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We like to thank our own Fran for finding this great piece about Jeanette. We also would like to send our deep appreciation to Gladys Hansen of the San Francisco City Museum for use of this article. To explore of the San Francisco City Museum please use this link: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist8/jenmac.html

San Francisco News
March 24, 1942
‘Every Woman Should Do Share to Win War,’ Says Screen Star BY EMILIA HODEL

BY EMILIA HODEL

“Any work these days is war work,” said Jeanette MacDonald, concert artist and Hollywood film star, who will give a concert tomorrow evening at the Opera House to benefit the American Women’s Voluntary Services.

“Even if a woman is at home washing dishes she is in the war! I think every woman should make an extra effort to help in civilian defense now. And I do think that we are all eager to do whatever we can. I only hope, though, that overzealousness, won’t make ‘putterers.’

“I strongly believe in organized work, so that all this willing energy won’t be dissipated.”

Miss MacDonald is a member of the state board of directors of A.W.V.S. and one of the organization’s sponsors in Southern California.

She explained that while she had no preference as to the organization with which she should work, she felt that she could do more to aid the newer organization.

She is giving a second benefit concert in Los Angeles on Friday for A.W.V.S.

“In the war effort people should try to do the work they are best qualified for. I am an entertainer so I try to raise money for the organization by my concert work.”

The famous star has planned a popular concert for San Francisco, since she feels that her audience will prefer light music.

And she explained that she can give only the two California concerts at this time, since she is scheduled to begin a new picture next week.

“It is a spy story with music called 'The Shadow of a Lady,' It is a comedy–we hope,” she laughed.

Miss MacDonald is just as beautiful as she appears in the Technicolor films you have seen. For her interview yesterday in her suite at the Palace Hotel she was wearing an ensemble of black and turquoise with a necklace of red-gold and turquoise. She explained that the dress had originally had green cuffs, but–even as you and I–she had seen the necklace and redesigned the dress herself to match the turquoise beads.

“I’ve just finished a hectic month getting my husband (Gene Raymond) packed and away. He is a lieutenant in the Air Force Combat Command.

“And as soon as I finish this picture I hope to go wherever he is and keep house. After all he is in the Army now and it isn’t a film star’s salary that he is being paid. I will probably cook and wash dishes. And I think I’ll enjoy it very much for a while.”

When Miss MacDonald motored here from Del Monte yesterday, she was met by a convoy of 50 Motor Transport cars and local police who took her on a tour of the city. With her were Mrs. Charles R. Jeffs, state executive director of A.W.V.S., and officers of the local organization.

An article from La Petite Comet * Fall, 1997 * Page 5

We graciously thank Clara Rhoades and Tessa Williams for allowing us to print this from La Petite Comet Fall, 1997. Post on Website June 1, 2010.

Gift from Lee Q.

SO YOU WANT TO SING?

JEANETTE MacDONALD

That goes for 52,000 girls and young women who have written to me in the last year. They ask how to get a start, what to do, and a thousand other questions that are pointed - and a little bit pathetic, too - because I understand.

About all I can offer in reply is the thumbnail story of another girl who wanted to sing. Perhaps it should be done in chronological order of its importance... Stick to your singing.

I don’t mind writing this column one bit, because it warms my heart to have young girls ask me for "advice." It means you have learned the very first principle of a career.

1. Ask - Ask - Ask. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know anything. Find out all you can. First, ask in your neighborhood, town or city for the names of the finest teachers — piano, dramatic, language. You can’t become a singer without instruction. All this talk about a God-given voice is fine listening — but just listen to it — and help it along by intelligent training. Notice, I did not mention a singing coach for a child. My parents started my two sisters, and me, on musical careers when we were youngsters. I was six when I took my first piano lessons. Also, I studied dancing, and singing. But - and this is an important but. • I do not advocate singing lessons for children. A child’s voice is a tender thing. Starting a child too early will prove costly in later years. Singing in early childhood enlarges the muscles of the throat, and obstructs the flow of breath. As I said, I took lessons as a child, even sang as a child. The result was that I had to stop singing for two years. Childhood is the time for piano lessons, elocution lessons, language lessons, dancing lessons. It is the time to learn the rudiments, the fundamentals, of a musical education. Mothers, just remember that your youngster has plenty of time to perform before the Ladies’ Aid meeting. Those large auditoriums are easy places in which to strain tender vocal chords. Take your time. There’s plenty of that. And there’s plenty of time for singing lessons. When you once start, you never stop. I still take lessons. In music, your learning goes on and on and on.

