manager or some one decided that
she should do it his way, and on and on far into the afternoon.
After all these retakes, it was natural to assume that the Scotch-Irish
Jeanette, who incidentally is partially red-headed, would be decidedly that
way.
BIDES TIME FOR HER DRAMATICS
But instead of tearing her red-golden tresses and gnashing her pearly white
teeth between certain uncomplimentary remarks about various and sundry
gentlemen she was extremely amiable.
"I wait until after hours to get dramatic," she explained. "Occasionally at
night I get perturbed about what has happened during the day.
"In fact I become so bothered about it that I frame eloquent speeches to
deliver to the bosses the next day. But comes the dawn and I can't remember
my routine.
"And I somehow feel that it's just as well my memory is poor. But I have a
list of "wrongs" since I started working in pictures.
"For instance, we worked half the night recently. I went to dinner and took
my bulldog with hem. He had a large order of roast beef which Paramount paid
for. I found out that was wrong from the business manager.
"Then I spent a lot of time learning dialogue for a picture. I came in with
the lines memorized and was handed a new version of the same sequence. So
you see I was wrong again.
"The other day I threw a whole basket of fruit, piece by piece, to the
electricians up on the spotlight platforms. It was a part of the set's
furnishings, and the property man discovered me just as I tossed the last
apple. Like Adam, I was immediately in trouble. He bawled me out in no
uncertain terms, so that was wrong, too.
ENTERS ON CREDIT SIDE OF PAGE
But to get on the credit side of the page, by all that I can learn from
those, who have seen The Love Parade, which is coming into the Paramount
next Thursday, Jeanette is just about "right." And personally she is very
much "right."
She is most attractive, has a great sense of humor, and worlds of
personality. If her real qualities can be transferred into celluloid she
should become a leading movie figure.
"Mac," as she is called by everyone around the lot, plays the queen of
Sylvania in this mythical operetta. Maurice Chevalier is the star and Ernst
Lubitsch directed.
Incidentally, Lubitsch is the one who started the nickname "Mac," and
Jeanette, not to be outdone, has hung "Lu" on the dignified Ernst.
1/24/1930 LAR Love Parade
Paramount—Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade, with Jeanette MacDonald.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
By Llewellyn Miller
Any picture fan will leave the Paramount feeling that The Love Parade has
everything. First there is Maurice Chevalier's enchanting personality, that
can make a bad picture worth seeing, and a good picture one of the events of
the year. And there is Jeanette MacDonald's blonde and luscious beauty. She
can command a wicked fire in the eye that makes her an excellent foil for
Chevalier's insouciant graces.
The picture is directed with rare awareness for the comedy in small
surprises by Ernst Lubitsch. It has a real plot, just when I was` beginning
to think that Hollywood has passed a law against anything developed
decisively. Guy Bolton and Ernest Vadja have written a clever scenario and
lines, occasionally quite suggestive, as are the lyrics by Clifford Grey.
But they all serve to build a gay, European background, which is exactly
what I needed for my spring fever.
The whole thing is played with just enough of the chic swagger of a good
musical comedy. There aren't any tiresomely repeated shots of choruses, or
unrelated shots of choruses, or unrelated comedy skits, but there are plenty
of songs.
I shall not be surprised to see a traffic jam about a block away from the
Paramount any time this week. And without asking a policeman, I shall know
that it is The Love Parade lining up for the next show.
1/24/1930 EH The Love Parade
By Harrison Carroll
Sophistication is linked with the screen operetta for the first time in The
Love Parade, Paramount's joyous union of Maurice Chevalier as star and Ernst
Lubitsch as director.
This film, now showing at the Paramount Theater, is as sly as a wink, as
humid as a secret embrace, as polished as a monocle and as romantic as a
courtier's bow.
IS SCREEN FIND
In Jeanette MacDonald, Paramount has discovered a feminine star capable of
crossing swords neatly with the engaging Frenchman. Miss MacDonald has a
generous amount of physical charms, a nice voice, a sophisticated manner and
the proper adroitness for the give and take of polished comedy.
She is a real screen find.
1/25/1930 EE Good drawings of Jeanette
MacDonald
1/25/1930 LAX The Love Parade
By Louella O. Parsons
The disarming and engaging smile with which Maurice Chevalier delivers his
complicated English in The Love Parade had the audience at the Paramount
Theater yesterday completely enthralled.
The Love Parade is a sort of glorified musical
comedy with a Graustarkian touch. It is not so much the story as the
scintillating lines that capture the imagination and the unexpected comedy
touches that Herr Lubitsch puts over with such skill. There are plenty of
amusing situations when the gay, naughty Count Alfred comes to Silvanus to
get disciplined by his queen.
Silvanus, a imaginary kingdom, is ruled by a young and beautiful sovereign
and what is more natural than for her to fall in love with the naughty boy
from gay Paree? Jeanette MacDonald, one of the stage's products, has a
pleasing voice and sings very well. She also has a great deal of beauty but
almost any actress would be overshadowed by the Chevalier charm.
2/1/1930 EHE Llewellyn Miller
She is rather tall...about five and a half fee...and quite slim.
When she walks there is a faint little swinging strut in her feet. It is not
exactly a strut. It is sort of a dancing surety with which Jeanette
MacDonald puts her frivolous size 2 ½ slippers in the path to the top of the
world.
That she is bound for that rather sparsely inhabited spot is doubted by n
one who has seen her play a naughty but nice musical comedy queen opposite
Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade at the Paramount.
Her hair is a bright uncanny gold. Her eyes are sea blue, or sea green, or
maybe they are grey. Whatever color they are they have an elusive depth and
variability that suggests the sea. She has a way of shadowing them with
fringed eyelids in a teasing defiance, or an elaborately intense seriousness
that is quite wickedly tantalizing. Her lower lip thrusts itself out with a
slight solemn pugnacity in repose with a saving curl of humor in the
corners.
She is one of those rare blondes who can wear black without looking
extinguished, or like a little girl in someone else's clothes. She has a
fat, mild and patient dog called, for some obscure reason, "Roughneck." And
just because it is the last thing that might be expected of her, she orders
cream of tomato soup for luncheon.
All of that doesn't explain why Jeanette MacDonald manages to hold her own
against Maurice Chevalier's charm in her first release.
She says that it was determination and thrusts out her lower lip the
slightest, unconscious fraction of an inch to prove it.
When she was a little girl she determined to become an opera singer. Later
that picture faded a trifle. "There wasn't enough fun...enough gaiety in
opera roles," she explained. So she went into musical comedy, danging in the
chorus at first, and understudying the star from the wings.
"I knew where I wanted to get, so I just kept on working until I got there,"
she explained with a bright reasonableness but just try that on your own
vocal chords.
"There" was several seasons in Schubert shows. Now she is breaking all
records for playing queens in the movies. There are five to her credit so
far and each one quite different from the others.
She would like to do a stage part in Los Angeles. "After all, this business
of making pictures is so new that I don't know yet what I am doing in it,"
she said. "I'm sure of myself on the stage. And I would like to sort of take
a bow out here, and let people see what I can do on the stage where I am
really sure of myself. Because after all they don't know me out here."
But that was before The Love Parade was released to break records in its
second week at the Paramount.
2/1/1930 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Joseph Schenck is due to arrive home today. He will probably confirm the
selection of Jeanette MacDonald for Bride 66.
2/2/1930 LAX IT'S NICE TO RECEIVE PRAISES
By Kenneth R. Porter
"Another break for you. You're to interview Jeanette MacDonald," said the
editor.
Sure enough, it was just what the boss prophesied. Practically everything
but the Eighteenth Amendment was broken in an effort to fill the assignment.
For three days, hourly reports from sincere studio attaches revealed they
were endeavoring to fill the assignment.
NOON BREAKFAST
Finally the interview was set—almost. Violation of all known traffic
regulations caught the actress arising at noon. Conventions were broken and
a mid-day breakfast was served.
Strain of the chase subsided with the presence of "the girl with the
red-gold hair and the sea-green eyes." It is easily understood why she
became one of Broadway's most popular actresses. Her voice is a rich, golden
soprano. She has a quiet beauty, emphasized with very little makeup. Miss
MacDonald is appearing with Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade, now
playing at the Paramount Theater.
"Why, I didn't know I was to be interviewed until ten minutes ago," said
Miss MacDonald over a glass of orange juice. "I'm terribly sorry for being
so late. I was dressing when the studio telephoned."
"Yes, she has been very busy of late," spoke up her stock
broker-movie-manager. "You know, Miss MacDonald is the only actress on the
stage or screen who has everything. She can dance and sing and has the
personality to put it over right. I don't think there are many good pictures
made. Some of those released recently and lauded by critics are, to me,
simply impossible."
Here the "bright boy" of movie managers launched into a detailed description
of how producers had faltered. Stock brokers also had their slump.
"One thing I have noticed," again began Miss MacDonald, during a lull, "that
I am forced to repress my voice while singing directly into the microphone.
On the stage one is trained to get volume so as to reach the entire
audience. The tricky little ‘mike' can make even a weak voice strong, but if
too much volume is used in singing, one is liable to blow a fuse."
A general smile by all those present.
"In the talkie apparatus, I mean," concluded
Miss MacDonald.
"Oh, here's a fun letter I must read to you," spoke up Mrs. MacDonald, the
actress' mother. She is exceedingly sweet, and we listened.
"What gripes me," again began the movie manager, "is the fact that people
with no vocal training can sing before a microphone and the public raves
about their wonderful voice. They just don't have any. Now Miss MacDonald
doesn't have to resort to mechanical aid for clarity, volume or tone
quality. As I said before, she has everything."
So had I. But I'll leave it to my boss. Did I get a break?
2/5/1930 LAX Louella O. Parsons
All eyes are turned on Ernst Lubitsch to see if he will repeat The Love
Parade. That is a pretty large order, because these smart, sophisticated
comedies with a Lubitsch touch of naughtiness, are difficult to duplicate..
Ernst Vajda has written an original musical comedy for the next Lubitsch
picture and it will be on the same order as The Love Parade. Jeanette
MacDonald, who played opposite Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade, will
have the featured lead. So far she is the only member of the cast selected.
She will not begin on the Lubitsch musical comedy, until she finishes Bride
66. They tell me she asked for everything but a platinum stove for her
dressing room at the United Artists lot. That gal knows what she wants and
when she wants it, if all one hears is true.
2/23/1930 FD The Vagabond King
(All Talker)
Paramount Time, 1 hr., 44 mins.
Artistically made all-color operetta generally slow in tempo. Ought to go
best as first run entertainment. Music mostly pleasant.
Based on the Ziegfeld production in which King starred. It has been
extravagantly and artistically produced and much resembles a Roxy pageant.
King fills the bill as the vagabond who becomes a king for seven days, with
death as the anticipated finale. He is most stirring in his vocal work on
"Song of the Vagabonds." O.P. Heggie, playing the king, gives him a run for
first honors, and Jeanette MacDonald is charming. The story, typically
operetta in character, lacks punch. It deals with a vagabond-poet who falls
in love with a princess and eventually reaches the palace when he is
arrested by the king. He is elevated by the king to grand marshal in hope of
driving off the Burgundians, who are besieging Paris. Leading his vagabonds
the poet defeats the enemy and is saved from the scaffold.
Cast: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, O.P. Heggie, Lillian Roth, Warner
Oland, Arthur Stone, Thomas Ricketts and Lawford Davidson.
Director, Ludwig Berger; Author, Justin Huntly McCarthy; Adaptor, Herman J.
Mankiewicz; Dialoguer, Herman J. Mankiewicz; Editor, Merrill White;;
Cameramen, Henry Gerrard, Ray Rennahan.
Direction, satisfactory. Photography, okay.
2/28/1930 IDN Roadhouse Nights
.....
The Vagabond King with Dennis King and Jeanette MacDonald will be previewed
at a special performance tomorrow night at the Paramount.
3/5/1930 HDC Society In Filmland
By Elizabeth Yeaman
One of the most interesting social events of the week was the dinner
presided over by J.G. Bachmann on Saturday night, when he entertained
members of the cast and others responsible for the production The Vagabond
King. The dinner, which was given in the Roosevelt Hotel, preceded the
midnight preview of the picture, which was attended by the guests.
Mr. Bachmann, who supervised the picture, had as his guests on this
occasion, Jeanette MacDonald, Mr. and Mrs. George Bancroft, Mr. and Mrs.
O.P. Heggie, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Lubitsch, Mr. and Mrs. Berthold Viertel, Mr.
and Mrs. Milton Cohen, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Forbes (Ruth Chatterton), Dorothy
Arzner, Lillian Roth, Doris Anderson, Ludwig Berger, Lothar Mendes, Edwin
Justus Mayer, Ernest Pascall, Louis Gasnier and Robert Ritchie.
Dennis King, male lead in the picture, who created the role of Francois
Villon in the original musical comedy production, was unable to attend as he
is on his way to Europe.
3/7/1930 EH Vagabond King
Directed by Ludwig Berger. Opened March 5, 1930.
CAST: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, O.P. Heggie, Warner Oland, Arthur
Stone, Thomas Rickels and Lawford Davidson.
By Harrison Carroll
Another screen operetta, The Vagabond King now takes its place among the
high ranking pictures of last year.
Thee is no question but that the new attraction at the Paramount will be
hailed as one of the most stirring and beautiful of the talkie musicals.
PRODUCTION IS COLORFUL
It is robust, melodious, gorgeously photographed in color, and rich in
production values. It introduces the fine singing voice of Dennis King to
the screen, and it gives promise of another feminine star in Lillian Roth.
In one form or another, the story of this picture has been familiar to the
public for a long time. It originated in McCarthy's novel, "If I Were King,"
and recently was a great success as a stage operetta.
Briefly, it relates the adventure of Francois Villon, a leader of thieves,
who became king of France for a week, and who saved the country from the
encircling armies of the Duke of Burgundy.
The scene is laid in Paris of 1460 when the superstitious Louis XI
frantically sought guidance from the stars, while his kingdom tottered.
Villon, the poet of the gutter, vilifies the king. He is captured after a
tavern duel, and is given the opportunity of royal power for seven days if
he will consent to be hanged at the end of this time.
According to Louis' whim, Villon sets about saving France, and incidentally,
winning the heart of the King's niece, Lady Katherine.
In a stirring finis, France is saved and likewise Villon, who is snatched
from the gallows by Lady Katherine's intercession.
The cast for the Paramount operetta is a good one.
AGREES TO WHIM
Dennis King who took the role of Francois Villon in the stage production,
brings the vagabond post to the talking screen. This actor has a colorful
personality, somewhat reminiscent of John Barrymore. It is true that his
acting is rather flamboyant, but the role of Villon makes this permissible.
As to his voice, it is one of the most powerful baritones heard in the
audible films.
Opposite King is Jeanette MacDonald, who is seen to less advantage than in
The Love Parade, but who, nevertheless, brings beauty and a good voice to
the role of Lady Katherine.
It is Lillian Roth, however, who is the most interesting feminine figure in
the new operetta. This young actress (she is said to be only 18) gives a
spirited characterization as the girl Huguette, who sacrifices her life for
Villon. She has a dark, eager beauty, she knows how to act, and she can
sing. Give roles as impetuous as Hugette and Miss Roth can win a substantial
niche for herself on the screen.
The acting honors in The Vagabond King go indisputably to O.P. Heggie as
Louis XI. Here is a subtle portrait, revealing sardonic humor, vengefulness,
parsimony, craft and all the devious facets of the ruler's nature.
SPILLS BEAUTY
Paramount has spilled beauty lavishly in its operetta. The scenes at the
court of Louis XI of France are among the most vivid ever photographed by
the technicolor process.
Rudolph Friml's music has not been supplemented for the motion picture
version of the operetta, but indeed there is no call for new melodies. Few
scores contain such numbers as "The Song of the Vagabond," "Only a Rose,"
"Love Me Tonight," "Some Day" and "The Huguette Waltz."
As in The Love Parade, Paramount has given the story a sophisticated
treatment. The direction of Ludwig Berger is notably good. Plaudits go to
the dialogue, too. Part of the latter comes from the book of William H. Post
and Brian Hooker, and part from Herman Mankiewicz.
The writer recommends The Vagabond King as a rare treat of musical
entertainment. This film is worthy of having been released in one of the
long run houses. In fact, it is infinitely superior to many of the so-called
specials of the last 12 months.
As the feature is long, the Paramount has curtailed the rest of its bill to
a cartoon short and a newsreel. Both are interesting.
3/7/1930 IDN The Vagabond King
By Eleanor Barnes
Francois Villon, renegade poet of the fifteenth century, lives on the screen
today in the personality of Dennis King, lured from Ziegfeld to play The
Vagabond King.
"I am a singer of songs," said Villon. "Had I been born in a brocaded bed, I
might have led armies and told kings the truth without dread of the gallows.
I might have changed the world and left a memory."
And what a memory he left!
STILL LIVES
At the Paramount Theater yesterday vast audiences greeted King in a Ludwig
Berger production, taken from If I Were King, by Justin Huntly McCarthy, and
the famous operetta, "The Vagabond King," by William H. Post, Brian Hooker
and Rudolph Friml.
The production is superb, done in Technicolor and elaborately staged with a
mammoth cast.
The house manager explained that it was necessary to raise the price of
admission just a trifle in order to get the film for Paramount patrons. But,
undoubtedly, it is worth it.
Produced on an elaborate scale, and with due regard for every small
essential, the poetic flavor of the life of Villon, who was rhymster,
cavalier, swordsmen and ruler of Paris hoodlums, is touchingly and
convincingly given. The interpretation ranks far above that done by John
Barrymore under the title, The Beloved Rogue.
THE STORY
The piece is known to theater-goers who have seen the stage play in the past
and know its marvelous music. King Louis XI of France had faith in astrology
and paid little attention to the rebellious Duke of Burgundy, who was
encamped outside the city and threatened to take it at any time.
Villon spurs his vagabond subjects to ridicule the king and his silly
star-gazing, and is pursued by the king's guards for his insults to the
monarch.
He escapes to Cathedral of Notre Dame, where he is of service to Katherine
de Vaucelles, niece of the king, who is accosted by ruffians. He falls in
love with her, not knowing her identity.
Later, in the tavern, when Villon sings, the king follows the warning of the
stars that a man should rise from the gutter to rescue Paris from the
Burgundians, and so Louis goes to the inn, talks with Villon and makes him
king for a week, with the promise of the gallows as his reward.
AT THE GALLOWS
Villon lives a thrilling life in that time, and as he is led to his death
the beautiful Katherine comes to his rescue.
Dennis King has an exceptional baritone voice, with a lyric quality about
his high tones. he can act splendidly, putting much fire, comedy and beauty
into the romantic character, and promises to be one of the most popular
newcomers on the screen.
O.P. Heggie, the celebrated stage star of "Trelawney of the Wells" and other
successes, is one of the greatest performers on the screen today. As Louis,
he is magnificent.
Lillian Roth and Jeanette MacDonald, in the principal feminine roles, are
worthy bearers of the characters portrayed, and the vast tavern choruses are
a credit to director Berger.
GREAT WORK
The Vagabond King preserves those marvelous songs that are a chief feature.
To hear Dennis King sing "Only a Rose" and Miss MacDonald, and the mammoth
chorus of "Song of the Vagabonds," is worth the admission alone. There are
1000 persons besides the principals in the cast, and while the spectacular
sequences are outstanding, still director Berger has kept the little
intimate moments beautiful and thrilling.
This piece is one of the outstanding Paramount films of the year. With so
many worthy productions on the rialto this week, there will be a dearth of
adjectives to praise incoming ones in the future.
This picture can be highly recommended.
3/7/1930 HDC The Vagabond King
By Elizabeth Yeaman
Dennis King, as Francois Villon, marched on the Technicolor screen of The
Vagabond King, which opened at the Paramount Theater last night, sang the
same songs and enacted the same role which he made famous on the Broadway
musical comedy stage over four years ago. But the screen personality of this
Broadway favorite loses much of the magnetism of his personal appearances,
and as this is his first picture, he may have been camera shy and had
misgivings about the microphone.
The music, as everyone knows, is tuneful and appealing, the plot is
delightfully romantic and fantastic, the color photography is beautiful, and
the lavishness of the settings and costumes would satisfy the most wanton
spendthrift. Jeanette MacDonald is as beautiful as the king's niece should
be, and her songs record excellently.
But in spite of the glamour surrounding the two principals, even in spite of
their musical opportunities and romantic situations, O.P. Heggie steals the
picture with his splendid characterization of malicious King Louis XI. With
diabolical pleasure he gloats on the predicament of Francois Villon, whose
seven-day glory as Grand Marshall of France is to end on the guillotine. But
like all good fairy tales, the beautiful heroine and the staunch followers
of the hero save the day at the last moment.
Lillian Roth, in the role of the vagabond sweetheart of Villon, gives a
forceful and rather picturesque portrayal.
There are stirring war scenes, garden parties after the best Bohemia manner,
solemn cathedral scenes, boudoir serenades, and shots of low dives
frequented by vagabond thieves and insurrectionists—in fact all the
sure-fire bids for popularity known to motion picture art. They are not
dragged in with this obvious intention but are logically woven into the
plot.
3/7/1930 LAX The Vagabond King
By Jerry Hoffman
The romantic figure of Francois Villon set forth to conquer new worlds
yesterday. Through the medium of sound and Technicolor in motion pictures,
The Vagabond King appeared at the Paramount Theater with the intent to rival
in popularity the appeal already gained through fiction, the legitimate
stage, musical comedy and silent films. There remains few, if any,
transitions for Justin Huntley McCarthy's story, originally called "If I
Were King," to pass through.
The Vagabond King is the same operetta in which Dennis King has appeared on
the stage for the past six years or so. It now serves for his screen debut.
It was E.H. Sothern who originally introduced Francois Villon to
theatergoers in If I Were King. John Barrymore recently took a fling at the
character with The Beloved Rogue. These, however, were dramatic episodes,
elaborated with fiction, of the famous poet's biography.
The Vagabond King with the book and lyrics by William H. Post and Brian
Hooker, comes with the greatest asset of all—the music by Rudolph Friml. The
screen adaptation and additional dialogue are by Herman J. Mankiewicz. It
brings a potent idol for femininity to admire—Dennis King. The man's looks,
his build and his splendid voice will aid greatly in arguments as to who of
the screen's recent additions is most popular.
With all the physical and vocal assets possessed by Dennis King, he leaves
something to be desired in his performance. King has played this role so
often, that much of his work seems mechanical and trifle insincere. There is
no doubt that many of the words in his songs are unintelligible. His love
scenes with Jeanette MacDonald are too much in the musical comedy manner.
Both, in other words, were more intent on reciting their lines or singing
their songs, than the making of love. The fault here, however, is Ludwig
Berger's, who directed them.
