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 give