2. Don’t be in a hurry to taste life. A career is a long, hard climb. Travel must wait. So must many girlish pleasures. So must security wait, if it is going to mean even temporary postponement of study. Does that sound cruel? I don’t mean it to be. But I can only speak from my own experiences. I know that a true careerist must discipline herself to a point of cruelty, sometimes. When I determined that I would devote myself completely to the development of my voice, it wasn’t easy to make such a decision -and, more important, it wasn’t easy to keep. But through it, I learned the greatest lesson of all — patience. And you youngsters who address your letters to "Star-Jeanette MacDonald," don’t do too much envying. Recently, I spent the entire time soaked to the skin from 9:00AM until 6:00PM for a scene in SMILIN’ THROUGH. Then I went home and spent an hour vocalizing, then rehearsing the lovely song. "Smilin’ Through." while I sang in the picture, for another hour, and then I collapsed in bed! But, between ourselves, I love every minute of it. Every minute? Well, almost every minute!

Now to come to Blossom’s part in my career — that’s the third lesson.

3. Remember that every friend you make is a stepping stone to your career. By that I don’t mean you "use" them. In no sense of the word. But friendliness. friendship, and friends, are the biggest help any singer can have. Not always materially, but always spiritually. If it had not been for Blossom, who was appearing in a New York revue when father took me, a gangling kid, to visit her backstage, perhaps I wouldn’t be in a position to fret about getting wet on a motion picture sound stage. When the dance director saw me, he asked if I were interested in the stage. I almost bowled him over by the eagerness of my yes". Then, it was Blossom who persuaded Father to let me show what I could do. And it was Blossom who helped convince father that I wasn’t too young to start a career. Did I say that I started as a dancer? I did. It was only when, having tripped onto the stage in one of my early appearances and starting to sing in sheer embarrassment, that dancing was sidetracked. So, here goes rule number...

4. Know a little of everything. This includes at least one language other than English. Because becoming a singer means studying all your life. Music, literature, languages, history, personalities. A singer meets every type of person. In the theater you are thrown with stars of big and little magnitude, with producers who have traveled the world over, with theater managers who, perhaps, know only their own side-street, with men and women of continental culture. On a movie set, it is the same. We had been shooting exactly two weeks on SMILIN’ THROUGH and, in that time, I had talked and shaken hands with representatives from South America’s highest naval circles, posed with Mexico’s leading bullfighter, exchanged views with the writer of America’s best-seller novel, and that talk was one of the most enjoyable I have ever experienced. So singing doesn’t only mean running do-re-mi in excellent voice.

So many of you want to know if being feminine interferes with a career, Of course, it doesn’t. To prove it, I’ll make number...

5. Stay feminine. Honesty makes me admit, however, that there’s no necessity for overdoing it. I should know. I lost an opportunity for the finest role of my beginner‘s career because I went overboard on femininity. It all came about when the woman producing one of Broadway’s most talked—about-to—be—released shows, summoned me for an audition. I was in seventh Heaven, but what woman wants to meet another woman unless she’s wearing a new hat? An hour before my appointment, I scurried to a shop for that hat. It had to be devastating. Well, I bought the hat. Whether it was devastating or not. I’ll never know. I was late for my appointment, the plumb role went to another, and I was left "devastated" by my hat. That little incident taught me something about being feminine at the wrong time. And it brings me to another point made important by your questions. Does marriage interfere with a career?

6. Again, I can only speak from my own experience. I feel that my career has gained from my marriage, and my life is richer with the new interests marriage has given it. It has thrown me a challenge - I want to meet that challenge by making a success of both my marriage and my career. I hope to do so. Mr. Raymond and I have been particularly happy on SMILIN’ THROUGH, as we are teamed on the screen for the first time. It’s lots of fun to play "immortal" love scenes with your husband. And it’s one time you don’t have to prod your "young man" to say pretty nothings. Here goes for number...

7. Love and career go hand—in—hand, providing each of you has the other’s interest at heart.

But there’s one question so many of you don’t mention—your physical well being.

8. Health! None of us can succeed without health. Plenty of exercise, quantities of fresh air, an abundance of sleep, sensible food -- all go into the make-up of a singer. Don’t worry about diet fads. Eat sensibly. When I’m working. I eat as often as five times a day. Because it’s much better to eat lightly often, than heavily once a day. Rich foods and sticky sweets will never spell S I N G E R. Yes, you’re going to have to pass up many pieces of luscious chocolate fudge cake. Very seriously, there’ no "Royal Road to Song." There’s hard work, more work, perseverance, training, more work and health. Also there’s number...

9. Plenty of fun. Be happy to sound happy. Work is necessary, but overwork is fatal. The voice should be fresh and the spirit fresh. And—if I don’t close this column soon, I won’t be fresh for my next scene.