Jeanette MacDonald is again seen as a royal personage, being a princess and
not a queen as in The Love Parade. Miss MacDonald's charm grows as one sees
more of her. Her voice is lovely and her personality enduring. It remains
for O.P. Heggie to tuck away all the histrionic glory of The Vagabond King
safely and beyond reach of all other members in the cast. As King Louis XI,
Heggie gives a performance that would bring spontaneous applause with
[unintelligible] scene for its sheer artistry from a legitimate theater
audience. Lillian Roth is excellent, bringing with her the fire and sparkle
one misses in Dennis King. Warner Oland, Arthur Stone, Thomas Ricketts and
Lawford Davidson complete a splendid cast.
Aside from his casual handling of the love scenes, Ludwig Berger's direction
is good. His direction of the crowds, the battlescene and those in the
cellar was very good. On the other hand, when Villon walked to the gallows,
it might have been a stroll to a night club for all the suspense contained.
Withal, there is Friml's [illegible] and fine voices. Does anything else
matter if one hears "The Song of the Vagabonds," "Only a Rose" and others
beautifully rendered. The production is beautiful, and by all means worth
seeing.
3/8/1930 HDC Radio
By Zuma Palmer
Jeanette MacDonald, star of The Vagabond King, and Lillian Roth, who has an
important role in the same production, will be featured on the Paramount
Hour which both KHJ and KNX release at 7. Miss MacDonald will sing "Some
Day" and "Only a Rose" from the Friml operetta; Miss Roth, "Huguette Waltz."
3/14/1930 HDC The Love Parade
By Doris Denbo
All the complimentary adjectives that have been used to describe The Love
Parade, and many more, could not possibly exaggerate the entertainment
represented in this Paramount picture which opened at the Egyptian Theater
yesterday.
It is entertainment plus, served with plenty of sophistication, mischief and
romance. It is a perfect combination of talent, beauty of settings, story
and direction. It has Ernest Lubitsch's sophisticated, satirical touch,
Maurice Chevalier's irresistible freshness and Jeanette MacDonald's beauty
and exquisite voice. In fact, I feel it is the nearest thing we have had to
perfect entertainment since the advent of talking pictures.
The story is that of a very proud, capricious young princess who falls in
love with a French count. She marries him, much to the delight of her
subjects who have spent much time and thought in trying to get her to marry.
The count suddenly finds himself playing the part of the utterly useless and
helpless pawn of his beautiful but busy wife. He has no power to issue
orders of any kind and cannot interest himself in the business of the
kingdom in any particular. He becomes bored, insulted and furious at his
uselessness and the domineering of his wife.
ONE MAN REVOLT
He pulls a one man revolt and tells her he is going back to France. She
truly loves him, and is, after all is said and done, a very young, romantic
woman who doesn't care much about things of state anyway, but won't admit
it. He tames his haughty and spirited princess and she begs him to stay and
rule her kingdom for her. But she doesn't give in without a struggle.
There never can be and never will be another Chevalier. He stands alone for
his personality, his pert and saucy manner, and his rakish regard for the
ladies. What it is Chevalier has cannot be cataloged—there is so much that
is naive, so much that is naughty, and so much that is sheer masculine
charm. He has an opportunity to run the full gamut of his appeal in this
picture and has a perfect foil in the beautiful Miss MacDonald.
COMEDY TEAM GOOD
Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth have moments of nonsensical comedy which is
clever, different and punchy. The rest of the featured cast is too long for
special mention but they are all completely adequate in support.
"My Love Parade," "Dream Lover," "Paris Stay the Same," "Nobody's Using It
Now," "Let's Be Common," and "March of the Grenadiers," are the best and
most popular tunes in the picture and the ones you remember. However, Victor
Schertzinger, who wrote the music, and Clifford Grey, who wrote the lyrics,
are master craftsmen and did not fall down in a single tune or lyric
throughout the entire production.
Even the Fanchon and Marco "Skirts" Idea on the stage is unusually effective
and colorful with eccentric sets and costumes and clever songs and dances.
This is one week you will have missed something if you did not attend the
Egyptian.
Posted by JMFC
August 8, 2006
1/7/1939 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Erskine Johnson
The costume that Jeanette MacDonald wears in the Madame Butterfly sequence
in Broadway Serenade is Japanese, but the embroidery is Chinese.
1/7/1939 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Ella Wickersham
And Devine Tells Me
For all the world like the proud mothers of yesterday, who were wont to
gather up the neighbors and take them to the little read school house of a
Friday afternoon to hear little Aggie and Junior recite their pieces, so,
too, did Mrs. Anna MacDonald and Mrs. Laura Van Dyke collaborate on a
matinee tea. It began with an afternoon performance of Sweethearts at the
Chinese Theater, with Mrs. Van Dyke in the hostess role, and then carried on
for tea at Mrs. MacDonald's Beverly Hills home.
And why not? For never were two mothers more justified in progenic pride
than are the mothers of Jeanette MacDonald; the femme star of the opus, and
Woody Van Dyke, its director.
Featuring a Sweethearts motif, the tea table was centered by seasonal
blossoms in a double heart design. In assistant roles were Mrs. Bertha
Mason, Mrs. Emilie Ferguson, Marie Blake and Mrs. Jack Geraghty.
Also very much present was Mrs. Isabel Eddy, mother of Nelson, the male star
of Sweethearts. And others who enjoyed the glorified "Friday afternoon at
the little red schoolhouse" were Myllicent Bartholomew, Alice Driggs, Day
Butler, Bird Myers, and Mesdames Anna LeSeuer, Ella Nelson, Charles Cooper,
Evelyn Offield, Josephine Sedgwick, Flo Hardy, Eva McKensie, Peggy Bogart,
Evelyn Smith, Raymond Hatton, George Zucco, Edna Jackson, Robert Hartwell,
Alfred Burns, Lawrence Dangerfield, May Hayward, William Lewis, Lilian
Wentz, Audley Butler, Marie Ulch, Marie Brown, William Mack, Frances Faye,
Julia Hunt, Flo Ames, Marian Fleming and Bess Heroder.
1/7/1939 LAX EDDY'S SHOE FIXED WITH MAKE-UP KIT
Technicolor make-up was used to repair the sole of Nelson Eddy's shoe. Eddy,
wearing comfortable brogues, in a scene for Sweethearts, now showing at the
United Artists and Fox Wilshire theaters, didn't know that the sole had worn
through until cameraman Oliver Marsh spotted it.
1/7/1939 DN RAVES AND RAPS
By Harry Mines
Watching Jeanette MacDonald in Sweethearts makes one wonder why she doesn't
appear in another picture for Ernst Lubitsch. Jeanette made her fit in The
Love Parade for Lubitsch. Showed a flair for naughty but nice comedy and had
the makings of a grand comedienne. But these past few years have turned
MacDonald into a personality rather than an actress. Lovely to look at,
heaven knows, and a delightful singer. But why does she have to be so coy in
every performance? Evidently the public doesn't mind. She's tops at the
boxoffice so Jeannette needn't heed these nostalgic emotions from one who
liked her so much better as she used to be.
Maybe MGM will give her some high comedy. And maybe Jeanette will forget to
be endlessly sweet and smiling in every closeup and show that she hasn't
forgotten what to do with comedy.
1/6/1939 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Erskine Johnson
What looks like a spare tire around Nelson Eddy's mid-section is really an
over-developed diaphragm from singing. Chided about it the other day, Eddy
patted the extended flesh and said: "I should worry. This is what earns me a
fortune every week."
1/7/1939 HCN Radio
By Zuma Palmer
Nelson Eddy, KFI at 5, will sing "Marching on Parade," "Near the Southern
Moon," "Calf of Gold," and D'Hardelot's "My Message." Maxie Rosenbloom will
chat with Charlie McCarthy.
11/2/1937 LAX
Behind the Makeup
By Erskine Johnson
ON THE SETS
John Boles and Gladys Swarthout are rehearsing a scene for the picture
Romance in the Dark. Miss Swarthout is supposed to hear a mouse and Mr.
Boles is supposed to get down on his knees and start looking for it. Four
times Boles gets down on his knees and every time the director says he is
not graceful enough. But finally they make the scene to the director's
satisfaction. "It was hard work," says Boles, afterward. "My feet are too
big."
....
Grace Bradley is wearing full length stockings, minus garters, for a
"Can-Can" dance sequence in The Big Broadcast. Censors objected to the
garters.
....
Nelson Eddy hasn't been the same since football scrimmage for dear old MGM
in Rosalie. A physician is still treating a sprained ankle.
Posted by JMFC
April, 2006
9/25/1931 LAX Louella O. Parsons
One good job in the United States is worth a dozen in German. Jeanette
MacDonald had many European offers, but she turned them down pronto when
Paramount cabled her an offer to play opposite Maurice Chevalier in One Hour
With You. Chevalier doesn't get here until the twenty-ninth of October, and
that gives Jeanette ample time to finish her European trip and be on the set
when George Cukor, the director, calls the roll. Chevalier had a talk with
Jeanette when she appeared in concert in Paris. At that time he expressed
the hope that she might again be his leading lady. Miss MacDonald's voice,
one of the best on screen, was a decided asset in The Love Parade.
3/31/1932 LAX One Hour With You
By Louella O. Parsons
Paramount should be grateful to Maurice Chevalier. He brought more people
into the Paramount Theater than I have seen there since the women started
counting their pennies. No economy wave is great enough to keep the girls
away when the captivating Frenchman is the attraction. Oh, for more
Chevaliers in this hour of need!”
One Hour With You has been directed by George Cukor with Ernst Lubitsch
named as “director supervisor.” There are unmistakable Lubitsch touches to
indicate he had considerable to do with it, but it lacks some of the
naughtiness of previous Lubitsch comedies. But it isn’t lacking in subtlety
and comedy. “The Marriage Circle,” by Lothar Schmidt, forms the basis of the
plot. Under that title it was directed by Ernest Lubitsch some years ago.
This newer version has the addition of excellent music by Oscar Strauss. The
songs are catchy, tuneful and carefully placed in the story. I dislike
musical comedies where the heroine and the hero suddenly burst into song for
no good reason. Mr. Cukor has avoided this by making it all seem natural.
Jeanette MacDonald has a really lovely
voice and she looks prettier than I have ever seen her. It’s difficult to
play a jealous wife without becoming monotonous, but
Miss MacDonald succeeds in keeping both sympathy and interest.
As for Chevalier, I admit I am one of the women who enjoy every hour with
him. He has not only charm, but he has an infectious smile that just makes
you forget the waiting typewriter, or perhaps, in your case, it’s the
household chores.
One Hour With You is light, gay and typical musical comedy material, but you
shouldn’t miss it. Not with that cast. Genevieve Tobin, as the naughty,
naughty best friend of the wife who tries to steal the husband is an expert
comedienne. I was surprised for I had associated her with more emotional
roles. Roland Young is cheated and so are we. He has such a small part, but
plays it with his usual polish and ease. Charles Ruggles does his best in a
rather dull role.
There is a stage show with many divertissements and many names, Georgie
Stoll and his band, Dave and Hilda Murray, etc. All very good, but again I
say One Hour With You and Chevalier are the big attractions and worth
seeing.
................................................
Posted by Debbie P.
3-12-2006
10/27/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Beautiful Jeanette MacDonald may
transfer her make-up box to MGM. She holds a long-term contract with
Paramount, you know, but like all film contracts, it is one of those tricky
affairs punctuated with many options. The studio would like her to make
personal appearances at the various theaters of the Publix chain, but this
is not entirely to Miss MacDonald's liking. She
too has certain rights to be considered in these options, and one of them is
the right to make pictures at another studio. Furthermore, I understand on
reliable authority, that she is not entirely satisfied with the story
material that Paramount has been giving her. The other day I saw her heading
for the offices of Louis B. Mayer out at MGM and it is entirely probable
that she will be signed for the stellar role of The Merry Widow. MGM is also
negotiating with Paramount to borrow Maurice Chevalier and Ernst Lubitsch
for this production. This was the trio of stars and director which scored
such a tremendous hit in The Love Parade. MGM has definitely decided to
remake The Merry Widow with dialogue and music, for if this picture was one
of their best drawing cards as a silent, what could they not accomplish with
the addition of the beautiful melodies? Meanwhile Joseph M. Schenck is eager
to obtain Miss MacDonald to make a picture for
United Artists. If she goes to MGM that studio will have cornered the market
on the best screen voices in Hollywood. They already have Grace Moore,
Lawrence Tibbett and Ramon Novarro.
................................................
EDMUND GOULDING In the LATER 30's
8/22/1936 EHE Harrison Carroll
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
Coats off and blond hair disheveled, Nelson Eddy is standing before a
microphone this week singing an aria from "La Tosca." A large orchestra,
also in shirt sleeves, is playing the accompaniment.
This is an informal rehearsal for the numbers in Maytime, and allows for
relaxation, even a little fun.
On the sidelines sits Jeanette MacDonald.
Not far away Edmund Goulding and Sigmund Romberg are holding a whispered
conference.
The sound stage, minus sets, looks large and barn-like. But Eddy's strong
tones fill it.
He finishes presently and strolls casually over to
Jeanette MacDonald. Neither is in makeup. They look like you might
see them in an unguarded moment in their own homes.
Bantering a bit, they now go out to the microphone together to try a passage
from "Il Trovatore."
There is nothing casual about the way they sing. Nor are their voices
lowered for the microphone. Shut your eyes and you might be hearing these
two screen favorites from the stage of a big auditorium.
Sound men nod with satisfaction as the number is finished.
Jeanette MacDonald's singing teacher, with whom
this conscientious star takes a lesson every day, has a pleased smile.
I wait a minute to hear a playback of Eddy's "La Tosca" number. As it
finishes, Eddy claps his hands and yells loudly: "Bravo!"
The orchestra cheerfully hisses him. These people know that all work and no
play makes dull movies.
9/12/1936 EHE Harrison Carroll
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
Another morning and we are on the Maytime set at MGM.
Jeanette MacDonald is bravely present, though
she is still suffering from an acute sun-burn, the penalty of a Labor Day
cruise to Catalina.
They can't photograph her in closeups, but director Edmund Goulding is using
all the trick resources of the camera to film a scene in which she is
supposed to appear. Once, her skirt is seen whirling out of the shot. Again,
only the back of her head and her ear are shown. But later on, by matching
frames of the film, she'll appear to have been there all the time.
Closeups are directed at Frank Morgan and at John T. Murray, who plays the
haughty butler, foil to Frank.
There is real drama in this.
For in the original Broadway production, Murray played Morgan's part. He had
all the answers then. Now he is the foil.
Such is show business.
9/19/1936 HCN MINUS HOKUM
By Peter Pry
Maytime has been in production about four weeks at MGM and Edmund Goulding
has been directing Jeanette MacDonald and
Nelson Eddy. He was assigned to the job by Irving Thalberg. Thalberg died at
10:30 Monday morning and at four o'clock that afternoon the rumor spread
about the lot that Goulding was to be taken off the picture. If the story is
true, it must be admitted that those responsible for the move lost no time
in starting the reorganization that is inevitable as the result of
Thalberg's death.
9/23/1936 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Edmund Goulding has stepped out of his directorial duties on the
half-completed Maytime, starring Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald. He has been working so closely with Irving
Thalberg on this production that he felt it was better for another director
to carry on. Hunt Stromberg yesterday said that Maytime would go back into
production as soon as a new director has been appointed, with practically no
changes in story. Hunt, who has been so successful with other musicals,
particularly The Great Ziegfeld and Rose Marie, is taking complete charge of
the MacDonald-Eddy operetta.
9/25/1936 LAX I Cover Hollywood
By Lloyd Pantages
Ruth Renick two years ago played a chorus girl in Eddie Goulding's Blondie
of the Follies. Now she is again with Goulding in Maytime, only in this pic
she is a lady of 70 summers. How time she do fly.
10/29/1936 HCN Elizabeth Yeaman
Herman Bing will roll his R's in Maytime. He was cast today for the comedy
lead in this picture, which starts anew with a new script and a new
supporting cast, under a new director. Irving Thalberg, the original
producer of this charming operetta, died when the film had been five weeks
in production. Edmund Goulding, the original director, was released. A new
story was written. Hunt Stromberg became the new producer. John Barrymore
was engaged to take the place of Frank Morgan in the role of the impresario.
Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald are about
all that remains of the original scheme of this picture. Others signed up in
the cast are Virginia Reid, Tom Brown, John Hix, and Douglas Wood. Robert Z.
Leonard is the new director and the picture started yesterday with a group
of youngsters performing a Maypole dance.
Last Tuesday night two young contract players at Republic sang for a benefit
show held at the Biltmore Bowl. They are Edgar Allan, a protégé of Nelson
Eddy, and Hope Manning, a graduate of Los Angeles High School. The producer
of the Packard radio program heard them sing, and as a result they are now
being given auditions with the chance that they may be engaged for this big
air program.
11/2/1936 LAX I Cover Hollywood by Lloyd Pantages
Edmund Goulding, who gave up the direction of Maytime when it was half
finished, has been in daily conference at Paramount, which leads one to
believe he may hook up there again....As for Maytime, by the time its second
edition is completed, it will have cost exactly twice as much as called for
in the original budget. With the exception of Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the entire cast, locale, period and
costuming has been changed. Tom Brown steps in as the juvenile lead.
Virginia Reid, who started out life as a protégé of Irene Dunne and never
got anywhere under the very eyes of our moguls, suddenly leaps into the
ingenue lead. Hunt Stromberg has taken up the production reins dropped by
the demise of Irving Thalberg. Robert Leonard takes Goulding's place as
director, and Sigmund Romberg and Gus Kahn are touching up the book and
lyrics. Now all they have to do is work like fiends, so Eddy can get going
on his concert tour in January.
Posted by Debbie P.
2-21-2006
/3/1937 EHE OUT-OF-TOWNERS WANT GLIMPSES OF
CINEMA CELEBRITIES
By THE SNOOPER
Out-of-town movie fans visiting Hollywood on their vacations have an
excellent chance of seeing a large number of screen favorites.
For informal dining, the Brown Derby at Hollywood and Vine, or the Beverly
Hills Brown Derby, are certain to produce a number of stars. Frequently to
be seen are Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy and Arthur
Hornblow Jr., the Marx brothers, Al Jolson and wife Ruby Keeler, Wallace
Beery and Carol Ann, his daughter, and many others.
A Friday evening dinner dance engagement at the Clover Club on the Cocoanut
Grove is likely to be rewarded by an intimate glimpse of Joan Crawford and
Franchot Tone. Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond, possibly Tyrone Power
and Sonja Henie and a dozen or more of Hollywood's brightest stars.
The Hollywood Legion fights on Friday night is another favorite haunt of
film stars like Mae West, Johnny Weissmuller and Lupe Velez, Dick Powell and
Joan Blondell, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper and many famous directors, as well
as stars.
10/26/1932 HCN Society In Filmland
By Jane Jackson
Honoring their house guest, Mrs. Herbert Sandheim, of New York, Mr. and Mrs.
Albert P. Scott (Colleen Moore), entertained with a series of dinner parties
at the palatial Bel Air home a few evenings ago.
On Tuesday evening they were hosts at a formal dinner for Mrs. Sandheim. The
guests were Messrs and Mesdames Ralph Blum (Carmel Meyers), Zeppo Marx, Jack
Conway, Ben Lyon (Bebe Daniels), Edward Hillman (Marian Nixon), William
Seiter (Laura LaPlante), Mike Levee, Richard Wallace, Ned Marin, Misses
Ginger Rogers, Jeanette MacDonald, Sally Eilers, Sally Clark, Ilka Chase and
Messrs Mervyn LeRoy, Edgar Allen Woolf, John Cromwell and Mrs. Alice Glazer.
Posted by JMFC Hosts
2-21-2006
10/27/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Beautiful Jeanette MacDonald may transfer her make-up box to MGM. She holds
a long-term contract with Paramount, you know, but like all film contracts,
it is one of those tricky affairs punctuated with many options. The studio
would like her to make personal appearances at the various theaters of the Publix chain, but this is not entirely to Miss
MacDonald's liking. She too
has certain rights to be considered in these options, and one of them is the
right to make pictures at another studio. Furthermore, I understand on
reliable authority, that she is not entirely satisfied with the story
material that Paramount has been giving her. The other day I saw her heading
for the offices of Louis B. Mayer out at MGM and it is entirely probable
that she will be signed for the stellar role of The Merry Widow. MGM is also
negotiating with Paramount to borrow Maurice Chevalier and Ernst Lubitsch
for this production. This was the trio of stars and director which scored
such a tremendous hit in The Love Parade. MGM has definitely decided to
remake The Merry Widow with dialogue and music, for if this picture was one
of their best drawing cards as a silent, what could they not accomplish with
the addition of the beautiful melodies? Meanwhile Joseph M. Schenck is eager
to obtain Miss MacDonald to make a picture for United Artists. If she goes
to MGM that studio will have cornered the market on the best screen voices
in Hollywood. They already have Grace Moore, Lawrence Tibbett and Ramon
Novarro.
Posted by Debbie P.
1-20-2006
2/10/1937 HCN FILM NOTABLES MAKE RESERVATIONS
A glittering array of film celebrities will turn out for the all-Gershwin
concerts to be given tonight and tomorrow night by the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra at the Philharmonic Auditorium, with Alexander
Smallens conducing. George Gershwin himself will conduct some of the numbers
and play the piano in others.
Among those who whose reservations for one or both concerts are: Joan
Crawford, Sigmund Romberg, Maureen O'Sullivan, Olivia de Havilland, Paul
Muni, Samuel J. Briskin, Herbert Marshall, Ralph Rainger, Howard Estabrook,
Janet Gaynor, Frank Capra, Lionel Barrymore, Nunnally Johnson, Gus Kahn,
Kenneth MacGowan, Harold Lloyd, Irvin S. Cobb, Stan Laurel, Anna Sten, Frank
Tuttle, Boris Morros, Jerome Kern, Jean Dixon, Rosalind Russell, Franchot
Tone, Billie Burke, Norma Shearer, Joseph Mankiewicz, Patricia Ellis, Jean
Hersholt, Leo Forbstein, Charles Chaplin, Jean Harlow, Cecil B. DeMille,
Barbara Stanwyck, W.C. Fields, Oscar Hammerstein, Jack Conway, B.P.
