Classic Hollywood Stories, Sharon's Blog

Happy Birthday, Blossom Rock! (Jeanette MacDonald’s sister)

Today marks the 130th birthday of Jeanette MacDonald’s older sister, Blossom Rock. She’s also remembered as Marie Blake, using that stage name with small roles in over 100 movies. Below you can listen to a radio interview she gave in 1965, not long after Jeanette’s passing. It’s wonderful to hear her speaking voice again! By the way, her favorite song…

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Sharon's Blog

Jeanette MacDonald 60th anniversary of her passing…

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Jeanette MacDonald’s death at age 61. Also remembering today Jeanette’s sister Blossom, who ironically died 13 years to the day after Jeanette, at age 82. In a radio interview Blossom gave some months after Jeanette’s death, she sounds loving and sad about her sister but practical and down-to-earth. Which is why she was a…

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Sharon's Blog

Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy new magazine release!

Hello! I wanted to share with you that the long-awaited new issue of the “Mac/Eddy Today” magazine has just been released! Journal #78 features an interview issue, with transcripts of the following: 1) an annotated, little-known 1959 interview with Jeanette MacDonald, in which she speaks candidly on some different topics than other interviews, discussing friendships ranging from Jean Harlow to…

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Classic Hollywood Stories

Phantom of the Opera (1943), 80th anniversary podcast interview

Last night (Friday the 13th) I was a guest on Tommy Kovac’s horror film podcast “Splat From the Past”. We celebrated the 80th anniversary of the release of Nelson Eddy’s starrer “Phantom of the Opera” (1943) featuring Claude Rains as the Phantom. The gorgeous Technicolor film (nominated for two Oscars) had a rocky beginning, first envisioned as a comedy for…

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Sharon's Blog

Wishing You a Happy Holiday!

I’ve always particularly loved this diary entry written by Nelson Eddy’s mother dated “Xmas at Misty – 1945”. (Misty was the nickname for the old remodeled cowboy bunkhouse Nelson rented on the property high up in the LA hills at 1330 Angelo Drive.) “Upon arriving, Blossom (Jeanette’s sister) and I left the packages and took a long mountain ride, leaving…

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