~~THE IDEAL WOMAN (Nov. ‘41) ~~

An article from La Petite Comet * Fall, 1972 * Page 5 "Certain things offend me. Bawdy stories that have no point, familiarities from casual acquaintances. I don' pretend to dislike them in order to set myself up as a holier—than—thou. I just don't like them. And why should I make believe that I do, just for the sake of having someone I don't care a whoop about call me a good sport? That's cowardice." ** * * * * * "If I am any better-looking or more appealing than when I first came to Hollywood, it is because I have tried to make the most of what I have. I have practiced walking up and down before a full-length mirror at home, because the screen showed me that I moved in a jerky fashion. I learned to carry my head at a better angle and I corrected a very bad slouch. I do not think that my personality has changed, except that now I am happier and a little more assured. Any woman or girl can easily do what I have done; I have merely watched for defects and have corrected them." ** * * * * * "I dress much better now than I did, because I have gained a knowledge of what I should and should not wear. Close-ups have a way of showing what is wrong with clothes. I have learned to select every article of clothing carefully, because it is good business for an actress to be properly and effectively gowned and groomed. The spiritual bounty that comes from being well-dressed more than offsets any lack of material food." ** * * * * * "I've always believed that the two essentials for creating an illusion of beauty are poise and style - when a woman possesses them, she has more than beauty. The woman who has poise, who is at ease, who is not self-conscious, is always charming, because in forgetting bodily self she gives her mind and spirit an opportunity to express themselves. Style does to the outer woman what poise does for the inner self. Travel has helped me to acquire what poise I have. My trip to France did a great deal toward giving me self-confidence; I was given quite an ovation over there." ** * * * * * "I have no inhibitions about smoking or drinking, but I think too much of my voice to place it in jeopardy. I have spent many good years in training and cultivating it, and I would be foolish to do anything which might impair or ruin it." ** * * * * * "Let's take a look at the women we know who are staying young despite their years ... you think of everyone you know, and I'll do the same. I'll bet our lists have one thing in common. Every young-looking woman has something to do - a business, a career, home-making, or a profession. Well, the managing of a home can be a profession in itself. This gives us the first rule for youth. Be active! Whatever you do, whether it's singing, writing, managing a home, or keeping books in an office, work at it -- hard."...."Avoid boredom, which is certainly another highly important rule for youth. For a bored woman cannot possibly be a young woman, no matter how young she is in years" ...

"Another important rule - map out your days. Don't waste time over bridge tables, unless that is the form of relaxation your nature craves. Don' t dawdle over unimportant things, ruining your day. I know girls who are married and are still staying young in spite of the demands of their homes, their husbands, their growing children. They're staying young because they are clever-smart enough to schedule their lives, to do the things they enjoy, and to keep on being the girls their husbands fell in love with. That's why I say that clever women don't grow old, not in this modern world. There isn't time if you're busy.

People wonder, sometimes, why I bother to take so many lessons when I might `get by' on the things I know now. Without admitting that I would `get by,' I tell them that I enjoy learning new things. Sometimes the daily French lesson itself is tedious, but I'm amply repaid when I visit France and can do things and appreciate things that would be impossible for me if I didn't speak French." ** * * * * * "The motive of the woman of today seems to be a brisk efficiency in experiencing everything. She does not want to share a man's freedom; she wants a freedom of her own. But I cannot help feeling that woman is on the threshold of the realization that mere reckless `freedom' is the last thing in the world that-will bring her happiness, or set her free from the persistent clamoring of her woman's soul for the things which nature has made stronger than herself - her instincts for wifehood and home-making." ... "I'd rather be loved, and to love, than to have all this new freedom. I believe that any true woman would. Woman, like man, can only be free when she follows her finest and strongest instincts. To have these smothered because of the faddish frenzy of the moment is ludicrous." ** * * * * * "Marriage is important. Approach it with intelligence; don't leave things to circumstance or to luck. Enter into marriage with a sensitive understanding of the complexities of emotion, which is the basis for any good marriage." ... "Quarrels between married folk are not always to be deplored; for sometimes they serve to clear the air. Sometimes, also, they can be actually funny; that's why a mutual sense of humor is so important." ... "It is also important never to forget that you are married; and that cheapening flirtations, while tending to reassure you as to your own attractiveness, tend, also, to label you as lacking in good taste. Good taste, or lack of it, plays an important part in the respect you command from a husband." ...

"Don't risk the real world for the superficial world of your career. Women are fools who sacrifice their essential femininity, their greatest weapon, to wander defenseless into a man's worlds." ... "Woman's next greatest weapon is brains. Brains, not beauty. I've known beauties without brains who never got to first base. Take the Ziegfeld showgirls, loveliest in the world. Those who had brains survived. And where are the rest of them? Intelligence and spirit give a deep beauty far greater than anything you can get from a perfect nose, or a pair of huge eyes - a beauty that doesn't pall." ** * * * * * "Seriously, I believe that if a man is worth marrying, he is worth keeping happy. You may say it should work the other way around, too. I agree. And in any well—adjusted marriage, I'm sure that it does. But I'm perfectly willing to believe that the responsibility for happiness in marriage lies largely in the woman's hands. In a man's world, that's a woman's job - and none better!" ... "In love, in fidelity, in qualities of the spirit, men need to look up to women, and this is a need women should not take lightly. Nothing can embitter a man more cruelly than to be disillusioned in the woman he loves." ... "Marriage is not only that deep sense of rightness you get in belonging together, it's a hundred little things that make up your days. And life is made up of days.".....