Schulberg, Eddie Cantor, Frances Marion, Harry Ruby, Franz Waxman, Anita
Loos, B.G. DeSylva, Frank Borzage, William Goetz, Joe E. Brown, Eric
Korngold, Frank Lloyd, Arthur Hornblow Jr., Margaret Lindsay, Ernst
Lubitsch, Ronald Colman, LeRoy Prinz, Ginger Rogers, Alfred Newman, Nacio
Herb Brown, Robert Taylor, Hal Roach, Raymond Griffith, Nat Shilkret, Adolph
Zukor, Bing Cosby, Jack Yellen, Alice Brady, Roy Webb, Pat O'Brien, Sam
Coslow, Simone Simon, Madeleine Carroll, Jack Warner, Bette Davis, Eddie
Sutherland, James Gleason, Max Gordon, Judith Allen, Robert Montgomery, May
Robson, Leopold Stokowski, Irving Berlin, Jesse Lasky, John Emerson, Richard
Cromwell, Edward Arnold, Bogart Rogers, Fred Astaire, Francis Lederer, W.S.
Van Dyke, Eleanor Powell, Arthur Freed, Madge Evans, Charles Trevin, Rupert
Hughes, Harlan Thompson, Samuel Goldwyn, Elizabeth Allen, Max Steiner, Ben
Bard, Edna May Oliver, Edward Arnold, Mervyn LeRoy and Harry Lachman.
Jeanette MacDonald and her fiancé, Gene Raymond, will attend the performance
tonight as guests of Dr. and Mrs. Elmer Belt of Live Oak Dr., whose party
will also include Miss Muriel Monette and Bill Cabot.
4/1/1942 HCN JEANETTE MACDONALD’S
CONCERT
INSPIRES PARTIES
Pastel-hued roses, captured the Spring mood Saturday when Mrs. Anna
MacDonald, Jeanette’s mother, entertained as dinner guests Mrs. Ida Hedding,
Miss Florence MacKerracher, and Mrs. Bertha Mason.
At another home dinner, preceding Jeanette’s brilliant concert to benefit
the American Women’s Volunteer Services at the Philharmonic Auditorium
Friday night, Mrs. McDonald and the Warren Rocks (Marie Blacke) entertained
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Wallace and Mrs. Laura Van Dyke, mother of Major W.S. Van
Dyke.
Mrs. Otto Kruger and Mr. and Mrs. Louis Swarts dined at the Biltmore
preceding the Jeanette MacDonald concert.
The Guy Kibbees and Lieut. Col. Cliff Titus were among the guest at a
pre-concert supper hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Edward Powers of Beverly.
4/13/1942 EHE Harrison Carroll
Due to the government’s new edicts on women’s clothes, MGM designer Kalloch
is altering the Jeanette MacDonald wardrobe for Cairo. He’s cutting five
inches off some of the skirts that already were made.
Men’s clothes are being altered, too. Over at Twentieth Century-Fox, George
Montgomery will wear cuffless trousers in Orchestra Wife.
Posted by Debbie P.
1-19-2006
7/3/1942 EHE Harrison Carroll
At the invitation of the War Department, Jeanette MacDonald will give a
series of 12 concerts this fall for Army Emergency Relief. The star, whose
husband, Gene Raymond, now is serving with the United States Air Corps
overseas, says she is proud and happy to make the tour. Her first concert
will be on Sept. 7, the last on Oct. 4 in Washington, D.C. Between now and
fall Jeanette also plans to visit a number of Army camps to entertain the
soldiers.
Posted by Debbie P.
1-12-2006
JEANETTE MACDONALD In the 40's
1/1/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Hundreds of fans are writing Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy,
begging the stars to give at least one joint concert when they go on
their singing tours in February after New Moon is finished.
Unfortunately, this can't be arranged, not this year. Both Jeanette
and Nelson are booked completely and, never at any time during their
tours, are they closer than 350 miles to each other.
Looking at it commercially, there would be no point to a joint
concert, anyway. Appearing alone, the stars sell out every
performance.
Nelson will be accompanied on his tour by Mrs. Eddy, but Gene
Raymond probably will stay in Hollywood. He's completely engrossed
in composing music. Jeanette told us several weeks ago she didn't
feel it would be right to ask him to give up his work and go along
just to keep her company.
1/5/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
When Jeanette MacDonald goes on a concert tour next month, she will
introduce two new songs by Gene Raymond.
Both of the numbers have been composed specially for the star by her
husband, who is concentrating these days on a musical career.The songs, which will have a regular place in the
MacDonald
repertoire, are "Angelita" and "My Serenade." The former is
Raymond's most recent composition, in fact he is just putting the
finishing touches on it now.
This won't be the first occasion when Jeanette has introduced Gene's
music to the public. His "Let Me [illegible] Sing" was one of the
most popular numbers in her concert repertoire last year.
The star also featured her husband's song, "Will You," on a radio
broadcast.
1/26/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Jeanette MacDonald will be an eye-full as well as an ear-full on her
concert engagement. She'll spring a whole collection of specially
designed Adrian gowns upon her fans.
2/2/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Maybe it isn't fair to spill it, but Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson
Eddy have worked up a starting routine to spring on their friends at
some future party.
They've learned how to play a xylophone duet—the old
dependable "William Tell Overture"....But with such variations.
2/2/1940 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
GAG—It was a somewhat Rube Goldberg day on the set of MGM's New
Moon, Nelson Eddy was supposed to make a sweeping gallant bow to
implant a chaste kiss upon the brow of the sleeping
Jeanette MacDonald. To do it just the way Woody Van Dyke wanted it caused
Nelson to lose his balance. To steady him propman Harry Alblez was
stationed beneath the bed. Now this Harry Alblez is a bit of a wag
and is forever playing pranks upon his fellow workers. So when they
had him at their mercy they just couldn't refrain during the first
time from poking him in the middle of the back with a broom handle.
Harry released his hold on Nelson's knees and Nelson nearly fell.
Wham! Harry bumped his head on the bottom of the bed and the
startled Jeanette rose as if by levitation from her couch. Woody
finally restored order, but Harry, nursing an egg-shaped bump on his
noggin, is still searching for the perpetrators.
2/10/1940 EHE Sally Moore
Jeanette MacDonald and Gene Raymond at the B-Bar-H Ranch near Palm
Springs again this week....
2/12/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Jeanette MacDonald left yesterday for Dallas, Tx., for the beginning
of her concert tour.
2/23/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Another Hollywood traveler, Jeanette MacDonald, is cracking records
on her concert tour. The municipal auditorium in Birmingham, seating
5,000 people, wasn't big enough to accommodate the McDonald fans.
They had to put in 200 extra seats. Even this wasn't enough. There
were 300 standers.
3/2/1940 EHE Sally Moore
From Washington, D.C., comes news today of much interest to
Hollywood society. For it concerns one of the film colony's social
leaders and brightest stars, lovely Jeanette MacDonald (Mrs. Gene
Raymond), who has been in the national capital this past week where
she was heard in concert in famed Constitution Hall.
To fete Jeanette and to give official and social Washington an
opportunity to meet her, Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt entertained
at tea in the exclusive Sulgrave Club in Jeanette's honor.
Assisting Mrs. Willabrandt in receiving were the following prominent
socialites:
Mrs. Wilbur Carr, wife of the Assistant Secretary of State; Madame
Irimescu, wife of the Minister from Rumania; Mrs. Robert Jackson,
wife of the Attorney General of the United States; Mrs. Caroline
O'Day, Congresswoman from New York; Mrs. Stanley Reed, wife of the
Justice of the Supreme Court; Mrs. Lawrence Townsend, in charge of
the Musical Mornings in Washington; Mrs. Henry Wallace, wife of the
Secretary of Agriculture; Mrs. Thurman Arnold, wife of the Assistant
to the Attorney General; Mrs. Wilson Compton, wife of the prominent
attorney; Mrs. John Allan Doughterty, prominent Washington
socialite; Mrs. William McCracken, wife of the Secretary of the
American Bar Association; Mrs. Ross T. McIntire, wife of the
President's personal physician; Mrs. Emil Hurja, prominent socialite.
Following the tea, Miss MacDonald and members of her entourage,
including Giuseppe Bamboschek, Charles Wagner and Miss Sylvia Grogg,
were the guests of Mrs. Willebradt at the concert of the
Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in Constitution Hall, where Miss
MacDonald was to give her own concert the following evening.
3/4/1940 EHE "4-A GAMBOL OF STARS" TO OFFER GALA PROGRAM
"Gambol of the Stars," the 4'A Ball scheduled at the Cocoanut Grove
Thursday evening, March 14, is to be one of the gala highlights of
entertaining throughout the month with a capacity reservation to
assist the Associated Actors and Artists of America to raise funds
for its needs. Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians will be an added
feature on the excellent program.
Artists of renown who are serving loyally with the general committee
to make the huge benefit a success include Eddie Cantor, Edward
Arnold, Fred Keating, I.B. Kromblum, Kenneth Thompson and Lawrence
Tibbett.
Other committee chairmen include Loretta Young, in charge of
reception; George Murphy supervising the gorgeous entertainment;
Lucile Webster Gleason, ticket chairman; Jean Hersholt, program
director; Edward Arnold in charge of the floor, and Porter Hall
looking after the financial angle of the benefit party.
Beginning at 8 o'clock, the affair promises to be a great party,
comprised of dining and dancing, interspersed with some of the
finest entertainment the huge array of talented artists of the 4-A group can produce.
Assisting Loretta Young in receiving will be Tyrone Power, Paula
Winslowe, Vivien Leigh, Andres de Segurola, Richard Greene,
Elizabeth Risdon, Gene Raymond, Erich von Stroheim, Gary Cooper, Don
Ameche, Clair Trevor, Marek Windheim, Victor Jory, Nelson Eddy and
James Stewart.
Working with Jean Hersholt as chairman of the program committee are
Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, C. Aubrey Smith, Carole Lombard,
Bette Davis, Norma Shearer and Jeanette MacDonald.
3/5/1940 SFC Jimmy Fidler
Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, individually concert touring,
will try to arrange at least one joint date before returning to
Hollywood.
3/11/1940 SFC Jimmy Fidler
Blue-pencil that rumor that Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy will
do a joint concert—they tried to arrange it as a concession to
popular demand, but conflicting dates make it impossible.
3/18/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
The advance programs on Jeanette MacDonald's concert here bill her
as "the first lady of Hollywood."
3/20/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Gene Raymond flies east to spend the Easter holiday with
Jeanette
MacDonald in Springfield and, from there, he goes on to New York to
confer with music publishers about two new songs.
3/22/1940 HCN Sidney Skolsky Presents
Jeanette MacDonald's lawyer, a Mr. Louise Shwartz, is very proud of
his client. The other evening at a dinner party Mr. Shwartz was
introduced to a "Mrs. Homer Samuels," and soon after the
introduction he started to brag about Jeanette MacDonald.
"You know," said Shwartz, "Miss MacDonald just completed a wonderful
tour. She completely sold out the opera house in Philadelphia. Do
you know how big that opera house is?" Mrs. Samuels nodded and
said: "I ought to know, I filled it myself three or four times." Shwartz turned to his wife and whispered, "Say, who is this 'Mrs.
Homer Samuels' next to me?"
His wife replied, "Galli-Curci."
4/5/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Gene Raymond, who won everyone's admiration by the dignified way he
ignored several tactless magazine articles about himself and
Jeanette MacDonald, is returning to the movies—and right on his old
home lot, RKO. He'll be co-starred with Wendy Barrie in Cross-Country Romance, and when I saw him here in New York he was very
enthused about the yarn, which is light and amusing like the
romantic comedies he used to do with Ann Sothern. Gene spent Easter
with Jeanette in Springfield and came on to confer with his music
publisher about two new songs he has written, but he's leaving for
the Coast right away. Frank Woodruff will direct the Raymond-Barrie
comedy with Cliff Reid producing.
4/10/1940 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
One of Jeanette MacDonald's most avid fans is Penny Singleton. Both
were born in Philadelphia, both attended the same dancing school,
both were featured in musical comedy on Broadway, and both hold a
record for the two of the longest names on the theater marquee....
5/8/1940 HCN Just Among Friends
Jeanette MacDonald is home from Palm Springs with an impressive coat
of tan.
5/8/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Jeanette MacDonald, of all people, was one of those who got caught
in the blitz-krieg against traffic offenders the other night. She
got a warning ticket for not having her drivers's license....She had
been out of town so long that she had forgotten to put it in her
purse.
5/9/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
After listening to Nelson Eddy tell about all the colds he had on
his concert tour, Jeanette MacDonald, who made practically the same
circuit, laughed and told Eddy he had done it the wrong way.
"What do you mean?" asked Nelson.
"You should have worn long underwear, like I did," said Jeanette.
Wonder if she was kidding, or if she really did.
5/10/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Gene and Jeanette have an office on Sunset Boulevard and employ
their own fan mail staff. Most of the stars leave it to the studios.
5/18/1940 HCN Radio
By Zuma Palmer
Jeanette MacDonald to sing "Lover Come Back to Me"and, with Donald
Dickson, a duet from Verdi's "Il Trovatore," KFI at 4. Charlie
McCarthy is practicing trills and cadenzas in the hope that she will
sing with him.
5/18/1940 EHE Sally Moore
Jeanette MacDonald inviting a few friends in for backgammon.
5/20/1940 HCN
Bitter Sweet, Noel Coward's famous musical play, will be prominent
among MGM's elaborate musical productions of 1940-41.
There are five big-budget musicals scheduled for the coming season,
and in two of them, Bitter Sweet and I Married An Angel,
Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy will be co-starred. Bitter Sweet has been
filmed before—by a British film company.
5/22/1940 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
Jeanette MacDonald, vacationing at Palm Springs, turned such a dark
brown that she will have to stay indoors and bleach out her skin
before starting work with Nelson Eddy in I Married An Angel.
5/26/1940 LAX Hollywood At Home
By Ella Wickersham
Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, Jeanette MacDonald and Gene
Raymond, Ouida and Basil Rathbone, Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward, and
Dolores Del Rio all admit it's fun to go night-clubbing after a film
premiere, opera or concert, and that large formal balls are
diverting occasionally, but home parties are definitely more to
their pleasure.
....
Gene and Jeanette's specialties are their waffle breakfasts—especially during the summer. And what with the sheltered patio of
their Bel Air home dappled with California sunshine as their
setting, these informal parties are greatly prized by their many
friends.
5/29/1940 HCN Just Among Friends
Jeanette MacDonald is posing for her first oil portrait, being done
by Henrique Medina.
6/11/1940 HCN
Metro's New Moon, starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, will
screen tomorrow night at the Westwood Village.
6/13/1940 HCN Reviews of Previews
New Moon
A MGM picture. Produced and directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
Screenplay by Jaque Deval and Robert Arthur as based on the operetta
by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mendel and Laurence Schawab, with
music by Sigmund Romberg. Photographed by William Daniels. The cast:
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B.
Warner, Grant Mitchell, Stanley Fields, Richard Purcell, John
Miljan, Ivan Simpson, Claude King, Cecil Cunningham, Joe Tule,
George Irving, Edwin Maxwell, Paul E. Burns, Rafael Storm, Winifred
Harris, Robert Warwick. Previewed at the Westwood Village Theater.
By James Francis Crow
In the midst of the war, and in the midst of all the photoplays
about the war, here come Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in a
musical picture, New Moon, being elegantly romantic, and singing
beautiful love ballads to each other. It is just what the doctor
ordered, the doctor in this case being producer-director Robert Z.
Leonard. He decided that a romantic musical interlude would be
gratifying to the movie patrons, and the reaction of last night's
preview audience, in spite of the new film's many faults, indicated
that he was right.
This reviewer is a defender of the socially conscious film drama,
and of pictures that comes to grips with life, but after The Mortal
Storm and Four Sons, even this reviewer admits a sense of relief on
sitting in a theater composedly and listening to Eddy and Miss
MacDonald sing "Lover Come Back to Me" or instance, or "One Kiss,"
or "Wanting You." Very agreeable, indeed. And although this new film
has a kind of war background, it is a mild 18th Century affair the Frenchy Revolution, in fact and war can be romantic when it is seen
from a distance.
Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur did the current film adaptation of
the familiar and well beloved operetta. It gets pretty stagey at
times, and pretty slow, and to enjoy the picture you have got to
forgive the lack of realism, and accept an operetta story which is
after only an auxiliary to the music. This reporter was able to do
so, and the film followed hero and heroine from France to Louisiana,
and thence to their idyllic island home, and thence to happiness as
the news comes of the success of the revolution, and the
establishment at last in France of "liberty, fraternity, and
quality."
It is typical MacDonald-Eddy fare. These two dominate the action
almost to the exclusion of the other players, but Mary Boland,
George Zuuco, H.B. Warner, Grant Mitchell, and Stanley Fields manage
to make their presence count. Eddy is at best at the head of his
marching rebels, signing "Stouthearted Men," and Miss
MacDonald won
a rousing ovation last night in a beautifully staged rendition
of "lover Come Back to Me."
6/13/1940 LAX Preview
New Moon
Hollywood is in a state of not quite knowing what will entertain the
public in these desperate days.
On the heels of a week that has brought forth such grimly realistic
pictures as Four Sons and The Mortal Storm, MGM previewed the
luxurious New Moon last night at the Westwood Village Theater.
Opulent and visually satisfying is this new Nelson Eddy-Jeanette
MacDonald operetta. It is geared to take you away from the cares of
the world. The lovely Miss MacDonald has never been photographed
more beautifully, and Eddy is as dramatic as ever.
But whether New Moon is the answer to what the box-office public
wants now remains to be solved by the receipts. Frankly, I do not
think this is the best of the MacDonald-Eddy pictures. True, it has
the haunting musical scores of Sigmund Romberg's everlasting stage
hit and it adheres rather closely to the book by Oscar Hammerstein
II, Frank Mandel and Lawrence Schwab.
—D.M.
6/18/1940 FD New Moon
(Hollywood Preview)
Metro 105 minutes
Ideal MacDonald-Eddy vehicle, should click easily and heavily at the B.O.
With the picturization of New Moon, "Lover Come Back to
Me," "Wanting You," "One Kiss" and "Stout Hearted Men" are again
heard to advantage. New Moon is an ideal vehicle for Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, and the stars, furnishing solos and
duets, have never sung better. Many bows are due Robert Z. Leonard.
Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B. Warner, Stanley Fields and Grant
Mitchell are among the principals. Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur
fashioned the screenplay, based on the operetta. Herbert Stothart
handled the musical direction very effectively. Eddy is a French
nobleman, who rebels against the methods used by the Government in
dealing with the masses. Using another name, he comes to New Orleans
as one of a number of Frenchmen who are to be auctioned off as
slaves. On board, Jeanette, a spoiled French aristocrat, meets Eddy
and does not realize he is in trouble.
In New Orleans, where Jeanette is to make her home, one of her
representatives buys Eddy and he becomes her valet. Eddy and his
fellow Frenchmen overpower the crew of a boat, which had been set in
search of Eddy. To her surprise, Jeanette, who had planned a short
and quick return to Paris, finds herself on the boat commanded by
Eddy. The boat encounters a severe storm, gets off the course and
lands its human cargo on an uncharted island. Here, Jeanette is
forced to drop her aristocratic manners and work hard along with her
fellow passengers. She tries to keep from falling in love with Eddy—but this is very difficult. Of course, the picture ends happily with
Eddy and Jeanette in each others' arms.
CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco,
H.B. Warner, Grant Mitchell, Stanley Fields, Richard Purcell, John
Miljan, Ivan Simson, William Cunningham, Joe Yule, George Irving,
Edwin Maxwell, Paul E. Burns, Rafael Storm, Winifred Harris, Robert
Warwick.
CREDITS: Producer-director, Robert Z. Leonard; Based on
operetta "New Moon"; Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank
Mandel and Laurence Schwab; Music, Sigmund Romberg; Screenplay,
Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur; Cameraman, William Daniels; Art
Director, Cedric Gibbons; Associate, Eddie Imazu; Musical Director,
Herbert Stothart, Dances, Val Raset; Editor, Harold F. Kress.
Direction, Excellent. Photography, Good.
6/26/1940 LAX New Moon
A MGM picture, produced and directed by Robert Leonard, book and
lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel and Laurence Schwab,
music by Sigmund Romberg and Robert Arthur. Showing at Grauman's
Chinese and Loew's State theaters.
By Dorothy Manners
If any show in town can make you forget Hitler & Co. it is the
opulent, luxurious New Moon with the perennially popular
Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Breaking brightly into a cycle of films
that have been grim to say the least, this new teaming of MGM's
popular signing stars should score a hit at Grauman's Chinese and
Loew's State theaters this week.
In my preview-review of this picture I commented on the fact that
Hollywood producers are in a state of not quite knowing what will
entertain the public in these desperate days. New Moon definitely
comes under the head of "escapist" entertainment.
Opulent, tuneful with the haunting Romberg music,
(particularly "Lover Come Back to Me" and "One Kiss") and as pretty
as a Valentine is this new Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy operetta.
Certainly it is geared to take you away from the cares of the world.
The lovely Miss MacDonald has never been photographed more
beautifully and Eddy is as much the matinee-idol as ever.
Why quarrel with a plot that makes no effort at reality and very
little at logic? It's an 18th Century "Boy meets Girl" plot against
the background of the French colonial days, Jeanette is Marianne de
Beaumanoir who was, apparently, the Brenda Frazier of her day.
Nelson plays a nobleman with social consciousness who masquerades as
her butler. Before their romance draws to a happy conclusion they
have sung a great many songs on shipboard, on a New Orleans
plantation and on a shipwreck island.
It is purely a personal opinion, but as lovely as she looks, I still
think Miss MacDonald overplays her role of the spoiled French
aristocrat but she looks so beautiful in whims and affections it
hardly matters. Eddy fares better dramatically as the rebel nobleman
and injects a great deal of humor into his role.
The cast has little chance to shine and merely revolves around the
two stars. Mary Boland is fluttery and amusing as Jeanette's aunt,
H.B. Warner has a brief role as Father Michael, Grant Mitchell is
seen as the governor of New Orleans. Robert Z. Leonard produced and
directed and, as usual, when he handles the megaphone, his picture
has every luxurious and imposing effect.
Lovely is the music from Sigmund Romberg's familiar stage hit, and
the movie script by Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur adheres closely
enough to the book by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel and
Laurence Schwab. Probably New Moon will go out and clean up a
fortune for MGM just as the pictures of these stars always do and
then we'll know that what American audiences want in these troubled
times are more and more Eddy-MacDonald duets.
Companion feature at both houses is another Nick Carter adventure,
Phantom Raiders with Walter Pidgeon, Florence Rice, John Carroll and
Joseph Schildkraut.
6/27/1940 DN DIRECTOR BOOSTS MUSICALS FOR WAR "ESCAPISTS"
With all that gloom over Hollywood through the war blitz-krieg of
Hollywood's foreign market and the effect of depressing war news on
the box office in this country it's refreshing to talk to MGM
producer-director Robert Z. Leonard.
Leonard, whose latest film, New Moon, starring Jeanette MacDonald
and Nelson Eddy, is now playing at the Loew's State and Chinese
theaters, paints a far less melancholy picture of the present and
future film situation than most of his pessimistic confreres.
Leonard's optimism is based on his conviction that audiences want
relief from the cares of the world and that they can best get this
relaxation from comedies and musical pictures. Recent box office
popularity of these types of pictures, in contrast to the heavier
fare, has borne out this conviction.
Musicals will save the day, Leonard says. They always have, he
avers, and he points to the experience of film makers through the
direst days of the recent depression. In those days, as now, Leonard
states, the public was going through a period of worrying that kept
them away from the theaters showing serious drama and problem
pictures, while theaters showing escapist material, particularly
musicals, were filled.
Leonard declares that Hollywood is aware of the conditions and
predicts that the coming season will see a greater percentage of
light comedies and musicals as against heavier drama, than ever
before.
The MGM producer director's opinion is quite authoritative for he
has perhaps directed more big musicals than any other man in the
picture business. he piloted the MacDonald-Eddy due in Maytime, and
Girl of the Golden West, two of their most successful films, as well
as an additional pair starring Miss MacDonald alone.
"But that is all off now," he says. "My next will be in the vein of
New Moon and Pride and Prejudice, for the time calls for such
material. The radio and newspaper can give potential picture
audiences all the drama and problems they crave these days, but in
the theater, patrons will look for entertainment and amusement and
it will be the lighter type of material that will satisfy."
7/3/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
The new Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musical, Bittersweet, goes
into production July 15 and it's a sad blow to director W.S. Van
Dyke. He has been looking forward for months to attending the
Democratic National Convention as a delegate from California. Van is
the most ardent Roosevelt supporter in the film colony. Now he'll
have to give up the trip and read about the convention in the papers.
7/27/1940 DN Harry Mines
That was quite a party given by the famous Hungarian Composer
Emmerich Kalman at his Beverly Hills home the other night. Guest of
honor was Louis B. Mayer, who owns the movie rights to three of
Kalman's operettas, "Sari," "Golden Dawn," and "Countess Maritza."
Undoubtedly one or maybe more of the group are to eventually fall
heir to Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
posted by GDH at 1:25 AM 0 comments
Posted 1/09/2006
8/25/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
....
Philip Klein, scenario writer, has returned to the Fox lot and his first
assignment will be the adaptation and dialogue of Stolen Thunder,
on which he will collaborate with Jynn Starling. J. Harold Murray and
Jeanette MacDonald have been engaged for the leading roles and Hamilton
MacFadden will direct. MacFadden, was to have directed The Princess and
the Plumber, with Maureen O'Sullivan and Charles Farrell. This
assignment now goes to Alexander Korda.
2/9/1939 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Ella Wickersham
Be it a screen production, a steak barbecue at his home or his pet charity,
you may leave it to Joe Schenck, to make it colossal. And now, with one
grand sweep, he is planning a social-sports-charity event that will leave
the coffers of the American Red Cross and the National Foundation for
Infantile Paralysis bulging with nothing less than the entire receipts of a
big day at Santa Anita.
As chairman for California and vice president of the National Foundation,
Joe went into conference with Dr. Charles Strub, general manager of the Los
Angeles Turf Club, and D.C. MacWatters, chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter
of the American Red Cross, and when these worthies came out of the huddle
the epic event was practically ready "to come on."
So, on Monday, "the lucky 13th," the entire film colony is planning to turn
out at trackside. The beauteous Annabella will crown the winner of the Red
Cross Handicap, which will high spot the day. And motion picture celebrities
participating in the ticket sales campaign, planning parties and
collaborating on last-minute surprise events at Santa Anita, include:
Don Ameche, Marion Davies, Fred Astaire, Jean Arthur, Warner Baxter, Edgar
Bergen, Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Lionel Barrymore, Wally Beery, Jack
Benny, Charles Boyer, Joan Blondell, Virginia Bruce, Walter Brennan,
Madeleine Carroll, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Walter Connolly, Joan
Crawford, Bing Crosby, Frances Dee, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Dolores
Del Rio, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin, W.C. Fields, Henry Fonda, Kay Frances,
Janet Gaynor, Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Peter Lorre, Myrna
Loy, Adolphe Menjou, Harold Lloyd, Richard Greene, Jack Haley, Miriam
Hopkins, Leslie Howard, Andrea Leeds, Bob Montgomery, Jeanette MacDonald and
Gene Raymond, Joel McCrea, George Murphy, Paul Muni, Maureen O'Sullivan,
Merle Oberon, Dick Powell, Eleanor Powell, Bill Powell, Tyrone Power,
Gregory Ratoff, Basil Rathbone, Gilbert Roland, Charles Ruggles, George
Raft...
Posted 12/17/2005
From JMFC/JMDD Member Debbie P.
11/27/1933 HCN Cinemania
By Edwin Martin
And at the roundtable of Helen Ferguson and Richard Hargreave, we enjoy the
clever banter of Mae Clarke and Sidney Blackmer...and Marian Nixon, who is
now a blonde, drops over with Gene Raymond.
Posted 12/16/2005
2/23/1930 FD The Vagabond King
(All Talker)
Paramount Time, 1 hr., 44 mins.
Artistically made all-color operetta generally slow in tempo. Ought to go
best as first run entertainment. Music mostly pleasant.
Based on the Ziegfeld production in which King starred. It has been
extravagantly and artistically produced and much resembles a Roxy pageant.
King fills the bill as the vagabond who becomes a king for seven days, with
death as the anticipated finale. He is most stirring in his vocal work on
"Song of the Vagabonds." O.P. Heggie, playing the king, gives him a run for
first honors, and Jeanette MacDonald
is charming. The story, typically operetta in character, lacks punch. It
deals with a vagabond-poet who falls in love with a princess and eventually
reaches the palace when he is arrested by the king. He is elevated by the
king to grand marshal in hope of driving off the Burgundians, who are
besieging Paris. Leading his vagabonds the poet defeats the enemy and is
saved from the scaffold.
Cast: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald,
O.P. Heggie, Lillian Roth, Warner Oland, Arthur Stone, Thomas Ricketts and
Lawford Davidson.
Director, Ludwig Berger; Author, Justin Huntly McCarthy; Adaptor, Herman J.
Mankiewicz; Dialoguer, Herman J. Mankiewicz; Editor, Merrill White;;
Cameramen, Henry Gerrard, Ray Rennahan.
Direction, satisfactory. Photography, okay.
3/7/1930 EH Vagabond King
Directed by Ludwig Berger. Opened March 5, 1930.
CAST: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald,
O.P. Heggie, Warner Oland, Arthur Stone, Thomas Rickels and Lawford
Davidson.
By Harrison Carroll
Another screen operetta, The Vagabond King now takes its place among the
high ranking pictures of last year.
Thee is no question but that the new attraction at the Paramount will be
hailed as one of the most stirring and beautiful of the talkie musicals.
PRODUCTION IS COLORFUL
It is robust, melodious, gorgeously photographed in color, and rich in
production values. It introduces the fine singing voice of Dennis King to
the screen, and it gives promise of another feminine star in Lillian Roth.
In one form or another, the story of this picture has been familiar to the
public for a long time. It originated in McCarthy’s novel, "If I Were King,"
and recently was a great success as a stage operetta.
Briefly, it relates the adventure of Francois Villon, a leader of thieves,
who became king of France for a week, and who saved the country from the
encircling armies of the Duke of Burgundy.
The scene is laid in Paris of 1460 when the superstitious Louis XI
frantically sought guidance from the stars, while his kingdom tottered.
Villon, the poet of the gutter, vilifies the king. He is captured after a
tavern duel, and is given the opportunity of royal power for seven days if
he will consent to be hanged at the end of this time.
According to Louis’ whim, Villon sets about saving France, and incidentally,
winning the heart of the King’s niece, Lady Katherine.
In a stirring finis, France is saved and likewise Villon, who is snatched
from the gallows by Lady Katherine’s intercession.
The cast for the Paramount operetta is a good one.
AGREES TO WHIM
Dennis King who took the role of Francois Villon in the stage production,
brings the vagabond post to the talking screen. This actor has a colorful
personality, somewhat reminiscent of John Barrymore. It is true that his
acting is rather flamboyant, but the role of Villon makes this permissible.
As to his voice, it is one of the most powerful baritones heard in the
audible films.
Opposite King is Jeanette MacDonald,
who is seen to less advantage than in The Love Parade, but who,
nevertheless, brings beauty and a good voice to the role of Lady Katherine.
It is Lillian Roth, however, who is the most interesting feminine figure in
the new operetta. This young actress (she is said to be only 18) gives a
spirited characterization as the girl Huguette, who sacrifices her life for
Villon. She has a dark, eager beauty, she knows how to act, and she can
sing. Give roles as impetuous as Huguette and Miss Roth can win a substantial
niche for herself on the screen.
The acting honors in The Vagabond King go indisputably to O.P. Heggie as
Louis XI. Here is a subtle portrait, revealing sardonic humor, vengefulness,
parsimony, craft and all the devious facets of the ruler’s nature.
SPILLS BEAUTY
Paramount has spilled beauty lavishly in its operetta. The scenes at the
court of Louis XI of France are among the most vivid ever photographed by
the technicolor process.
Rudolph Friml’s music has not been supplemented for the motion picture
version of the operetta, but indeed there is no call for new melodies. Few
scores contain such numbers as "The Song of the Vagabond," "Only a Rose,"
"Love Me Tonight," "Some Day" and "The Huguette Waltz."
As in The Love Parade, Paramount has given the story a sophisticated
treatment. The direction of Ludwig Berger is notably good. Plaudits go to
the dialogue, too. Part of the latter comes from the book of William H. Post
and Brian Hooker, and part from Herman Mankiewicz.
The writer recommends The Vagabond King as a rare treat of musical
entertainment. This film is worthy of having been released in one of the
long run houses. In fact, it is infinitely superior to many of the so-called
specials of the last 12 months.
As the feature is long, the Paramount has curtailed the rest of its bill to
a cartoon short and a newsreel. Both are interesting.
Posted 12/01/2005
1/29/1936 LAX Reine Davies
The same friends who lifted their champagne glasses to the sky as Fay Wray
was whisked over the horizon on her way to Europe last July were all at the
depot to greet her when the Chief pulled in last Monday afternoon. But the
greeters were early and the train was an hour late.
In the party were Ralph Bellamy, Jeanette MacDonald,
Helen Ferguson, Gene Raymond and Dolores Del
Rio, and while they dallied over their teacups in the station dining room,
star gazers choked the entrances.
Fay returned to do another picture with Ralph Bellamy at Columbia, their
fourth together, and great is their pleasure about it all.
11/4/1936 HCN NOTABLES DUE TO ATTEND PALM
SPRINGS FUNCTION
The new hexagonal, glass-enclosed-dining pavilion of the Racquet Club,
designed by Director Mitchell Leisen, will be the scene of a dinner dance
Saturday.
Boasting a fashionable membership which includes social leaders from both
the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the club attained a position of first rank
last season with the attendance of such personages as the Vanderbilts, the
Whitneys, the Madels of Chicago, stars of the tennis world and film
luminaries.
Friday and Saturday are set aside for swimming and tennis matches among club
members and their friends. Music for the Saturday dinner dance is to be
provided by a 15-piece orchestra. Open house will continue throughout
Sunday.
A partial list of reservations for parties includes the names of Messrs. and
Mmes. Fred Mandel of Chicago, Harry Lachman, Paul Lukas, Melville Baker,
John Warburton and Cedric Gibbons (Dolores Del Rio), Mrs. Ann Beresford,
Mrs. Charles Farrell, Misses Jeanette MacDonald,
Janet Gaynor, Mary Phillips, Arline Judge, Anita Louise, Helen Ferguson,
Glenda Farrell and Anita Breyman; Messrs. Harry Cohn, George Oppenheim,
Humphrey Bogart, Norman Krasna, Donald Woods, Robert Woolsey, Stanley Baree,
John Maschio, Craig Reynolds, Gene Raymond,
Frank Morgan, Alexander D'Arcy, Drew Eberson, Sam Jaffe, Edwin Powell, Bert
Wheeler, John Mack Brown and Lester Stoefens.
8/9/1937 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Reine Davies
The premiere of Firefly may have been just another large triumph in the life
of Jeanette MacDonald, but to Allan
Jones it was THE night of nights. For probably, life holds nothing sweeter
than fame’s first great acclaim. Such an occasion it was for Allan, and
equally so—if somewhat vicariously—for his beauteous spouse, Irene Hervey.
Impressive were the hearty plaudits of the film colony’s contingent that
rallied round to hail the screen’s new singing star, and repeatedly their
spontaneous applause rang out during the premiere showing.
It was just too bad that director Bob Leonard missed "that boat" in
Honolulu, because it would have done his genial heart good to hear the
ovational applause evoked by his masterful directing.
In Jeanette and Gene Raymond’s party were Irene
and Marie Blake and Warren Rock, Mrs. John L.
Herwick, Elsie MacDonald, Mrs. Anna MacDonald,
Helen Ferguson and Dick Hargreaves and Mrs. William Morad.
Others were Warren and Helen William, whose arrival also rocked the
curb-side bleachers; Barbara and Harry Edington, the Eddie Mannixes, Dixie
Dunbar with Wayne Morris, Ann Pennington and Fannie Brice, Ida Koverman and
Igor Gorin, Gladys and Eddie G. Robinson, the Charles R. Rogers, the Harry
Rapfs, Cedric Gibbons and Dolores Del Rio, the Joe Penners, the Sigmund
Rombergs, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart, Rosalind Russell,
Billy Gilbert, Arthur Lubin, Adolph Friml, Ann and Douglass Shearer, the
John MacCormicks, Gladys George and Leonard Penn, Frances Goodrich and Al
Hackett, Bill and Ella Wickersham, Albertina Rasch and Dimitri Tiomkin,
Della Lind and Herbert Stothart.
9/20/1937 EHE Jimmy Starr
Jeanette MacDonald sat in the office of
Helen Ferguson, her press agent. A waiter from a nearby cafe brought in her
luncheon, recognized Jeanette and dropped the tray! Such is fame!
10/13/1937 HCN GENE RAYMONDS GIVE
HAWAIIAN PARTY
Vari-colored carnation leis bought from Honolulu on the China Clipper were
presented the women guests at the formal dinner party given by
Mr. and Mrs. Gene Raymond (Jeanette MacDonald)
at their Bel-Air home for Dr. and Mrs. H.J. Halford of Honolulu, whose
guests they were during their Hawaiian honeymoon.
In spite of the formality of the occasion, the guests relaxed after dinner
and sat on the floor to play jackstraws. Enjoying the event, which featured
a Hawaiian motif, were Dr. and Mrs. Elmer Belt, Dr. and Mrs. Carl Ebert,
Messrs. and Mmes. Warren Rock (Marie Blake). John Garrity, Richard
Hargreaves (Helen Ferguson), Mrs. Anna MacDonald,
Eleanor Masters, Robert Marlowe and H.J. Nelson
5/1/1940 HCN EDITOR HONOR GUEST AT BROWN DERBY
All the more fun because it was impromptu, a cocktail party was "whipped up"
at the last minute late yesterday afternoon by Helen Ferguson and Margaret
Ettinger for Ralph Daigh, editorial director for Fawcett Publications, here
from New York.
Among those who dropped into the American Room of the Vine St. Brown Derby
to meet the visitor were Messrs. and Mesdames Louis Hayward (Ida Lupino),
Basil Rathbone, Stuart Erwin, Guy Kibbee, Walter Wanger (Joan Bennett),
Roger Pryor (Ann Sothern), Allan Jones (Irene Hervey), Bob Cobb (Gail
Patrick).
Misses Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Phyllis Brooks, Fay Wray, Constance
Moore, Rita Hayworth, Edith G. Wilkerson, Barbara Stanwyck, Constance
Bennett.
Messrs. Cesar Romero, Otto Kruger, Rudy Vallee, Lou Smith, Joel McCrea,
Victor McLaglen and Gene Raymond.
6/5/1946 LAX Dorothy Manners
Helen Ferguson’s farewell party for Jeanette
MacDonald, who left for London Monday, was a honey.
Jeanette has cut her red hair short and
very perky and everybody likes it but Gene Raymond. Let’s face it—the boys
still like long hair. In the group at Helen’s new home were Lew Ayres with a
mustache. Bob Stack and his glamorous mother, Betzi, Louis B. Mayer, Lorena
Danker looking like a dream, Mary Brian, Antonio Moreno, the Frank Lloyds,
the Howard Stricklings and Bob Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck.
6/21/1947 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
THE GAME—
A delightful dinner at the home of Jeanette
MacDonald and Gene Raymond came to a dramatic climax when the
lights of the room were extinguished. In a silver bowl, Gene made café au
diable, which calls for a pyrotechnical exhibit that would make a perfect
Fourth of July. Blue lightning!
Over it, Eddie Knopf told Mr. and Mrs. Jascha Heifetz a story of when he was
living in New York. On many occasions Jascha, Artur Rubenstein and other
artists dropped in for dinner with Mildred and Eddie. Frequently there was
late music. Some of the floor neighbors complained.
One morning Eddie himself answered a ring at the door. A gentleman stood in
the hall in a silk bathrobe. Another complaint, thought Eddie. "I am Mr.
Levy," explained the man. "You piano is against the wall. The wall is thin.
My bed is back to back with your piano. Many times I am awakened by Heifetz
and Rubinstein, it is a pleasure. I shall be a witness FOR you if ever there
is any trouble!" Eddie nearly fainted.
Following dinner came a war of the sexes. Jeanette
led a team composed partially of Helen Ferguson, Mildred, Mrs. Heifetz and
authoress Constance Hope, against Gene’s side
containing among others Jascha, Eddie, Freddy Wilcox and your columnist. Off
to a bad start, we trailed the girls badly on acting out a couple of
impossible medical terms. We rallied. Inspired pantomime by Jascha and
Gene put us in the running again. Forty seconds
for one; 40 for another; a brilliant 18 seconds; we won!!!
Feeling a lot better, the men took themselves and wives off for home.
Posted 11/24/2005
Sent in by Debbie P.
By Harrison Carroll
With all the talk about the approaching premiere of The Love Parade
it is interesting to learn that Jeanette MacDonald again is to be directed
in an operetta. Everyone is chary of information, but this column hears
that the actress is to play a Polish girl, and
will speak with an accent in
the new Lubitsch film.
Miss MacDonald represents another case of an actress whose reputation
is established before she appears for the first time on the local screen.
Los Angeles gets its initial glimpse of her in
the Chevalier film.
But in the meantime, she is on her third picture for Paramount. When
The Love Parade was finished, she did The Vagabond King and is at present
working in Let's Go Native.
1/18/1930 EH DAWN CALMS HER, SHE SLEEPS WOES AWAY
By Dick Hunt
It is a peculiar condition, but it seems that things in general are
always wrong around a studio. And the day I met Jeanette MacDonald
was no exception.
While waiting on the set I listened to her sing a number over and
over again. On each attempt there seemed to be trouble. One time the
sound department was at fault, on another one the lights flickered, a third
was discarded because a supervisor, business manager or some one decided
that she should do it his way, and on and on
far into the afternoon.
After all these retakes, it was natural to assume that the Scotch-Irish
Jeanette,
who incidentally is partially red-headed, would
be decidedly that way.
BIDES TIME FOR HER DRAMATICS
But instead of tearing her red-golden tresses and gnashing her
pearly white teeth between certain uncomplimentary remarks about
various and sundry gentlemen she was extremely amiable.
"I wait until after hours to get dramatic," she explained.
"Occasionally at night I get perturbed about
what has happened during the day.
"In fact I become so bothered about it that I frame eloquent
speeches to deliver to the bosses the next day. But comes the dawn
and I can't remember my routine.
"And I somehow feel that it's just as well my memory is poor. But I
have a list of "wrongs" since I started working in pictures.
"For instance, we worked half the night recently. I went to dinner
and took my bulldog with hem. He had a large order of roast beef
which Paramount paid for. I found out that was wrong from the business
manager.
"Then I spent a lot of time learning dialogue for a picture. I came
in with the lines memorized and was handed a new version of the same
sequence. So you see I was wrong again.
"The other day I threw a whole basket of fruit, piece by piece, to
the electricians up on the spotlight platforms. It was a part of the
set's furnishings, and the property man discovered me just as I
tossed the last apple. Like Adam, I was immediately in trouble. He
bawled me out in no uncertain terms, so that was wrong, too.
ENTERS ON CREDIT SIDE OF PAGE
But to get on the credit side of the page, by all that I can learn
from those, who have seen The Love Parade, which is coming into the
Paramount next Thursday, Jeanette is just about "right." And personally she
is very much "right."
She is most attractive, has a great sense of humor, and worlds of
personality. If her real qualities can be transferred into celluloid
she should become a leading movie figure.
"Mac," as she is called by everyone around the lot, plays the queen
of Sylvania in this mythical operetta. Maurice Chevalier is the star
and Ernst Lubitsch directed.
Incidentally, Lubitsch is the one who started the nickname "Mac,"
and Jeanette, not to be outdone, has hung "Lu" on the dignified
Ernst.
Posted 10/26/2005
1/5/1940 DN BRITISH WAR RELIEF DINNER DANCE
Prominent leaders of the social and film world had today completed plans for
the Franco-British war relief dinner dance to be held January 17 in the
Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador.
With French and British committees already named, another committee had been
chosen comprising young stars of Hollywood to assist in final arrangements.
Those appointed to serve on a special committee include Vivien Leigh,
Annabella, Pat Peterson, Heather Angel, Wendy Barrie, Maureen O’Sullivan,
Benita Hume, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine and Claudette Colbert.
Also Rupert Hughes, Anita Louise, Myrna Loy, Ernst Lubitsch,
Jeanette MacDonald, Louis B. Mayer, Adolph
Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Dame May Whitty and Darryl Zanuck.
3/4/1940 EHE "4-A GAMBOL OF STARS" TO OFFER
GALA PROGRAM
"Gambol of the Stars," the 4'A Ball scheduled at the Cocoanut Grove Thursday
evening, March 14, is to be one of the gala highlights of entertaining
throughout the month with a capacity reservation to assist the Associated
Actors and Artistes of America to raise funds for its needs. Guy Lombardo
and his Royal Canadians will be an added feature on the excellent program.
Working with Jean Hersholt as chairman of the program committee are
Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, C. Aubrey Smith, Carole Lombard, Bette
Davis, Norma Shearer and Jeanette MacDonald.
Posted 10/22/2005
4/30/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Jeanette MacDonald has been receiving
treatment at the Paramount Hospital for a burn on her cheek. Production was
temporarily halted on Monte Carlo, until her face was entirely healed as the
executives feared application of make-up might cause an infection. The
mysterious causes of the burn was brought to light when someone let it slip
that Ernst Lubitsch’s cigar was responsible. Lubitsch and his cigar have an
undying affinity for one another, and when the director became excited he is
prone to wave it about in the air. He didn’t realize that his stogy was in
the proximity of Miss MacDonald’s face,
and neither was the actress aware of her danger until the damage had been
done.
6/8/1937 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Reine Davies
Beginning with a score of 5-to-1, piled up against them by the motion
picture team, the Uplifters finished victoriously with 10 to 12, and, for
those who think polo is a lot of expensive horse flesh getting practically
nowhere, let it be known that the brilliant gallery for the fourth annual
Junior League-Motion Picture event was in a perpetual state of riotous
excitement.
Another champion of the day was Buck, the canine star of the screen, who
took the spot to take "silent direction" in a performance that tossed a
hammy cast on some of the human performances one sees on the screen.
Between chukkers, of course, the audience promptly turned its attention
toward the stellar Hollywoodites, and great was the autographing that
ensued. Officiating as a host to throngs at the scintillating affair, Bob
Montgomery was accompanied by the missus and little Betty.
Joan Bennett, sponsoring the motion picture team, was a cheerful loser. Her
cavalier was Frank Milan, and for the occasion Joan wore a white suit and a
matching hat that featured a sky-blue scarf of flowing chiffon.
Ginger Rogers, who sponsored the winning team, also restrained her
titian-blonde locks with a veil scarf of russet brown that formed a tiny cap
and fell gracefully over her shoulders. In striking harmony, Ginger's chic
suit was of mustard tan. In her box party was Pat de Cicco, Anne Shirley and
John Howard Payne, Mrs. Lela Rogers, Lee Bowman and Phyllis Fraser.
"Grand Marshall" Johnny Mack and Connie Brown entertained Ken Murray and
Florence Heller, and Jeanette MacDonald,
who was detained by studio work and arrived very late;
Marie Blake and Warren Rock, and Mrs. Anna MacDonald.
Jack Oakie m.c.ed the proceedings. Mrs. Frank Borzage, stunning in a
veritable symphony of gray presented the perpetual trophy. And lending her
very effective presence as hostess, Daisy Parsons presented the award to the
lucky holder of the prize-winning program, Leila Bliss.
Making one of her rare public appearances, Luise Rainer was accompanied by
Clifford Odets, and others noted were Sylvia and Douglas Fairbanks, with
Sylvia's sister, Mrs. Vera Bleck, and her youngsters, Loretta and Timothy;
Walter Connolly and Nedda Harrigan with Nedda's engaging daughter, Anna;
Cliff Steele, Elissa Landi and Nino Martini, Jean Parker, Tommy Wright, Ann
Sothern, Ed Babcock, Baron Ruggero Tortorets, Gloria Stuart and Arthur
Sheekman, Mrs. Will Rogers, Jay Paley, Ada and Ray Dodge, and Mrs. E.J.
Brandeis.
5/22/1937 EHE Slogan Tags for Stars Fade Out
By Jimmy Starr
Among the more recent trademarks are Buddy Rogers' "America's Boy Friend"
and Joan Crawford's "America's Dancing Daughter," later changed to "Empress
of Emotion," which had a vogue for a time, but which she herself
discouraged.
"Modern stars don't like slogans attached to their names," explains Clark
Gable, who holds himself fortunate to have escaped one. "And I don't think
they help in the box-office anymore. In a way, perhaps, it's too bad, at
that. Some of the ancient trademarks were quaint and intriguing. They were
regarded seriously in their day but now they get laughs. So I guess it
wouldn't do today to call Luise Rainer "The Paprika Girl," or
Jeanette MacDonald, "America's Nightingale,"
or William Powell "The Screen's Merry Madcap."
"Those days seem to be gone forever, and we have to exist on our own names."
10/31/1936 HCN Elizabeth Yeaman
For seven years I have been witnessing the studio hysteria of Hollywood.
Suddenly I tried to remember some of the stars who reigned 7 years ago, and
to recall the studios who "owned" them. Recollection brought to light an
interesting fact. Most of the stars of five to seven years’ duration at one
studio are to be found at MGM. There you will find Greta Garbo, Norma
Shearer, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery,
Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy. Jeanette
MacDonald used to be at Paramount, where she made her screen
debut. William Powell left Warners in disgust because of the poor stories he
was given, and at MGM he soared quickly as a top box office attraction..
Spencer Tracy left Fox for the same reason.
5/4/1937 LAX NORMA SHEARER RESUMES CAREER
............
Celebrities present included Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery,
Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Edna May Oliver, Gladys George,
Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Warren
William, Freddie Bartholomew, Luise Rainer, Tilly Losch, Johnny Weissmuller,
Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan, Charley Grapewin, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell,
Buddy Ebsen, Cliff Edward, Charles Gorin and others.
***********************************
Posted 10/20/2005
3/5/1930 HDC Society In Filmland
By Elizabeth Yeaman
One of the most interesting social events of the week was the dinner
presided over by J.G. Bachmann on Saturday night, when he entertained
members of the cast and others responsible for the production The Vagabond
King. The dinner, which was given in the Roosevelt Hotel, preceded the
midnight preview of the picture, which was attended by the guests.
Mr. Bachmann, who supervised the picture, had
as his guests on this occasion, Jeanette MacDonald,
Mr. and Mrs. George Bancroft, Mr. and Mrs. O.P. Heggie, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst
Lubitsch, Mr. and Mrs. Berthold Viertel, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Cohen, Mr. and
Mrs. Ralph Forbes (Ruth Chatterton), Dorothy Arzner, Lillian Roth, Doris
Anderson, Ludwig Berger, Lothar Mendes, Edwin Justus Mayer, Ernest Pascal,
Louis Gasnier and Robert Ritchie.
Dennis King, male lead in the picture, who created the role of Francois Villon in the original musical comedy production, was unable to attend as he is on his way to Europe.
******************************
Posted 10/15/2005
4/22/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeamans
What the designer declares to be the most elaborate wardrobe ever assembled for any woman of the screen, is being assembled for Jeanette MacDonald to wear in her next Paramount picture, Monte Carlo, which Ernst Lubitsch will direct. The play is a romantic farce with music revealing the intimacies of a love affair between a count and countess in the gayest city on the French Riviera. Travis Banton is designing the wardrobe and the lingerie alone has consumed two weeks of his time. A score of seamstresses are at work on his sketches. Jack Buchanan, London and New York musical comedy star, is featured with Miss MacDonald. This "American beauty" of the screen seems to have fitted into a permanent category of romantic bedroom farces with music.
**********************************
Posted 10/7/2005
8/30/1941 EHE MANY GIRLS BUSTLE IN BUSTLES FOR
MOVIE EFFECT
By The Young-Man-About-Hollywood
Gorgeous girls, scintillating stars and curvaceous cuties of the screen have
found a way to avoid all the fol-de-rol, rigamarole, queries and debates
which have upset the feminine fashion world. While public pulchritude
ponders over whether legs should be bare or silkenclad, hair, shirt lengths
and sleeves short to conserve cloth and if color, jewels and accessories are
just the thing in this day and age, a lot of movie queens are adopting
period costumes.
Jeanette MacDonald pleases her fans most
when in period costumes, rarely gets out of them on the screen and carries
on in Smilin’ Through.
Posted 10/5/2005
11/14/1931 EH MANY STARS ON FINAL RELIEF
PROGRAM
By Eugene Inge
The fifth and final gigantic program of a series to be broadcast in behalf
of the unemployment relief fund will radiate over every available network
throughout the nation tomorrow night, from 7:45 until 9 o'clock
Among those expected to appear before the microphone are: Douglas Fairbanks,
Nancy Carroll, William Boyd, Eddie Cantor, Harry Richmond, Paul Whitman,
Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, George Arliss, Jeanette MacDonald, Ann
Harding, Irene Dunn, Tom Mix and many others.
11/15/1931 LAX FILM PLAYERS ON AIR TONIGHT TO
AID JOBLESS
To aid the motion picture industry's program of unemployment relief, a
"Parade of Stars" will be presented tonight over the NBC and Columbia
national networks, it was announced yesterday.
Directed by S.L. ("Roxy") Rothafel, the program will be heard in Los Angeles
from stations KFI and KHJ, beginning at 7:45pm. It will combine talent
broadcasting from Hollywood, Chicago and New York.
HAYS WILL SPEAK
Will H. Hays will speak from Hollywood, explaining the purpose of National
Motion Picture Week, which begins Wednesday, when screen theaters throughout
the country will give performances for the benefit of local unemployment
relief funds.
Film players to appear with Mr. Hays are Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore,
Maurice Chevalier, George Arliss, John Boles, Irene Dunne, Tom Mix, Ann
Harding, Bebe Daniels and Jeanette MacDonald. Conrad Nagel will be master of
ceremonies.
Posted 10/1/2005
4/10/1930 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
After Paramount had looked at her work in Honey and in Edmund
Goulding’s The Devil’s Holiday, ZaSu Pitts was signed for a role in Ernst
Lubitsch’s successor to The Love Parade.
Miss Pitts’ role is said to be of third importance in the
picture, the two leads being played by Jeanette MacDonald and Jack Buchanan.
Posted 9/25/2005
½1/1932 HCN Elizabeth Yeaman
Jeanette MacDonald no longer
can claim the distinction of wearing the most glittering negligees on the
Paramount lot. Sylvia Sidney, star of The Miracle Man, wears a filmy frou
frou which required the services of ten professional beaders for ten days.
It is a dazzling creation. There is such a thing as producing too much
glitter in a film costume. Miriam Hopkins’ silver sequin dress which she
wears in Dancers in the Dark, reflects so much light before the cameras that
the wardrobe clerk is called to powder it before each scene.
3/15/1932 EHE Jimmy Starr
MORE NEWS ABOUT PARAMOUNT–11 FEATURES PLANNED
With the declaration that “variety is the keynote of
showmanship,” B.P. Schulberg, managing director of production for Paramount,
today placed his final okeh on plans for the filming of 11 new feature
pictures, the bases of which are nine different kinds of entertainment.
Features upon which definite plans have been made include:
Horse Feathers, college comedy starring the Four Marx Brothers;
Love Me Tonight, starring Maurice Chevalier and
Jeanette MacDonald, a musical drama; Marlene Dietrich, next,
which is to have a society background; Jerry and Joan, an emotional romance
featuring Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March; Come On Marines, the action
adventure; a picture with Claudette Colbert and Clive Brook, to have a
domestic setting; The Countess of Auburn, a comedy; A story of the Olympic
games; Merton of the Talkies, tale of youthful ambition in Hollywood; George
Bancroft’s The Challenger; Tallulah Bankhead’s next, and a special feature
of a religious nature.
5/28/1931 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Gene Raymond, who recently
was recruited from the Broadway stage has become a contract player at
Paramount and will come to Hollywood to play one of the leading roles with
Carole Lombard and Richard Arlen in No One Man, which is being adapted from
the novel by Rupert Hughes. Raymond will
begin his screen career this week at the Paramount Long Island Studios’
where he is playing with Nancy Carroll and Pat O’Brien in Personal Maid.
Production on No One Man will be started early in June as soon as Miss
Lombard has finished I Take This Woman in which she plays with Gary Cooper.
Raymond is known on the stage as Raymond Gulon, but he has dropped the last
name because of the difficulty in pronouncing it. He played for nearly two
years in “Young Sinners,” and is also remembered by Broadway theater-goers
for his portrayal in “Cradle Snatchers” which also ran for two seasons. Two
years ago he was co-starred with Sylvia Sidney in “Mirrors.” Miss Sidney is
now a Paramount star.
9/3/1931 LAR Relman Morin
What with the Wickersham Report, that Michigan prison-break and
sundry other contributions to the discussion, a motion picture about prison
conditions is in the money before it starts.
Perhaps B.P. Schulberg, of Paramount Publix, foresaw that some
weeks ago when he purchased Ladies of the Big House. The story was written
by Ernest Booth, formerly of Folsom. If Booth’s story is valid, and if the
finished script is allowed to retain its realism, that one should be a very
timely picture, indeed.
Sylvia Sidney, who gives me that funny sensation six inches
below my left shoulder, will have the lead in the film.
Gene Raymond, youthful Broadway stage star,
has been signed as her leading man. Raymond has been skidding along on the
top of the wave ever since he was starred in the stage production of “Young
Sinners.” A grand actor.
9/3/1931 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Gene Raymond, young Broadway
stage star who recently entered pictures after a notable performance in
“Young Sinners,” has been given the male lead opposite Sylvia Sidney in
Ladies of the Big House. This is being adapted from a romantic play by
Ernest Booth, life-term convict at Folsom. Raymond
was signed to a Paramount long-term contract some time ago and he made his
film debut in Personal Maid, with Nancy Carroll. The executives must think a
lot of his work or he would not be cast with so important an actress as Miss
Sidney. She is another newcomer, but her work is bringing her recognition so
rapidly that soon she will be a star in her own right. Marion Gering will
direct the picture and Louis Weltzenkorn is writing the screen treatment.
**************************
Posted 9/24/2005
8/23/1941 EHE The Young-Man-About-Hollywood
More and more, the “triple-threat girls,” the ones who can
sing, dance and also turn in a bang-up dramatic performance, are the ones
who are getting the breaks in Hollywood.
In the past, there were only two or three such as
Jeanette MacDonald, Irene Dunne and Ginger
Rogers who could claim the triple-threat distinction over any period of
time. Others arrived from the operatic, concert and musical comedy stage but
either failed to win popular favor or concentrated on one line of work. Now,
there are at least a score who have reached stardom because of their
versatility, and the successful newcomers are following in their footsteps.
*****************************
Posted 9/24/2005
½5/1935 EHE big dinner planned to celebrate Roosevelt's birthday at Biltmore. Nelson Eddy, Leo Carrillo, Jackie Cooper, Wally Beery, Bill Robinson with Nina Mae McKinney, Marion Davies is chairman of the Star Attendance Committee, occupying the post Marie Dressler held last year. Attendees will include Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jeanette MacDonald, William Powell, Gary Cooper, Victor McLaglen, Wallace Beery, Spencer Tracy, James Cagney, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn, zillions of others.
11/29/1934 LAX Reine Davies
There was no make-believe last night when the folks of
Hollywood got together and staged their Screen Actors’ Guild Ball in the
Bowl of the Biltmore Hotel.
They meant business; the business of forgetting make-believe as
well as reality, and getting down to the proposition of having good,
old-fashioned fun.
1000 attend
Actors forgot about coveted roles; actresses put aside thought
of greater glory, and together they danced away the night. More than a
thousand members of the “Who’s Who” of cinemaland crowded onto the spacious
dance floor, following the grand march which was led by Robert Montgomery,
first vice president of the guild.
....
Among those with reservations, who were also on the
entertainment program, were:
Earl Askam, Ben Bernie, Joe E. Brown, Boswell Sisters, Leon
Errol, Maria Gambarelli, Fred Keating, Jeanette
MacDonald, Clarence Muse, Dick Powell, Bill Robinson, Lyle
Talbot, Walter Woolf, the Twenty Little Working Girls, directed by Roy
Randolph, and music by Harry Jackson and his orchestra.
11/30/1934 HCN Cinemania
By Edwin Martin
BIG DOINGS
Riding to the Screen Actors’ Guild Ball in a $100,000
car....all dressed up like a sore thumb and feeling very
conspicuous....’cause the car we’re riding in is one of those big ones that
the boys have been trying to turn over a bit lately...and incidentally
that’s a rather funny thought we had just after getting on, especially when
we passed some of the boys standing at the side of the tracks and they gave
us a funny look...but they must have known that we had on our other good
suit and had pity on us...’cause anyway they let us ride within a few blocks
of the Biltmore and we hopped a taxi and rode the next few blocks in
style....and presented our ticket with the same aplomb as did Mr. Al Jolson
and Ruby Keeler and his party, who arrived just ahead of us....which reminds
us of the time we did a similar stunt and went to Mr. Jolson’s big benefit,
armed with two $200 tickets in one pocket and two-bits in the other...all of
which goes to prove to you that a newspaper person can have a better time on
nothing than a millionaire can have arriving in his limousine.
And what a
show! It was the best arranged event of its kind we have attended in a long
time....Kenneth Thomson started it off....Lyle Talbot made an excellent
master of ceremonies....and did a big of fine crooning himself....Robert
Montgomery read a telegram from Eddie Cantor, who couldn’t be there....that
was a nice line about the Twenty Little Working Girls that Lyle pulled when
only six showed up! “The rest must be working,” he said....Earl Askam, Dick
Powell and Jeanette MacDonald were never
in better voice....
*****************************
Posted 9/20/2005
½9/1935 LAX The Hollywood Parade
By Reine Davies
It's fortunate that Helen Hayes' departure has been deferred,
for at least a few more of her many friends may entertain for her.
To bid farewell to Helen, who is leaving just as soon as her MGM
picture, Vanessa: Her Love Story, has been previewed,
Jeanette MacDonald
entertained informally at dinner Friday night.
Characteristically, Jeanette wore a lovely new satin hostess
gown of a mysterious blue and featuring a long trailing sash. Following
dinner the evening became one of interesting conversation, as it would with
such guests as the Robert Montgomerys; Luise Rainer, the Viennese star, who
Bob Ritchie signed up for MGM while on his recent European tour; the Frank
Lloyds' Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg, Ernst Lubitsch, Adrian and Bob.
11/14/1935 LAX The Hollywood Parade
By Reine Davies
When Chia and Harry Lachman entertained at dinner the other
evening to honor Irving S. Cobb, and his daughter, Elizabeth Cobb Brody,
their guests didn't leave the table until after midnight. But small is the
wonder thereof, for, as is characteristic of Chia's parties, there were two
large tables, and at one sat the great American humorist and at the other
was Mrs. Pat Campbell. And great were the scintillating sparks that flew
between Irvin's Paducah bonanzas of humor and the sleek, twirling waggery of
the continental guests.
Frank Lloyd, meeting Mrs. Pat for the first time, confessed that
he had been a life-long fan of hers and, as a lad, had witnessed four of her
performances in "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" from the gallery.
So enchanted were Woody Van Dyke and Watterson Rothhacker with
the brilliance of Rachel Crothers that they were a trio during most of the
dinner.
Others in the smart party were Billie Burke, Mlle. Simone Simon,
Jeanette MacDonald and Bob Ritchie, the Walter Disneys, Mrs. Rudolph Mate,
the Frank Lloyds, John and Anita Emerson, the Frank Capras, Hope and Louis
Lighton, Laura Hope Crews, the Samuel Hoffenstein's, Kenneth McGowan, the
William Cowans, the Harry Cohns, Boris Lovet-Lorski and the Samuel
Raphaelsons.
11/23/1935 EHE Publicity Photo of Mutiny on the Bounty being filmed with
Frank Lloyd seen directing.
3/8/1932 EHE Jimmy Starr
Jack Oakie startled the very formally-attired guests at
Jeanette
MacDonald’s party for Bob Ritchie by appearing in dinner jacket...but with a
red sweatshirt underneath..Jack slept quite peacefully in the drawing room
until 8 in the morning...what a party it was...Mokumba, the Indian psychic
reader, did some amazing things despite the fact that Edgar Allen Woolf was
quite noisy...Sam Raphaelson tried to trip him up, but got tripped himself
instead...Theda Bara was thrilled...Genevieve Tobin found out...something
about a chap named Paul...wonder who he is?...Larry (song writer) Hart was
given to understand he was in the wrong business...Dolly Rockett found out
about her mother’s lawsuit...Dolly had a grand time...Al couldn’t get her to
go home...Jack Gilbert and Dorothy Speare had a long chat about
books...Yvonne and Maurice Chevalier came in very late...Rouben Mamoulian
had a bad cold and was given a lot of free advice...Mrs. Frank Lloyd
suffered a headache until she ate two helpings of everything...Jeanette’s
Aunt Sarah laughed loudest....some of the folks played bridge until Walter Wanger searched for the hidden orchestra...everybody wanted to hear Una
Merkel talk southern style...her new hubby wouldn’t leave her for a
moment...Joe Mankiewicz wandered around aimlessly...he does that very
well...Claudia Dell without Eddie Silton...which is news...Ginger (Snaps)
Rogers and Mervyn LeRoy...which isn’t news any more...all in all, it was a
very grand affair.
******************************
Posted 9/20/2005
8/4/1942 HCN ARRAY OF STARS
The greatest billing of famous screen players to make tours of
Army camps to carry on the government’s morale-building program since the
outbreak of the war was announced yesterday by the Hollywood Victor
Committee.
For the warm months of August and September alone, 20
volunteers have already come forward with offers to forego vacations and
engage in the war-air work. The list includes:
Burns & Allen, Joan Blondell, Eddie Cantor, Jackie Cooper,
Olivia de Havilland, Leon Errol, Kay Francis, Paulette Goddard, Bonita
Granville, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Bert Lahr, Merle
Oberon, Pat O’Brien, Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, and Jane Wyman.
HONOR MEMBERS NAMED
Schedule of the tours to every section of the country where
there are troop concentrations is now being worked out.
Forty-one others are shown on the Hollywood Victory Committee’s
War-Aid Record Board with gold stars as already having made tours of the
Army camps. The honor role is made up of:
Jean Arthur, Mischa Auer, Constance Bennett, Ray Bolger,
Phyllis Brooks, Joe E. Brown, Charles Butterworth, Bob Burns, Jackie Cooper,
Bing Crosby, Linda Darnell, (twice), Marlene Dietrich, Deanna Durbin,
Reginald Gardiner, Judy Garland, Oliver Hardy, Hugh Herbert, Stan Laurel,
Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Adolphe Menjou, Ann Miller, Constance Moore, Chester
Morris, Pat Morrison, Jeanette MacDonald, Frank McHugh, Ilona Massey, Carole
Landis, Rags Ragland, Martha Raye, Al Ritz, Harry Ritz, Jimmy Ritz, Mickey
Rooney, Rosalind Russell (twice), Ann Ruteherford, Maxie Rosenbloom, Ann
Sheridan, Phil Silvers, and Marjorie Weaver.
COMMAND PERFORMANCE
Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Dinah Shore, Jerry Colonna, Carmen
Miranda, and Casey Daley answer the call of the Hollywood Victor Committee
for the weekly transcription of “Command Performance,” the War Department’s
No 1 shortwave, at CBS tonight, 8 to 8:30pm.
Hollywood studio personalities are now being included in “Hi
Neighbor,” government’s shortwave program that has been prepared in San
Francisco. Over the weekend five minute interview transcriptions were made
with Judy Garland, Lionel Barrymore and Laraine Day.
***********************************
Posted 9/18/2005
1/1/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
Hundreds of fans are writing
Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy,
begging the stars to give at least one joint concert when they go on their
singing tours in February after New Moon is finished.
Unfortunately, this can't be arranged, not this year. Both
Jeanette and Nelson are booked completely and, never at any time during
their tours, are they closer than 350 miles to each other.
Looking at it commercially, there would be no point to a joint
concert, anyway. Appearing alone, the stars sell out every performance.
Nelson will be accompanied on his tour by Mrs. Eddy, but Gene
Raymond probably will stay in Hollywood. He's completely engrossed in
composing music. Jeanette told us several weeks ago she didn't feel it would
be right to ask him to give up his work and go along just to keep her
company.
1/3/1940 DN Big Ad for Balalaika, starting today and starring Nelson Eddy
and Ilona Massey.
1/3/1940 DN Eddy and Massey Star
Keying the new year for the best in screen entertainment, two
top flight MGM productions will open today at Loew's State and Grauman's
Chinese theaters.
The films are the new Nelson Eddy-Ilona Massey costarring
production, Balalaika, and Damon Runyon's Joe and Ethel Turp Call On the
President.
Described as one of the outstanding romantic musical films in
several seasons, Balalaika stars Miss Massey on the screen for the first
time. She had formerly been a star of the Vienna opera.
Rounding out the cast are such dependable players as Charles
Ruggles, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill, C. Aubrey Smith, Joyce Compton and
Walter Woolf King.
Produced by Lawrence Weingarten, Balalaika was a stage hit in
London and as a screen vehicle offers Eddy's baritone and Miss Massey's
voice much opportunity. The story unfolds against a colorful background of
old Russia and postwar Paris.
The companion picture, Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President,
is a comedy with Ann Sothern, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan and William Gargan
comprising the major players.
1/4/1930 HCN Balalaika
By Carl Combs
Miss Ilona Massey of Budapest, who came to Hollywood's attention
by way of the Vienna Opera, emerges from her MGM hiding, where she has been
schooled for stardom, to appear in Balalaika, one of the new pictures at
Grauman's Chinese and Loew's State theaters. Her flowering in Balalaika does
not, however, mark her first screen appearance, for she was seen briefly two
whole years ago in a Metro item called Rosalie.
The Miss Massey of 1940 has the sort of glamour that school boys
dream about. She has foreign charm, shimmering beauty, a pleasing singing
voice, and wins this reviewer's nomination for the screen's No. 1 Glamour
Girl. Moreover, she exhibits some acting sense, and although Balalaika isn't
a sensationally stunning motion picture, it will do until Metro finds
something better for her talents.
Nelson Eddy, chesty in a Cossack uniform— several Cossack
uniforms, in fact—is in fine fettle as Miss Massey's screen partner. That
is, he sings loud and good, and has seldom had better opportunity for a
baritone workout than he does with the spirited Russian songs he tosses off
with gusto in this picture. This type of song is his specialty, and a
matinee audience at the Chinese yesterday greeted his "Volga Boatman" and
others with enthusiasm.
When he's a Cossack prince in the trenches, Eddy is all right,
but when he's a Cossack prince in love, that's something else again. In love
he is, however, in Balalaika, and Miss Massey, as Lydia Markova, a Russian
with Bolshevik theories, is what stirs the emotion in his Czarist breast. He
being a prince with princely ideas, and she being a commoner with
revolutionary ideas, their affiliation presents a political problem as much
as anything else. The very night that Lydia makes her opera bow, comes the
World War of 1914, and amidst other complications, off goes the Cossack to
fight, leaving Lydia to sing torchy songs in smoky cafes. The next thing you
know, the scene is postwar Paris, where the deposed White Russian nobles are
working in various capacities in the Balalaika restaurant. A New Year's
reunion brings the former Cossack prince and his pretty little Communist
together again.
Under Reinhold Schunzel's often deft direction, Balalaika
doesn't seem quite so ponderous a musical as similar Metro items have in the
past. The music is always good and Eddy's delivery of Silent Night, despite
the fact that the post-holiday depression makes it ring rather dreary, is
splendid. Good healthy comedy is supplied by Charlie Ruggles, Frank Morgan
and Joyce Compton. Dalies Frantz, the pianist, acts in additional to playing
the piano, and other members of a big cast are Lionel Atwill, C. Aubrey
Smith, Walter Woolf King, Phillip Terry, Frederic Worlock and Abner Biberman.
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President is the second major
item on the Chinese and State program. This is Metro's picturization of
Damon Runyon's story, in which the Turps of Brooklyn go to see the President
in behalf of Jim, the mailman, who destroyed a registered letter to save a
widowed mother from a heartache on her death bed. Ann Sothern and William
Gargan are the Turps. Walter Brennan is the postman, and Lewis Stone is the
President.
1/4/1940 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Ella Wickersham
Even the Presidential election fails to dim the brilliance of
the San Francisco Opera season, which begins tonight with "The Masked Ball"
at the Shrine Auditorium. Tops among the many subsequent social events was
Gladys and Eddie G. Robinson's formal dinner party last evening, which
honored the divine Lily Pons at their Beverly Hills home.
Among the guest were Dalies Frantz, Ida Koverman, Leopold
Stokowski, the Joseph L. Levys, the Italo Montemezzis, Rouben Mamoulian,
Patricia Morison, the Rene Clairs, Cobina Wright and Cobina Jr., Boris
Lovet-Lorski, Mrs. Edith Hughes, Lillian May Ehrman, R. Thurbett, Baron de
Meyer, the L.E. Behymers, Georges Jomier, Margherita Tyrandelli and Alberti
de Gorostiaga.
Following the opera tonight la Pons will entertain a large party
of operaites at the Victor Hugo. For the first time in Deanna Durbin's brief
but phenomenal career, the stellar songstress has her own season tickets,
the other seasonal ticket holders are Bill Powell and Diane Lewis, Irene
Dunne and Dr. Francis Griffin, the Eddie Arnolds, the Walt Disneys, Gene
Raymond and Jeanette MacDonald, the Nelson Eddys, Mitch Leisen, Gladys and
Eddie G. Robinson, Harry Warner, Marion Talley, the Richard Hagemans,
Genevieve Tobin and William Keighley, Mrs. Richard Bonelli, the Donald
Dixons, Doris Kenyon, Gertrude and Bob Leonard, the Basil Rathbones, Vivian
and Ernst Lubitsch, the George B. Seitzes, Grant Mitchell, Alfred Newman and
Dr. A.H. Giannini.
1/4/1940 HCN NELSON EDDY STRIKES BACK!
By Frederick C. Othman
We went out to today to interview Nelson Eddy and the poor guy
couldn't sit down. His pants were too tight.
Seems he is playing the part of a butler, in tan satin trousers
and green felt coat with gold braid, and Metro doesn't give a whoop whether
its actors are comfortable, or not. All it cares about is art.
So Eddy leaned against a post on the second assistant
cameraman's ladder on the stage of New Moon and we talked about a lot of
surprising things. Take radio.
Eddy used to sing on a Sunday afternoon coffee program. He got
$5,000 per week for it. And he became so busy with movies and concerts a few
months back that he quit his radio job. He kissed that $5,000 a week
goodbye. And here comes the strange part:
"As far as I can figure, he said, "I'm making as much money
without the radio, as with it. Maybe more. That's because of income taxes.
That radio fee put my taxes in a higher bracket and upped the rate."
LEADING CITIZEN
When a man can be ahead of the game by quitting that kind of a
job, it's a pretty good sign he's a leading citizen in Hollywood. There's no
doubt about Eddy's place on the top of the heat. There are three indications
of that:
1. He got so many Christmas cards from fans he had to put them
in clothes hampers and wash tubs.
2. He leaves next month for a concert tour in 28 cities and all
seats in all 28 theaters already have been sold.
3. He is criticized in the press as vigorously, perhaps, as any
other Hollywood celebrity.
What we want to consider is number three. It seems a shame,
somehow, for a perfectly straightforward, decent gent like Eddy to be the
target of such much editorial [REST CUT OFF]
½2/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
You Nelson Eddy concert fans probably have noticed that he
clasps a small black notebook in his fingers when he sings.
Eddy says the book is his most important prop. It contains the
lyrics to every song in his repertoire. It contains the lyrics to every song
in his repertoire, but he never refers to the pages. Value of the book is
that it increases his poise by giving him something to do with his hands.
"Five years ago," says Nelson, "I used to sing with my hands at
my sides. People told me it made me look stiff. Finally, I hit on the idea
of holding the book. Since then, I've felt much more at ease."
½2/1940 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
Problem—Nelson Eddy took time off between scenes on New Moon to
ask me to do him a favor—to stage from personal observance that he was not
blind. The mad rumor started in Alabama and has spread, with the result that
Nelson has received thousands of letters from distressed fans, from
religious groups and individuals to say that they are praying for him, and
from medical authorities suggesting cures. An eye expert in a Toronto
hospital was credited in a news bulletin as the man chosen to operate, and
when Nelson wished a retraction, it came in a statement that due to the
publicity Nelson had chosen another doctor. During concerts Nelson often
carries a small notebook, more to give him something to do with his hands
than to refresh his memory on songs. The pages are worn from the pressure of
his fingers during strenuous numbers. "Ah-ha!" whisper knowing ones in his
audience. "See! He never looks at the book, but reads it with his hands.
It's Braille!" Rumors even state that he is led to the center of the stage
by his manager behind closed curtains, that he sings there and the curtains
close on him standing there. Although he recognizes it is almost impossible
to convince people he is NOT blind, he would like to reiterate to those
disturbed by the claim, that he appreciates their kind thoughts and prayers.
2/3/1940 MPH WHAT THE PICTURE DID FOR ME
Balalaika. Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey, Charles Ruggles, Frank
Morgan.—A very excellent picture but failed at the box office. These kind of
musicals never clicked here. Running time, 102 minutes. Played January 3-4,—H.E.
Miller, Miller Theatre, Festus, Mo. General Patronage.
3/4/1940 EHE "4-A GAMBOL OF STARS" TO OFFER GALA PROGRAM
"Gambol of the Stars," the 4'A Ball scheduled at the Cocoanut
Grove Thursday evening, March 14, is to be one of the gala highlights of
entertaining throughout the month with a capacity reservation to assist the
Associated Actors and Artists of America to raise funds for its needs. Guy
Lombardo and his Royal Canadians will be an added feature on the excellent
program.
Artists of renown who are serving loyally with the general
committee to make the huge benefit a success include Eddie Cantor, Edward
Arnold, Fred Keating, I.B. Kromblum, Kenneth Thompson and Lawrence Tibbett.
Other committee chairmen include Loretta Young, in charge of
reception; George Murphy supervising the gorgeous entertainment; Lucile
Webster Gleason, ticket chairman; Jean Hersholt, program director; Edward
Arnold in charge of the floor, and Porter Hall looking after the financial
angle of the benefit party.
Beginning at 8 o'clock, the affair promises to be a great party,
comprised of dining and dancing, interspersed with some of the finest
entertainment the huge array of talented artists of the 4-A group can
produce.
Working with George Murphy, chairman of entertainment and master
of ceremonies, will be Jack Benny, Benny Rubin, James Wallington, Stan
Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Frank Morgan, Adolphe Menjou, True Boardman and Edgar
Bergen.
Assisting Loretta Young in receiving will be Tyrone Power, Paula
Winslowe, Vivien Leigh, Andres de Segurola, Richard Greene, Elizabeth Risdon,
Gene Raymond, Erich von Stroheim, Gary Cooper, Don Ameche, Clair Trevor,
Marek Windheim, Victor Jory, Nelson Eddy and James Stewart.
Mrs. Lucile Webster Gleason's ticket committee is composed of
John Dales Jr., Ken Carpenter, Dorothy Tree, Lary Steers, Lum and Abner,
Kenney Gardner, Lois Wilson, Walter Abel, Rosalind Russell, Ynez Seabury,
Georgia Fifield, William Brandt, Boris Karloff, John Mack Brown and Dick
Powell.
Working with Jean Hersholt as chairman of the program committee
are Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, C. Aubrey Smith, Carole Lombard, Bette
Davis, Norma Shearer and Jeanette MacDonald.
Edward G. Robinson's group in charge of the floor committee
comprises Spencer Tracy, Don Wilson, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and James
Gleason, while the committee assisting Porter Hall as chairman of finance,
consists of Conrad Nagel, Theodore Bliss and Thomas Freebairn Smith. John
Grey is in charge of arrangements and John Lee is in charge of press
relations.
5/9/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
After listening to Nelson Eddy tell about all the colds he had
on his concert tour, Jeanette MacDonald, who made practically the same
circuit, laughed and told Eddy he had done it the wrong way.
“What do you mean?” asked Nelson.
“You should have worn long underwear, like I did,” said
Jeanette.
Wonder if she was kidding, or if she really did.
5/17/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Nelson Eddy will have a minor nose operation next week.
5/18/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Nelson Eddy was operated on yesterday for adenoids at the St.
Vincent's Hospital.
5/20/1940 HCN
Bitter Sweet, Noel Coward’s famous musical play, will be
prominent among MGM’s elaborate musical productions of 1940-41.
There are five big-budget musicals scheduled for the coming
season, and in two of them, Bitter Sweet and I Married An Angel,
Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy will be co-starred. Bitter Sweet has been filmed
before—by a British film company.
5/25/1940 MPH WHAT THE PICTURE DID FOR ME
Balalaika, Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey, Charles Ruggles, Frank
Morgan.—A title which people can not spell nor pronounce and which would not
mean anything to them if they could, can’t do a picture any good. Maybe it
was that and maybe something else but this is one that we could not sell to
our patrons. It definitely “laid an egg” the second night.—Dr. G.A. Van
Fradenburg, Valley Theatre, Manassa, Colo. Farming Community Patronage.
5/31/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
His recent concert tour was the toughest he ever made, says
Nelson Eddy who returned to Hollywood yesterday to resume his work before
the cameras.
Bad weather and bad colds dogged him on the entire trip,
according to the star, according to the star. He was compelled to cancel
four contract.
The California sun shone brightly for Eddy’s homecoming. To add
to the star’s pleasure, he went directly to the new Brentwood estate, which
had been completed in his absence. The actor didn’t even have to face the
worries of moving. His wife had preceded him and had taken care of
everything.
Eddy’s mother will live in his old place in Beverly Hills.
6/11/1940 HCN
Metro's New Moon, starring Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald,
will screen tomorrow night at the Westwood Village.
6/13/1940 HCN Ed Sullivan
Column On Nelson Eddy
We were discussing the many and devious ways in which the movies
insert music into pictures nowadays...."I'm talking to the heroine," said
Nelson Eddy, "and maybe the scene is laid in a building. Suddenly and for no
good reason, an organ grinder, shown in an inter-cut, starts playing down on
the street, and quite naturally, or quite unnaturally if you prefer, the
heroine and I become aware that music is in the air. Quite naturally, or
quite unnaturally, if you wish, the tune that the organ grinder is playing
is known to me: 'hark," sez I to the heroine. The close-up shows my action
and the heroine's reaction. So I break into song, and the heroine, not
wishing to be deficient in ordinary operetta courtesy, also breaks into
song."
"Or," said Eddy, "there is the campfire scene in a bayou and
this calls for a different type of introduction of the music. The warriors,
of whom I'm the leader, are lounging about the campfire after a hard day's
march or a hard day's fight. It varies according to the script. The camera
slides over to a medium shot of a nondescript individual and he is enticing
tunes from the mouth of a jug. By coincidence, the man next to him in the
medium shot is playing a mouth-organ. Another ragged here, also in the
medium shot, is playing a drum. The hero, hearing these noises stealing upon
the air, is discovered reacting to them. Without a moment's hesitation, the
hero (me) is so overcome that he breaks into song."
"Curiously enough," continued Eddy, "when I break into song, the
jug manipulator, the mouth organist and the drummer are never heard again.
They started it but almost immediately they are overwhelmed by an orchestra
of several hundred pieces. Nobody ever sees this huge orchestra, because
they have scored the song on Stage 1, at MGM, and in the final shot, as the
song concludes, the camera again goes to a closeup of the three campfire
musicians, the jug conjurerer, the mouth organist, and the drummer. I doubt
that the movie audiences ever are fully convinced that this trio actually
composed the 200-piece orchestra they have just heard."
We reviewed other furtive methods by which music is sneaked up
on the audience....In the first establishing long shot of the flicker, the
audience is given a "quickie" view of a modernistic radio set, which has
more carving on it than the innocent bystander at a gang war....the scene
develops....The heroine steps to the radio, twists the dials, and almost
instantly you hear "Il Trovatore"....Or there is the radio audition, which
gives the hero or heroine the excuse to brow-beat an audience
musically....Then there is the drive through the woods in a horse-drawn
wagon....The creaking of the wheels is emphasized rhythmically, and the hero
or heroine, or both, are so stirred by this manifestation that without more
ado they crack into song....The director, also stirred, then inter-cuts
shots of birds in the trees, caroling lustily....In these devious fashions,
Hollywood gets music into moving pictures and the pretests they adopt would
indicate that the directors are a trifle ashamed of the whole musical
patterns, half-afraid that audiences would get up and quit the theater if
they were warned in advance that the hero or heroine would
sing....Forgetting completely that audiences go to a theater and pay their
admissions JUST BECAUSE they want singing, and lots of it.
Nelson Eddy impresses you most with his sincerity....He is the
kind of a guy who, if he made a promise, would stand by it....In his pursuit
of sincerity, the big fellow also becomes tactless, and it is his
tactlessness that has resulted in his frequent misunderstandings with the
press....Instead of taking the time and the trouble to win dissenters to his
side, Eddy adopts a "to hell with them" attitude...."I don't like liars," he
tells you sincerely, and writers who have lied about him are anathema to
him....His viewpoint is understandable but you wonder if he wouldn't have
saved emotional wear and tear by going out of his way to conciliate the
differences.
Eddy is quite certain that operas never will have much success
in the movies...."The plots of operas are silly," he observes. "The adopted
son is revealed in the last reel to be the King, or the Duke wants to steal
the farmer's daughter from the poor but honest bullfighter. American movie
audiences have progressed far beyond that sort of plot. That is why operas
can't be filmed."
He is certain equally that some day, in the near or distant
future, when Hollywood runs out of established light operas, Hollywood
itself will produce the plot and music of a fine light opera or grand
opera...."We have the musicians and we have the librettists right here," he
says, "and eventually they'll do it."....Incidentally, you need have no fear
that Eddy's vision is impaired in any way, shape or form....The last rumor
was that he was so blind he used a Braille script on stage when he forgot
his lyrics....As a matter of fact, the type in the little book which he
carries on concert stages is so minute that an eagle would have difficulty
in deciphering it....It corresponds to agate type in the "Want Ads"....In
other words, the eyes have it.
6/13/1940 HCN Reviews of Previews
New Moon
A MGM picture. Produced and directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
Screenplay by Jacque Deval and Robert Arthur as based on the operetta by
Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mendel and Laurence Schawab, with music by
Sigmund Romberg. Photographed by William Daniels. The cast:
Jeanette
MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B. Warner, Grant
Mitchell, Stanley Fields, Richard Purcell, John Miljan, Ivan Simpson, Claude
King, Cecil Cunningham, Joe Tule, George Irving, Edwin Maxwell, Paul E.
Burns, Rafael Storm, Winifred Harris, Robert Warwick. Previewed at the
Westwood Village Theater.
By James Francis Crow
In the midst of the war, and in the midst of all the photoplays
about the war, here come Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in a musical
picture, New Moon, being elegantly romantic, and singing beautiful love
ballads to each other. It is just what the doctor ordered, the doctor in
this case being producer-director Robert Z. Leonard. He decided that a
romantic musical interlude would be gratifying to the movie patrons, and the
reaction of last night's preview audience, in spite of the new film's many
faults, indicated that he was right.
This reviewer is a defender of the socially conscious film
drama, and of pictures that comes to grips with life, but after The Mortal
Storm and Four Sons, even this reviewer admits a sense of relief on sitting
in a theater composedly and listening to Eddy and Miss MacDonald sing "Lover
Come Back to Me" or instance, or "One Kiss," or "Wanting You." Very
agreeable, indeed. And although this new film has a kind of war background,
it is a mild 18th Century affair the Frenchy Revolution, in fact and war can
be romantic when it is seen from a distance.
Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur did the current film adaptation
of the familiar and well beloved operetta. It gets pretty stagey at times,
and pretty slow, and to enjoy the picture you have got to forgive the lack
of realism, and accept an operetta story which is after only an auxiliary to
the music. This reporter was able to do so, and the film followed hero and
heroine from France to Louisiana, and thence to their idyllic island home,
and thence to happiness as the news comes of the success of the revolution,
and the establishment at last in France of "liberty, fraternity, and
quality."
It is typical MacDonald-Eddy fare. These two dominate the action
almost to the exclusion of the other players, but Mary Boland, George Zuuco,
H.B. Warner, Grant Mitchell, and Stanley Fields manage to make their
presence count. Eddy is at best at the head of his marching rebels, signing
"Stouthearted Men," and Miss MacDonald won a rousing ovation last night in a
beautifully staged rendition of "lover Come Back to Me."
6/18/1940 FD New Moon
(Hollywood Preview)
Metro 105 minutes
Ideal MacDonald-Eddy vehicle, should click easily and heavily at
the B.O.
With the picturization of New Moon, "Lover Come Back to Me,"
"Wanting You," "One Kiss" and "Stout Hearted Men" are again heard to
advantage. New Moon is an ideal vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson
Eddy, and the stars, furnishing solos and duets, have never sung better.
Many bows are due Robert Z. Leonard.
Mary Boland, George Zucco, H.B. Warner, Stanley Fields and Grant
Mitchell are among the principals. Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur fashioned
the screenplay, based on the operetta. Herbert Stothart handled the musical
direction very effectively. Eddy is a French nobleman, who rebels against
the methods used by the Government in dealing with the masses. Using another
name, he comes to New Orleans as one of a number of Frenchmen who are to be
auctioned off as slaves. On board, Jeanette, a spoiled French aristocrat,
meets Eddy and does not realize he is in trouble.
In New Orleans, where Jeanette is to make her home, one of her
representatives buys Eddy and he becomes her valet. Eddy and his fellow
Frenchmen overpower the crew of a boat, which had been set in search of
Eddy. To her surprise, Jeanette, who had planned a short and quick return to
Paris, finds herself on the boat commanded by Eddy. The boat encounters a
severe storm, gets off the course and lands its human cargo on an uncharted
island. Here, Jeanette is forced to drop her aristocratic manners and work
hard along with her fellow passengers. She tries to keep from falling in
love with Eddy—but this is very difficult. Of course, the picture ends
happily with Eddy and Jeanette in each others' arms.
CAST:
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco,
H.B. Warner, Grant Mitchell, Stanley Fields, Richard Purcell, John Miljan,
Ivan Simson, William Cunningham, Joe Yule, George Irving, Edwin Maxwell,
Paul E. Burns, Rafael Storm, Winifred Harris, Robert Warwick.
CREDITS: Producer-director, Robert Z. Leonard; Based on operetta
"New Moon"; Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel and
Laurence Schwab; Music, Sigmund Romberg; Screenplay, Jacques Deval and
Robert Arthur; Cameraman, William Daniels; Art Director, Cedric Gibbons;
Associate, Eddie Imazu; Musical Director, Herbert Stothart, Dances, Val
Raset; Editor, Harold F. Kress.
Direction, Excellent. Photography, Good.
6/22/1940 LAX Meet One of the Busiest Stars
By Sara Hamilton
If Nelson Eddy, MGM's blond baritone, took time out to deny the
many weird and unearthly rumors that attach themselves to him, he would have
no time to make movies, give a three months concert tour every year, have an
adenoid removed, work at his hobby of sculpturing, move into his new home,
catalogue his pewter, make recordings, or autograph pictures.
Just why Mr. Eddy should be the butt of so many unfounded
rumors, such as imaginary physical catastrophes, climaxed by the story that
his recent adenoid operation was done to produce a singing range three notes
higher, is beyond the understanding of all who know him well.
And mama does!
There is nothing of the sensation-seeker about the star who is
creating a stir with both his fine dramatic and singing ability in his new
vehicle, New Moon. On the contrary, Mr. Eddy is quiet, even-tempered,
industrious and honest with himself and with those others who create those
fabulously untrue yarns.
For nine months of the year he labors industriously at
movie-making and recordings. For the other three he travels from north to
south, east to west giving concerts in the larger cities of America and even
venturing to Canada and Cuba.
"Musical taste in the corn belt is just as good as it is along
Park Avenue in Manhattan," he told us after his recent tour. "Music
appreciation is standard and universal in this country today."
With New Moon launched...[REST CUT OFF]
6/26/1940 LAX New Moon
A MGM picture, produced and directed by Robert Leonard, book and
lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel and Laurence Schwab, music by
Sigmund Romberg and Robert Arthur. Showing at Grauman's Chinese and Loew's
State theaters.
By Dorothy Manners
If any show in town can make you forget Hitler & Co. it is the
opulent, luxurious New Moon with the perennially popular
Jeanette MacDonald
and Nelson Eddy. Breaking brightly into a cycle of films that have been grim
to say the least, this new teaming of MGM's popular signing stars should
score a hit at Grauman's Chinese and Loew's State theaters this week.
In my preview-review of this picture I commented on the fact
that Hollywood producers are in a state of not quite knowing what will
entertain the public in these desperate days. New Moon definitely comes
under the head of "escapist" entertainment.
Opulent, tuneful with the haunting Romberg music, (particularly
"Lover Come Back to Me" and "One Kiss") and as pretty as a Valentine is this
new Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy operetta. Certainly it is geared to take
you away from the cares of the world. The lovely Miss MacDonald has never
been photographed more beautifully and Eddy is as much the matinee-idol as
ever.
Why quarrel with a plot that makes no effort at reality and very
little at logic? It's an 18th Century "Boy meets Girl" plot against the
background of the French colonial days, Jeanette is Marianne de Beaumanoir
who was, apparently, the Brenda Frazier of her day. Nelson plays a nobleman
with social consciousness who masquerades as her butler. Before their
romance draws to a happy conclusion they have sung a great many songs on
shipboard, on a New Orleans plantation and on a shipwreck island.
It is purely a personal opinion, but as lovely as she looks, I
still think Miss MacDonald overplays her role of the spoiled French
aristocrat but she looks so beautiful in whims and affections it hardly
matters. Eddy fares better dramatically as the rebel nobleman and injects a
great deal of humor into his role.
The cast has little chance to shine and merely revolves around
the two stars. Mary Boland is fluttery and amusing as Jeanette's aunt, H.B.
Warner has a brief role as Father Michael, Grant Mitchell is seen as the
governor of New Orleans. Robert Z. Leonard produced and directed and, as
usual, when he handles the megaphone, his picture has every luxurious and
imposing effect.
Lovely is the music from Sigmund Romberg's familiar stage hit,
and the movie script by Jacques Deval and Robert Arthur adheres closely
enough to the book by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel and Laurence
Schwab. Probably New Moon will go out and clean up a fortune for MGM just as
the pictures of these stars always do and then we'll know that what American
audiences want in these troubled times are more and more Eddy-MacDonald
duets.
Companion feature at both houses is another Nick Carter
adventure, Phantom Raiders with Walter Pidgeon, Florence Rice, John Carroll
and Joseph Schildkraut.
6/27/1940 DN DIRECTOR BOOSTS MUSICALS FOR WAR "ESCAPISTS"
With all that gloom over Hollywood through the war blitz-krieg
of Hollywood's foreign market and the effect of depressing war news on the
boxoffice in this country it's refreshing to talk to MGM producer-director
Robert Z. Leonard.
Leonard, whose latest film, New Moon, starring
Jeanette
MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, is now playing at the Loew's State and Chinese
theaters, paints a far less melancholy picture of the present and future
film situation than most of his pessimistic confreres.
Leonard's optimism is based on his conviction that audiences
want relief from the cares of the world and that they can best get this
relaxation from comedies and musical pictures. Recent boxoffice popularity
of these types of pictures, in contrast to the heavier fare, has borne out
this conviction.
Musicals will save the day, Leonard says. They always have, he
avers, and he points to the experience of film makers through the direst
days of the recent depression. In those days, as now, Leonard states, the
public was going through a period of worrying that kept them away from the
theaters showing serious drama and problem pictures, while theaters showing
escapist material, particularly musicals, were filled.
Leonard declares that Hollywood is aware of the conditions and
predicts that the coming season will see a greater percentage of light
comedies and musicals as against heavier drama, than ever before.
The MGM producer director's opinion is quite authoritative for
he has perhaps directed more big musicals than any other man in the picture
business. he piloted the MacDonald-Eddy due in Maytime, and Girl of the
Golden West, two of their most successful films, as well as an additional
pair starring Miss MacDonald alone.
And his record is equally impressive in the realm of serious
fare, for prior to his direction of The Great Ziegfeld, probably the most
successful of all musicals, he directed such dramatic films as The Rise and
Fall of Susan Lennox starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable and Strange
Interlude, starring Norma Shearer and Gable.
Following a procedure of sandwiching serious drama between his
musical contributions, Leonard was all set to follow New Moon and his just
completed Pride and Prejudice, comedy co-starring Greer Garson and Laurence
Oliver soon to be released, with a subject of meatier dramatic quality.
"But that is all off now," he says. "My next will be in the vein
of New Moon and Pride and Prejudice, for the time calls for such material.
The radio and newspaper can give potential picture audiences all the drama
and problems they crave these days, but in the theater, patrons will look
for entertainment and amusement and it will be the lighter type of material
that will satisfy."
Movie houses should and will endeavor to build their programs so
that the usual sign, "Come inside, 20 degrees colder than the street" can be
changed to "come inside and forget your war worries."
As Leonard talks about light and airy things, it seems like an
anomaly for Leonard, past grand master in producing such film fare, is
designed like an overweight pachyderm.
And as he speaks about music and romance as the film subjects of
the day, his voice booms with all the musical cadence of a moonlight sonata
rendered by a bullfrog with laryngitis.
The anomalies notwithstanding, Leonard's career in Hollywood has
been one sustained success. Recognized as the oldest director in point of
service, he started out as an actor here when the Chinese theater was
occupied by an alfalfa field and that of Loew's State was surrounded chiefly
by livery stables.
He quit acting for directing at the tender age of 21. He figured
there was no future in front of the camera he had to play Hobart Bosworth's
son, his father (with a long grey beard) and a Roman centurion in the same
picture in a single afternoon. It was strictly a matter of competing with
himself.
7/3/1940 EHE Harrison Carroll
The new
Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy musical, Bittersweet,
goes into production July 15 and it's a sad blow to director W.S. Van Dyke.
He has been looking forward for months to attending the Democratic National
Convention as a delegate from California. Van is the most ardent Roosevelt
supporter in the film colony. Now he'll have to give up the trip and read
about the convention in the papers.
7/18/1940 EHE
Nelson Eddy howled with laughter when director W.S. Van Dyke
produced a police whistle to signal extras in Bittersweet.
Seems that when Eddy was in the middle of his last concert in
Philadelphia, a woman fan managed to sneak past theater attendants and take
a post right back of the curtain where the star was singing.
When an attempt was made to oust her, she produced a police
whistle and announced: "if you lay a hand on me, I'll blow this thing as
loud as I can."
Eddy says it was the funniest thing that ever happened to him on
a concert tour.
As Leonard sees it, Hollywood's mission today is to get people
to forget their mental worries, even for a couple of hours at a time.
"Hollywood will do it for not only will it be helping the psychology of the
country but it will also be darn good business."
7/27/1940 MPH
WHAT THE PICTURE DID FOR ME
Balalaika. Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey, Charles Ruggles, Frank
Morgan.—For my district this was a natural and I am sure it will go over
anywhere it’s played. If weather conditions were OK, I would have done an
exceptionally big business. Give this one your better playdates without
hesitation. Running time, 102 minutes. Played June 27-29.—Mike Kieryluk,
Vimy Theatre, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada. Small Town Patronage.
8/23/1940 HCN Sidney Skolsky
WATCHING THEM MAKE PICTURES
Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald are getting ready to sing one
of Noel Coward's songs in Bitter Sweet. I say "Hello" to them, and stand by
chatting with Diana Lewis. "This is really Noel Coward week for me," says
Diana Lewis. The other night I went to see his plays at the El Capitan, and
now I sit around the set and listen to his music. Only I'm getting paid to
listen to his music. "Not bad, eh?" I admit that it is a nice way to earn a
salary.
8/24/1940 EHE HARRISON CARROLL
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
Old Vienna lives again on a MGM sound stage this week. It is a
big and garish café set for Bittersweet. Army uniforms on broad-shouldered
extras make a splash of color. The gowns of the ladies are gay, too.
Director W.S. Van Dyke is building up to the scene where Nelson
Eddy insults an Austrian officer and subsequently is killed in a duel.
It is the first time Nelson has died on the screen since
Maytime, when he was shot by John Barrymore, and the situation must be
handled with proper seriousness.
MGM has assigned George Richelavi, former captain in the
Austrian army, to see that the technical details are as correct as possible.
If they were entirely correct, explains Richelavi, the whole
episode would have to be stricken out of the story.
INSULT MEANT RUIN
"As a musician," he says, "Mr. Eddy would have never been
allowed to insult an officer. The waiters would have prevented him. In the
old days in Vienna it would have meant ruin for any café to allow an officer
to be attacked. The army would have blacklisted the place. That would have
put it out of business."
No doubt, when Bittersweet is released, certain fans will detect
this and other errors and will chide MGM about its ignorance.
As a matter of fact, the movies have developed research to a
high degree. They employ dozens of experts like Richelavi.
Most of the mistakes you see in pictures are like this one in
Bittersweet. They come under the head of dramatic license.
OFFERS TRICK
Just before I leave the set, Nelson Eddy comes over and offers
to show me a trick. He borrows a half dollar and asks
Jeanette MacDonald to
tell me the date on it. Vaudeville magic acts have done the trick for years,
but Jeanette and Nelson get a great kick out of performing it for visitors.
The camera isn't ready yet, but director Van Dyke pretends to be
very annoyed at the two stars for fooling around with such nonsense.
"Don't forget," he yells to Jeanette and Nelson, "that we still
have time to get Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett for this picture."
9/24/1940 HCN EDDYS FIGHT CRASH SUIT
Nelson Eddy, film singer, and Mrs. Ann Franklin Eddy, his recent
bride, filed general denials today of their liability for damages in
connection with an automobile collision Aug. 21 of Mrs. Eddy's son, Sidney
Franklin Jr. and Helen Lynd, actress.
Miss Lynd, with her husband, Al Melnick, agent, sued Mr. and
Mrs. Eddy, Sidney Franklin Sr., film director, and young Franklin who is 16,
for $8723 damages, charging they were responsible for the youth's action
when he allegedly crashed into Miss Lynd's car at Maple Dr. and Carmelita
Ave., Beverly Hills.
Eddy and his wife were named as owners of the car which the boy
was driving.
As a separate affirmative defense, the Eddys charged that Miss
Lynd was guilty of contributory negligence in the accident.
9/24/1940 EHE REPLIES TO SUIT OF ACTRESS
If Helen Lynd, film actress, sustained any injuries when her car
collided with that of Sidney Franklin Jr., 16-year-old stepson of Nelson
Eddy, it was her own fault, according to two answers filed today to Miss
Lynd’s $8723 damage suit.
The answer was presented on behalf of Eddy, who admitted he was
the owner of the car young Franklin was driving, while the other was filed
for the screen star’s wife, Mrs. Ann Eddy, who is the mother of Franklin.
Both documents, prepared by attorney Raymond G. Stanbury, denied
that Franklin was guilty of any negligence when his car and the one driven
by Miss Lynd collided near the intersection of Maple and Carmelita drives in
Beverly Hills last Aug. 21.
“On the contrary, it was alleged on “information and belief,”
Miss Lynd failed to “exercise ordinary care on her own behalf” in driving
her car and therefore her injuries were due to “contributory negligence.”
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Eddy, Miss Lynd sued Sidney Franklin sued
Sidney Franklin Sr., film producer and father of young Franklin, who
likewise was named a defendant. The producer is Mrs. Eddy’s former husband.
The actress was joined by her husband, Al Melnick, actor’s agent, as
co-plaintiff in the suit. Her attorneys, Gregson Bautzer and G. Bentley
Ryan, said a request would be made that the case be set for trial as soon as
answers are filed by the Franklins.
10/22/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
The hot Hollywood rumor before I left was that
Jeanette
MacDonald and MGM were on the verge of trouble because Jeanette was walking
out on I Married An Angel. It was also whispered that she was “off salary”
and that Nelson Eddy would make his next picture alone. Just barely had time
to check the yarn with Jeanette and according to her there’s not a word of
truth in any of it. She says she couldn’t have turned down I Married An
Angel because no script has been prepared—as far as being off salary—she
asked for her annual leave of absence now because no picture was ready for
her and she wanted to go on her concert tour at this time instead of later.
However, the whisper persists that Nelson Eddy’s next picture will be
without his pretty co-star. We’ll see.
10/24/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Make what you will of it, but Nelson Eddy has been looking at
tests of pretty singers all week at MGM, which sounds more and more like
Jeanette MacDonald will not make I Married An Angel.
10/26/1940 LAX Hollywood Parade
By Ella Wickersham
Launching the social events that invariably accompany the local
opera season, the luncheon at the Assistance League Tea Room honored
feminine officials of the Los Angeles Opera Association.
Mario Chamlee presided, and in the absence of Joan Fontaine, who
is chairman of the association’s cinema group, Rosemary Lick officiated as
her stand-in. And other Hollywoodites present were Fay Wray, Mary Martin,
Blanche Yurka, John Garrick and Carlotta King Russell.
As a premiere offering, the San Francisco Opera Company will
present “The Masked Ball” at the Shrine Auditorium on November 4. And “Lucia
di Lammermoor,’ with such favorites as Lily Pons, Richard Bonelli and Tito
Schipa, will undoubtedly make the night of November 7 a memorable one.
Among the filmlanders who have made reservations for the season
are Lee Russell and Herbert Marshall, Olivia de Havilland, Irene Dunne,
Helen Gahagan, Myrna Loy, the Paul Munis, Ouida and Basil Rathbone, the
Frank Capras, the Ronnie Colmans, Miliza Korjus and Barbara Stanwyck.
Others on Joan’s cinema committee are Brian Aherne, Barbara
Allen, Vicki Baum, Janet Beecher, Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Leo
Carrillo, Frank Chapman, Charles Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert,
Dolores Del Rio, Cecil B. DeMille, Walt Disney, Deanna Durbin, the Nelson
Eddys, Amelita Galli-Curci, Florence George, Paulette Goddard, Samuel
Goldwyn, Raymond Griffith, Richard Hageman, Louis Hayward, Arthur Hornblow
Jr., Irene Hervey, Doris Kenyon, Ida Koverman, the Otto Krugers, Dorothy
Lamour, William LeBaron, Bob Leonard, Anita Louise, Ernst Lubitsch, and so
on and on.
11/2/1940 LAX CELEBRITIES TO APPEAR HERE FOR BEHYMER
L.E. Behymer, who for the past 57 years has brought the best in
musical talent to Los Angeles, announces that following the regular annual
opera season opening Monday, he will bring the cream of musical celebrities
to be heard on the concert stage this winter.
More than 20 concerts will be given in Los Angeles in the next
few months under his auspices. Artists range from the great Negro baritone,
Paul Robeson, on Thursday evening, November 14, to Jose Iturbi, superb
pianist, on April 22.
Artists on the several courses include Robeson, Bidu Sayso, the
Don Cossack Chorus, Lina Pagilughi, Nelson Eddy, Marian Anderson, Helen
Traubel, Dorothy Maynor, Nino Martini, John Charles Thomas, Heifetz,
Rachmaninoff, Mischa Elman, Artur Rubinstein, Irurbi, Argentinita and her
Spanish dancers, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the San Carlo Opera
Company.
11/9/1940 EHE W.E. Oliver
Added to the headaches of producers in mating screen lovers for
the best box office pull, is the technical problem of matching stars in
color. "Color mating" was brought into the province of Hollywood personality
engineering with Technicolor and other polychromatic processes.
"Color mates" means stars who have basic complexion that
harmonize under the color process. Technicolor makeup is almost transparent
so that the texture of the skin shows through, which makes it clear why boy
and girl must match their epidermis.
MGM's ideal pair of "color mates" are
Jeanette MacDonald and
Nelson Eddy. latest exhibit of their epidemeric harmony will take place
Wednesday on Loew's State and Grauman's Chinese screens in Bitter Sweet, in
complete Technicolor excepting the final spectacle number which has been
given a special color treatment by the same process.
Miss MacDonald's red hair, greenish eyes and light complexion is
in complete accord with Eddy's blonde hair and skin texture.
11/13/1940 DN Bittersweet
By Harry Mines
In the lush and gorgeously photographed Bittersweet, Nelson Eddy
and Jeanette MacDonald find full opportunity to revel in a melodious score.
Noel Coward’s music, including the familiar melodies of “Zigeneur,” “I’ll
See You Again,” “A Little Café in the Square,” “Ladies of the Town” and
“Tokay,” is a delight to listen to but the voices of the singing twosome
lend added luster.
Bittersweet previewed last night at Westwood Village and opening
today at Loew’s State and Grauman’s Chinese theaters, tells a romantic love
story of old Vienna town. English born Sarah Millick runs away from her
stiff Victorian surroundings and a loveless marriage to be with ehr lover
who happens to be a music teacher.
For several years Sarah and Carl are ideally happy in their
attic home. He writes an operetta which he dedicates to his mate. One night
Carl is killed while defending Sarah from the attentions of a drunken
cavalry officer. Sarah, the memories of her departed husband always dear,
sees to it that the operetta is heard by the world.
Not Noel Coward in his usual brittle writing personality, but a
sentimental Noel Coward, Bittersweet is gentle and charming. Coward
embroiders the plot with lovely music and it’s a certainty that the film
version will find equally an enthusiastic a public as when the work was
presented on stage with Evelyn Laye as the tragic Sarah.
Certainly MGM gives it every benefit in the staging. The
technicolor camera provides some eye dazzling moments, especially in the
café scenes and in the finale built around “Zigeneur.”
Both histrionically and vocally Miss MacDonald has the better of
it over Eddy, who is bogged down by a dull role. He should have parts
assuring him of sparkling comedy.
George Sanders as the disagreeable baron, Ian Hunter as a
friendly suitor for Miss MacDonald’s favor, Edward Ashley, as the snobbish
English fiancé, and the comedy of Curt Bois and Felix Bressart are helpful.
W.S. Van Dyke, in addition to pace, rewards Bittersweet with some nice
character touches.
Charlie Chan In the Wax Museum shares the program. It’s another
in the Charlie Chan series.
11/14/1940 HCN Bitter Sweet
By James Francis Crow
Many a devotee of the theater will agree with this reviewer that
the musical play, Bitter Sweet, is the best thing that the prollific Noel
Coward ever wrote.
Now it is to be seen in a new picture version, splendiferous
with Technicolor, at Grauman's Chinese and Loew's State theaters, with
Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the starring roles.
I suppose it is a goof film as films go. The music is fine, and
the whole picture has the look of box office success. But I submit, as a
Bitter Sweet fan, that it is not the old Bitter Sweet at all. The poignancy,
the sentiment, the charm are lost in extravagance of production. The two
stars are only playing themselves again. They do not become identified at
all with Coward's tragic lovers, Sarah Millick and Carl Linden.
The villainy, however, is as villainous as ever, as purveyed by
George Sanders in the role of the Baron von Tranisch, who sabers Carl to
death in a Vienna café, just when Carl's operetta is completed, and just
when happiness seems about to replace sadness in his life with Sarah. Carl's
spirit lives on, the film story tries to persuade us, in his operetta, in
which his beautiful wife goes on to world-wide fame.
Ian Hunter is Lord Shane in this new film version. Edward Ashley
is the self-complacent snob. Felix Bressart and Curt Bols contribute adroit
comedy. Such beauties as Lynne Carver and Diana Lewis are decoratively
present, and there are some good character performances by Fay Holden, Sig
Rumann, and Janet Beecher. W.S. Van Dyke was the director, and Lesser
Samuels the scenarist, Dance director Ernest Matray created the stunningly
pictorial finale, filmed in hues of cream and copper. There are additional
lyrics by Gus Kahn, but Coward's own theme song, "I'll See You Again," is
still be far the loveliest of the musical numbers, presented this time,
under the direction of Herbert Stothart.
The Chinese and State offer a second feature titled Charlie Chan
at the Wax Museum, another in the Chan detective series. This one was
directed by Lynn Shores, with a cast headed by Sidney Toler, Sen Young, C.
Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence, Joan Valerie and Marguerite Chapman.
11/14/1940 EHE Bitter Sweet
An MGM picture, opened November 13 at Loew's State and Grauman's
Chinese. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke. Original play, music and lyrics by Noel
Coward. Screen play by Lesser Samuels. Musical direction by Herbert
Stothart. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, George Sanders, Ian Hunter,
Felix Bressart, Edward Ashley and Lynne Carver.
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum—a 20th Century-Fox picture
starring Sidney Toler, on same program.
By W.E. Oliver
Practically everything dear to the heart of the screen
romanticist is provided patrons of Loew's State and Grauman's Chinese this
week with the screenings of Bitter Sweet.
This MGM production has sumptuous Technicolor and Nelson Eddy
and Jeanette MacDonald, the screen's premiere singing team in a story of
lovers who give all for love, picturesquely backgrounded by Vienna of the
operettas, along with Noel Coward's sentimental music.
As the title of Noel Coward's original operetta indicates the
heart throbs of the pair of lovers are not all joyous. The musician hero is
taken out of the story by the sword thrust of a philandering Austrian
officer but this bitter end to the sweet idyl increases the romantic spell
of the picture by capping its ecstasies with pathos. This tragedy permits
Miss MacDonald to end the picture singing "I'll See You Again," the
loveliest of the Coward melodies, to a closeup of Eddy superimposed on the
Vienna sky with very affecting results on the audience.
PLENTY OF MUSIC
The stars are given plenty of musical footage. Miss MacDonald
has the edge on the singing because of her role, that of an English girl who
eloped from staid London, society with her singing teacher. Most of the
original Coward songs are sung by her, with Eddy often playing the part of a
duetist.
In this film, Miss MacDonald proves again that she can look more
attractive while singing than any one else on the screen and she gives the
character loads of vivaciousness. Eddy is confined to a more sober mein than
usual by his role.
Several excellent supporting performances help get over the
sweeping panorama of gay Viennese life. George Sanders is good as the
officer of the imperial guard. Ian Hunter makes a sympathetic Lord Shayne,
Felix Bressart and Curt Bols create a likeable comedy team as Eddy's pals.
Sig Rumann plays another amusing café man.
Diana Lewis, Edward Ashley, Lynne Carver, Fay Holden and Janet
Beecher capably give stock interpretations of snobbish English society folk.
LAVISH BUILD UP
Noel Coward's familiar happy-sad little saga of a loving pair
who defy convention for love and music and pay the penalty has been given a
lavish build up. Especially breathtaking is the finale number, featuring
Miss MacDonald. Some grand dancing and the most promising use of color art
seen on the screen yet.
Adding to the comedy which director W.S. Van Dyke II has
sprinkled through the production is little Ruth Tobey, whose amusing role as
the market keeper's daughter has won her a role in MGM's The Ziegfeld Girl,
coming up.
Almost any screen fan who can take music, spectacle, and
sentiment in a fairy story vein will enjoy Bitter Sweet. It is charming,
tuneful, heart-throbbing and gay. It looks like box office to me.
For the chill fans, the new program screens Charlie Chan at the
Wax Museum.
11/20/1940 FD Bitter Sweet
Metro 92 minutes
Certain to please MacDonald-Eddy fans; production values are
excellent.
Here are sets and costumes at their best and most eye-filling,
with the familiar Noel Coward music losing none of its popularity and
pleasing to the ear. The picture is in Technicolor and is certain to please
the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans, although the story is rather
too familiar.
The most lavish praise is due the production itself, with the
piece de resistance being kept for the final sequence when brown-and-white
effects are used to highlight a gayly costumed Gypsy dance number. Unusual
photographic effects have been achieved. To Victor Saville goes very
important credit as the producer, while the direction is by W.S. Van Dyke II
is effective as usual.
Jeanette MacDonald is splendid as a gay and vivacious singer,
who elopes to Vienna with her teacher, Nelson Eddy, just when her engagement
is about to be announced to stodgy Edward Ashley, an Englishman. Eddy is at
his best singing the Coward songs with Miss MacDonald, while the drinking
song, "Tokay," is a stirring number. George Sanders, Edward Ashley, Ian
Hunter, Lynne Carver and Charles Judels do good work, while Fred Bessart,
Curt Bols, Dianne Lewis and Herman Bing furnish the comedy.
Lesser Samuels provided the screenplay. To Ernest Matray goes
much praise for his refreshing and ingenious direction of the dances. Oliver
T. Marsh, handling black and white, and Allan T. Davey, Technicolor, share
honors for the splendid photography. Adrian designed the costumes.
Jeanette MacDonald and Eddy, after their marriage find the going
rough financially, and are forced to take work in a café. There Sanders, an
Austrian army officer, tries to force his attentions on Jeanette, and Eddy,
trying to defend her, is slain. Judels, a music publisher, agrees to publish
the operetta Eddy has written.
CAST:
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, George Sanders, Felix Bressart, Lynne Carver, Ian Hunter, Edward Ashley, Diana Lewis, Curt Bols,
Fay Holden, Sig Rumann, Janet Beecher, Charles Judels, Veda Ann Borg, Herman
Bing, Greta Meyer.
CREDITS: Producer, Victor Saville; Director, W.S. Van Dyke II;
Original Play, Lesser Samuels; Musical Director, Herbert Stothart;
Additional lyrics, Gus Kahn; Cameraman, Oliver T. Marsh; Dance Director,
Ernest Matray; Technicolor Photography, Allen Davey; Technicolor Director,
Natalie Kalmus; Editor, Harold F. Kress.
Direction, Excellent. Photography, Splendid.
11/22/1940 LAX Louella O. Parsons
If
Jeanette MacDonald does Smilin' Through for MGM, Robert
Taylor will be her co-star, not Nelson Eddy, but nobody will ever make me
believe that Nelson and Jeanette are permanently parted on the screen. They
are too hot as a box office team.
12/22/1940 LAX
DENNIS MORGAN'S TALENT REWARDED
....
Morgan refuses to admit MGM kept him on salary as a threat to
Nelson Eddy, but he observed one thing about this matter on his long,
well-financed vacation.
"Every time the studio had a quarrel with Eddy they fitted me
for a uniform and gave me tests, but as soon as the fight was over they
forgot all about me."
1/11/1941 MPH What the Picture Did For Me
Bittersweet: Nelson Eddy,
Jeanette MacDonald—Good picture, poor
business. Definitely not a small town picture. Running time, 94 minutes.
Played December 29-30—E.M Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small
Town Patronage.
1/18/1941 MPH What the Picture Did For Me
Bittersweet:
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy—The same fusty
stuff that they have given this pair in their recent pictures. Too highbrow
and for all its lavish production and the two best voices on the screen it
still is too much duet and not enough down to earth quality that Fox got in
Tin Pan Alley and Metro might well look that picture over and see what the
public really will pat you on the back for showing and that don't hurt any.
Moreover, the title meant nothing; the pubic heard of Naughty Marietta, but
not Bittersweet—A.E. Hancock, Columbia Theatre, Columbia City, Ind. General
Patronage.
2/18/1941 HCN NELSON EDDY FILLS AUDITORIUM
By Richard D. Saunders
Nelson Eddy sang to a packed house in the Philharmonic
Auditorium on the Behymer artist series last night, and evoked warm response
from his many admirers. The audience was preponderantly feminine and
movie-going rather than musical. Intelligent selection and use of
unhackneyed items made the program consistently interesting.
Eddy has developed into an actor-singer, rather than a vocalist.
His interpretations were visual, not vocal, but every pantomimic effort
found immediate audience response. His enunciation was superb, with every
syllable clearly articulated to bring every line across the footlights.
VOICE WELL USED
He made intelligent use of a short range and a limited vocal
equipment. The voice was largely enhanced intoning, its carrying powers
nasal rather than resonant, with little dynamic variation and lack of color
only relieved from monotony by clever use of characterization.
Six airs from the Bach “Peasant Cantata” provided a jolly
opening. Two Arensky songs contrasted a tender “Dream Image” with the tragic
import of “The Wolves,” a short story more spoken than sung. There was a
hymn-like, repetitive “Legend of Tscaikovsky,” and the humorous Dargomyzhski
“The Miller,” an old Chaliapin favorite.
A memory lapse in an effective “The Poet’s Mind” was carried off
so deftly as to give an effect of intimacy, and stamped the artist a true
trouper. He used a book, but only to refresh his mind before, not during the
songs.
A long French group was well varied, consisting of “Faites
Silence” from Debussy’s “L’Enfant Prodigue,” Lenormand’s “Dans les Soirs
Gris,” Reynaldo Hahn’s “Fetes Galantes,” a humorous folk song from Brittany,
“Dimanche a l’Aube,” and “Fourdrains climactic “Aus Portes de Seville.”
***
4/19/1941 EHE STARS SPLIT AND STILL WIN FAME
By Jimmy Starr
Teamwork may be essential on the battlefield or to football
teams, but it doesn't always work out in the movies.
Cinema history records a flock of screen teams, members of which
hit the high road to singular success after splitting up and going separate
ways.
Like everything else in topsy-turvy Hollywood, disunion has
resulted in strength.
There was a time when
Jeanette MacDonald could not hit her best
high C unless Nelson Eddy was holding her hand, yet when starred in their
own pictures they still proved their popularity at the box office.
5/1/1941 EHE NELSON EDDY CRASH SUIT JURY SELECTED
Selection of a jury to try the $8723 damage suit brought by
Helen Lynd, screen actress, against singing star Nelson Eddy, started today
in Superior Judge Charles S. Burnell's court.
Miss Lynd, in her suit, charged that she was driving her
automobile at Maple and Carmelita drives in Beverly Hills on Aug. 21, 1940,
when it collided with a car operated by Sydney Franklin Jr., 16, stepson of
Eddy, and she was injured.
The car driven by young Franklin was owned by Eddy, it was
stated, and he was made defendant in the suit, in addition to the youth; his
mother, Mrs. Ann Eddy, and his father, Sidney Franklin Sr., former husband
of Mrs. Eddy.
5/10/1941 EHE PUBLIC LOVES TO PLAY CUPID BY SETTING DUOS
By The Young-Man-About-Hollywood
Once the public has set its seal of approval on a film team, it
screams its head off if that team is split up.
Ordinary marriages may be made in heaven, but film marriages are
made at the boxoffice, with the fans playing the part of a jealous
Cupid.....
Periodically, MGM separates
Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy,
apparently on the theory that the public can get too much of a good thing
and will appreciate this combination more if it isn't overdone. So Nelson
now joins with Rise Stevens of the Metropolitan in The Chocolate Soldier,
and Jeanette will sing alone in Smilin' Through.
6/3/1941 EHE Jimmy Starr
Director Roy Del Ruth starts grinding on The Chocolate Soldier
at MGM on Friday.
6/4/1941 EHE Harrison Carroll
Along with the 1600 members of the regular graduating class,
Nelson Eddy will get a scroll from the University of Southern California on
Saturday.
As a recognition of his work in the films, on the concert stage,
etc., the star will be awarded the coveted Master of Music degree.
The honor comes just as Eddy is about to bring another famous
operetta to the screen—Oscar Straus' The Chocolate Soldier.
6/6/1941 EHE Harrison Carroll
Nelson Eddy sings bass for the first time on the screen in the
"My Lady Sleeps" number of The Chocolate Soldier.
10/24/1941 HCN
Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were in the news today, but
not together.
Apparently they are to be separated in their next assignments
at MGM.
A remake of Smilin' Through, which once starred Norma Shearer
and Fredric March under the Metro banner, is reported being prepared for
Miss MacDonald, with Robert Taylor a candidate for the male lead.
A new version of The Guardsman, in which Alfred Lunt and Lynn
Fontanne made their one and only film appearance, is a possibility for Eddy,
with a feminine star other than Miss MacDonald appearing opposite him.
I Married an Angel, the Rodgers and Hart musical play,
purchased for Eddy and Miss MacDonald, apparently has encountered production
delay at the studio.
Meantime, both singing stars are preparing for concert tours.
Dates already have been fixed for Miss MacDonald's Eastern appearances, and
she will open her tour in Little Rock, Ark., on Nov. 11.
10/25/1941 EHE Harrison Carroll
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
All other honeymoon suites pale by comparison to the one that
MGM has whipped up for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in I Married An
Angel.
This week I watched director Roy Del Ruth rehearse a scene
where the heroine of the humorous fantasy, an angel who falls in love with a
mortal, discovers that marriage has caused her wings to fall off.
It's a bedroom scene and what a bedroom!
White walls are covered with shimmery cellophane. Drapes of
white lace are hung at windows and in doorways. A dressing-table presents a
completely mirrored surface. The headpiece of the bed is a huge bird of
lalique. The bedspread is made of hundreds of white feathers sewed together.
The sheets and pillow cases are of pink silk with lace around the edges.
Eddy is supposed to be shaving in a bathroom of off-stage.
Jeanette, wearing a pink silk night-gown (the bodice is
ornamented with downy feathers) is sitting up in bed talking to him.
Or rather she is trying to sit up.
SLIDES ON SILK SHEETS
"Confound these silk sheets!" she exclaimed, laughing, "they
are so slick that, when I try to sit up, I keep sliding back down into the
bed!"
Jeanette is supposed to be very upset over the loss of her
wings.
In the stage version of I Married An Angel" this was a spicy
moment, but in the picture they play it delicately. Nelson comes out and
takes Jeanette in his arms.
"Don't worry," he comforts her, "it simply means that you know
I am mortal and you can't fly away from me."
Between rehearsals I have a talk with Eddy about the shot. He
says he and Jeanette stood shoulder to shoulder about putting any risque
implications into their scenes.
"We are not devitalizing the story," he says, "but we ARE
trying to get away from too much double meaning dialogue. We don't believe
it would appeal to our following. We feel that people want romance and
sentiment from us. So that's what we are going to give them."
11/1/1941 EHE Strolling Along Hollywood’s Corners
If you like statistics, Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald
have sung 25 duets in eight pictures. Fifteen solos each to their credit,
too.
11/27/1941 HCN James Francis Crow
Nelson Eddy and Rise Stevens have signed to record their songs
from The Chocolate Soldier for a Columbia album.
12/3/1941 EHE Harrison Carroll
Nelson Eddy is off on another concert tour after MGM okays I
Married An Angel. This time, the star will do the West Coast first. His
opening engagement is Feb. 2 in San Diego.
Nelson says he will concentrate on gay music, as he feels the
public needs cheering up.
12/21/1941 LAX Advertisement
Tonight: Nelson Eddy and Ronald Colman in "Juggler of Our
Lady." One of the most beautiful Christmas legends ever told—based on the
story by Anatole France.
12/22/1941 LAX Behind the Make-up
By Harry Crocker
When Nelson Eddy chuckled, "This is the scene in which
Jeanette MacDonald gets the bird," I naturally awaited the take with
interest. The scene was Budapest in the spring. Outside the open window pink
blossoms adorned the trees. Jeanette and Nelson went into a love scene.
Director W.S. Van Dyke signaled. Through the window flew the "bird," a
golden canary which perched on Jeanette's hand.
12/25/1941 LAX Behind the Makeup
By Harry Crocker
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, and the cast and crew of I
Married An Angel are giving director W.S. Van Dyke a weird Christmas
present. One cuff with one cuff link. Yet Woody will probably treasure it
far above many Christmas gifts. It's autographed by all of them and it's a
tribute to the many delightful additions he made to the script "on the
cuff."
12/27/1941 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Nelson Eddy's concert tour in February will take him to many
Army camps.
12/31/1941 HCN EDDY AND STEVENS IN STAR ROLES
Nelson Eddy and lovely Rise Stevens will ring in 1942 at
Grauman's Chinese and Loew's State theaters tonight with the New Year's Eve
opening of MGM's gay romance, The Chocolate Soldier, in which they are
starred.
The amusing marital musical was to begin a New Year's week
engagement at both theaters at 5:30pm.
4/25/1942 HCN Sidney Skolsky
WATCHING THEM MAKE PICTURES
It was Ethel Waters' first day in the picture Cairo. There was
a feeling of sternness on the set. Jeanette MacDonald sat in her portable
dressing room when not wanted for a scene. Robert Young sat in his camp
chair and read. Director Van Dyke hurried about and tended to details.
This was the atmosphere when Ethel Waters was ushered onto the
set to play the role of Miss MacDonald's maid, and also sing a couple of
songs. Ethel Waters was taken over to Miss MacDonald's portable dressing
room and introduced to her.
After the formalities, Ethel Waters said: Miss MacDonald, it
is indeed an honor and a privilege to be in a picture with you. Of all the
singers you are my big favorite, and I never thought I'd be so fortunate to
be in a picture with you. It is indeed an honor and a privilege." Miss
MacDonald smiled, greatly pleased.
Next, Ethel Waters was taken over and introduced to Robert
Young. He put away his paper, stood up, and Ethel Waters said: "Mr. Young,
you don't know how wonderful it is for me to be in a picture with you. Off
all the actors on the screen you are my special favorite. My friends won't
believe it until they see it in the movies. It is indeed an honor and a
privilege to be in a picture with you." Robert Young was all smiles.
"And now," said the executive serving as the guide, "I want
you to meet the director of the picture." He introduced Ethel Waters to
director Van Dyke.
"Mister Van Dyke," said Ethel Waters, but the assistant
interrupted her. "Not Mister Van Dyke," he corrected her. "Major Van Dyke."
"Major Van Dyke," said Ethel Waters, "it is indeed an honor
and a privilege to be working in a picture directed by so fine a man as you.
God bless you—and God bless America."
This was Ethel Waters' first day on the set of Cairo. The
feeling of sternness has now disappeared. Miss MacDonald no longer sits in
her portable dressing room; Mister Young no longer sits and reads a paper,
and director Major Van Dyke is no longer all business.
There is now a fine spirit of comradeship on the set. Everyone
will now tell you it's fun working on the picture.
6/3/1942 HCN Radio
By Zuma Palmer
Nelson Eddy sings a mixed program of patriotic, cowboy and
love songs at 5pm, over KNX. His selections include "Home on the Range,"
"There's Something About a Soldier." "The Brown Bird Singing," "Hopak," and
"How Do I Love Thee," a setting of the famous love sonnet by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning. Nadine Conner will sing, "Sleepy Lagoon" and with Eddy
will be heard in "Why Do I Love You" and "Indian Love Song."
6/10/1942 HCN Radio
By Zuma Palmer
In honor of the U.S. Marine Corps. Nelson Eddy sings The
Marine Hymn at 5pm tonight on KNX. Eddy will also sing Jerico; Oh, That It
Were So; The Cario; and Chumleigh Fair. Nadine Conner, lyric soprano on the
same program, sings Romance, and also joins Eddy in "La Ci Darem La Mano," a
duet from Mozart's Don Giovanni.
*****************************
Posted 9/14/2005
1/30/1935 LAX
In spontaneous and whole-hearted response to a worthy cause,
thousands of persons tonight will join in a general exodus to Warner
Brothers Studio, Sunset Boulevard and Bronson Avenue, and the Palomar,
Second Street and Vermont Avenue, where the two brilliant celebrations
observing President Roosevelt’s birthday will be held.
From the funds raised, 70 percent will be used for local
infantile paralysis relief, the balance is going to national medical
research to combat the disease.
With more than 2000 film notables joyously participating in the
celebration with leaders in the social, business and civic life of the city,
a dinner dance de luxe will be staged at the studio.
Stars of stage, screen and radio will appear in an outstanding
program arranged by Sid Grauman and Norman Manning, liaison officer for the
film producers.
BRILLIANT PROGRAM
In addition to a galaxy of other talent, the program will
include:
Grace Moore, noted singer; Nelson Eddy, baritone; Wallace Beery
and Jackie Cooper; Bing Crosby; Dick Powell, one of the masters of
ceremonies; Bill Robinson, Leo Carrillo, Iris Adrian, the DeMarcos;
Marguerite Cansino, Jane Moore and Billy Revel, Nina Mae McKinney, Mitchell
and Durant, Phil Regan and Harry Seymour, Queenie Smith and Walter “Virginia
Judge” Kelly.
Sharing the honors with Ben Bernie’s orchestra will be Ted Flo
Rito, Jimmie Grier, Frankie Masters and Guy Lombardo, as guest conductors
for the dinner dance.
***************************
Posted 9/11/2005
5/10/1935 LAX NELSON EDDY SINGS HIS WAY INTO
HEARTS OF AUDIENCE
Naughty Marietta
By Louella O. Parsons
Nelson Eddy sang his way right into the hearts of his audience
yesterday with the tuneful Victor Herbert song, “I’m Falling in Love With
Someone,” in Naughty Marietta. Eddy has a voice that is so thrilling you,
you couldn’t ask for anything more. But the boy has personality, too, and he
can act. Naughty Marietta is his picture in that it’s his first starring
role for MGM and he offers something entirely new in the way of a screen
hero.
Don’t take my word for it. Go to the Chinese or Loew’s State
Theater and see Naughty Marietta, a charming, delightful love story laid in
the time when the French girls traveled to New Orleans to marry the
colonists.
Jeanette MacDonald is the co-star with Eddy. No need to speak of
the glorious tones of her voice and of her beauty, which are well known to
her fans. If her acting matched her voice, well, she’d be the greatest thing
in pictures. But unfortunately, she is not a great actress. However, she is
appealing as the Princess who joins the French girl to avoid marrying the
man of her uncle’s choice, and she sings, “Ah Sweet Mystery of Life” as no
one has ever sung it.
Both she and Eddy are fortunate in having W.S. Van Dyke direct
this picture, which has all the Van Dyke touches, the flashing moments of
comedy in a pretentious production. The screen play is by John Lee Mahin,
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and they have done a most effective
job. Herbert Stothart, who did the musical adaptation, can also feel pleased
with herself.
In the supporting cast is Frank Morgan, who plays one of the
typical Morgan roles as the Governor. Elsa Lanchester (in private life Mrs.
Charles Laughton) is very funny as the jealous wife. She has a nice sense of
comedy. Douglas Dumbrille, Joseph Cawthorn, Cecilia Parker, Edward Brophy,
Greta Meyer, Akim Tamiroff and Harold Huber complete the cast.
Naughty Marietta, a light operetta, when all has been said, is a
genuine treat for those who love good music. And when has there been a
modern American composer who equals Victor Herbert in the tuneful quality of
his exquisite melodies.
In addition to the picture there is the Hearst Metrotone News,
showing exclusive views of the Kentucky Derby, and Color Cartoon, Good
Little Monkeys.
*************************
Posted 9/7/2005
2/7/1930 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Hollywood going musical and attending the Gigli concert. Laura LaPlante,
with her dark glasses, with her husband, William Seiter, among those
present; also Norma Talmadge, Mr. and Mrs. John Boles and others enjoying
the Gigli voice. Fannia Marionff and Ruth Chatterton discussing the stage
and recalling old days. Walter Huston joining in.
*************************
Posted 9/6/2005
2/3/1936 HCN Film Flam with Sidney Skolsky
Henry Fonda took
Jeanette MacDonald to Mayfair and the
announcer blasted into the loud speaker, “Mr. Henry Fonda and party.”...A
few minutes later Jeanette MacDonald made another entrance, and through the
loud speaker the announcer said: “Miss Jeanette MacDonald and party.”
2/8/1936 EHE Harrison Carroll
Something else for the gossips to worry about is Jeanette MacDonald’s new
bracelet, which consists of a chain of gold tags, each bearing the name of
some theater or restaurant, with an accompanying date. It has made its
appearance since Bob Ritchie’s departure, so he isn’t the donor. Hollywood’s
first guess is Gene Raymond, although Henry Fonda has been cutting in on
him, of late.
You may contact Mr. Hamann at: