Sharon’s Blog

Girl was the fourth MacDonald/Eddy team movie and the one most affected by what was happening in their personal lives. It was filmed after Jeanette’s marriage to Gene Raymond and she and Nelson weren’t speaking off-screen. Nelson was drinking and Jeanette would prove too emotional to sing the obligatory love duet with him under a tree, so unbelievably – it was scrapped!

This 2-hour film had to be very craftily edited. In the first hour, for example, Jeanette and Nelson are in the same shots together, actually interacting in the same frame, for a total of about 9 minutes. In the second hour, it’s a total of about 17 minutes. That’s only about 22 minutes total for the entire movie! And yet it works, for the most part, because when they are on-screen together, the emotions run high, especially in the “Obey Your Heart” number.

You can see for yourself that Nelson is suddenly sober and focused in their scenes together, and sexually suggestive in his songs to her, especially the jaw-dropping “Obey Your Heart.” Whereas Jeanette is instead busy “acting” her role of innocent Miss Cowgirl. She’s a wonderful actress and comedienne but the strain shows on her face in the serious scenes with Nelson. Remember we’ve seen photographic evidence that she wept too while filming “Will You Remember” in Maytime but during that scene it was Nelson who lost it, unable to sing that song without focusing on the tree behind her. In Girl, Jeanette’s professionalism finally fails her during “Obey Your Heart.” Once again, the blur of real life ironically mingled into what was happening on-screen. This is why, I was told, the crew finally knew for certain that Jeanette’s pretense of an idyllic marriage to Gene Raymond was a sham. And from the unpublished memoirs of Nelson’s mother, we learn that Nelson came to realize this as well and began working to win her back. But about the only place where he could get her “alone”, where she couldn’t avoid him and his insistent, erotically caressing and making love to her fingers, was while being filmed. So all this went down with the director and cameramen just a few feet away, watching her inner struggle and Nelson’s frustrated passion.

Girl was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and at least began in color, which was also scrapped because of the issues noted above. This was going to be an expensive shoot and a troubled shoot; why “waste” the color when their devoted fans would show up anyway at the box office.

In the mid 1970s I met an elderly man who had worked at Technicolor in the 1930s. Long retired, he had an amazing collection of color clips, films, scrapbooks and written records from Technicolor. He pulled out a somewhat faded 35mm film strip of several frames from the scene pictured above. He kindly cut off one frame and gave it to me along with another frame from Jeanette singing “Ave Maria” in the church choir scene as well as color portraits (now also faded) and glass slides of Jeanette and Nelson together from Girl plus a candid shot of her on the set with her makeup kit, also in color. In other words, this was once again intended to be the first MacDonald/Eddy (and MGM) film in three-strip Technicolor. But no, they had to wait until their next film, Sweethearts.

As with Rose-Marie, once the footage was processed in black-and-white, suddenly Nelson’s makeup looked ludicrous in some scenes, even to having two sets of eyebrows, like in this closeup below. Between the (unnecessary) wig they slapped on him, the painted-on eyebrows and lipstick, one can only deduce that Mayer still considered Nelson a troublemaker and was once again making an effort to subtly bring him down in popularity.

This was further substantiated by a new demeaning nickname for Nelson, “the singing capon,” a rumor that was spread by, of all people, Ray Bolger. Why Bolger would be prompted to promote that falsehood is unknown; I was told by 3 people that this was on Mayer’s orders. It’s puzzling because Nelson and Ray Bolger had just filmed Rosalie together and gotten along fine. Bolger would also be featured in Nelson’s next film, Sweethearts. Perhaps there was some hostility at this point in time because Ray Bolger originally had a major role in The Girl of the Golden West, as seen here with Jeanette.

Note that the photo above is in a sepia tone rather than regular black-and-white. When the color was scrapped, the 35mm studio prints of Girl were released instead in this sepia tint. I saw a 35mm print of it in a theater in sepia in the 1970s.

Ray Bolger was completely cut out of the final movie and I was told years ago that he somehow blamed Nelson in some manner. Another photo shows Bolger in a dance number:

At any rate, it was Buddy Ebsen who now received fifth billing and was the featured comedian:

And now to the film itself. It opens with a 14 minute prologue showing Jeanette and Nelson’s characters as children. This was actually filmed at the tail end of production, when Nelson was headed off on another smash hit concert tour. Bill Cody Jr. played the young Nelson, whose character is mentored by Noah Berry Sr, the older brother of movie star Wallace Beery.

Young Jeanette is played by Jeanne Ellis, shown here with H.B. Warner, portraying Father Sienna.

Warner was a fine English actor who starred in many silent films such as portraying Jesus in The King of Kings (1927) and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Lost Horizon (1937). In both Girl and New Moon (1940) he played a priest and also was memorable in Nelson’s Let Freedom Ring (1939). Sadly, in real life he was an alcoholic; whether because of ill health or personal demons, the MGM folks I interviewed didn’t seem to know why. But all spoke with great respect of his power to steal scenes with his mere presence.

14:30. For the first time, Nelson is the first one to appear on-screen! (Thus shutting down the then-haters who had long blamed Jeanette for “hogging” their films, as if it was her fault.) Nelson and his sidekick Leo Carillo burst in the scene with the necessary marching song, here being “Soldiers or Fortune”.

The problem was, with all of them waving one arm in the air as they sang, Nelson who was a bit “under the weather”, lost his balance and fell off his horse. He was pulled to safety by Leo Carrillo, seen here on Nelson’s right.

18:00. Nelson with Priscilla Lawson, his love interest in the film before his character meets Jeanette. Off-screen Nelson flaunted his brief affair with Lawson on the set and particularly in front of Jeanette. L.B. Mayer certainly knew what he was talking about when he said, “All actors are children.”

Lawson had a short-lived film career and was most famous for playing Princes Aura in the original Flash Gordon series. She died an early death at age 44, also an alcoholic.

19:00. Jeanette finally shows up.

And in closeups we see the strain on her face. Some folks feel she over-acted in this role; if so perhaps it was an effort to channel her energies away from her personal feelings.

22:00. Buddy Ebsen proves to be a wonderful choice for Jeanette’s character to bounce off of; most of the winsome charm of this movie is in their scenes together.

26:00. Walter Pidgeon shows up as the sheriff rather unconvincingly wooing Jeanette’s character. Pidgeon seems professional but a bit bland in his role; when I went to his house to interview him in his last years, he didn’t even remember making a film with Jeanette and Nelson.

34:00. A piano is delivered to the Polka saloon so the action can stop and Jeanette can sing Franz Liszt’s “Liebestraum” (Dream of Love). Obviously, Jeanette is exquisite and so expressive in her acting while singing that fans sometimes wait for the plot to move along just to get to the songs. Still, if one looks closely, one can see a stray tear on her face while her virginal and nearly illiterate character is wistfully singing about love.

40:00. At last! The scene begins in which the two stars will actually be in a shot together and one minute later, 41 minutes into this movie, Nelson confronts Jeanette as a bandit and she smacks him across the face. This scene goes on for 3 minutes.

45:00. Jeanette goes to Father Sienna’s church in Monterrey where she can next sing “Ave Maria.”

49:00. During Jeanette’s song, Nelson sneaks in to listen to her and drop some money anonymously in a box for Father Sienna’s church (he’s a kind of Robin Hood). But make no mistake about it, the two actors are not in the same shot, maybe not even forced to be on the set at the same time. The editing tricks the viewer into make it seem so, thus giving the story continuity.

50:00. The huge Mariachi number at the governor’s “rancho” is set up and in preparation this is where Jeanette and Nelson have a major scene together. But first Jeanette has an adorable scene with Father Sienna in which she tries to learn manners and admits “I only had about $32 of education.”

52:00. Nelson shows up at the celebration in disguise as Lieutenant Johnson and for the first time, his focus as an actor seems razor sharp.

53:00. They have a scene together! Nelson describes a choice of 3 carriages they can take. But once in the carriage while MGM dancers/singers are performing, Nelson stands up waving his arms and bouncing along with them, his gait so loose-limbed that it’s obvious he’s had a few drinks is to get through the scene, which took all of 3 minutes.

Mayer was so fed up with Nelson’s behavior that he flew Nelson’s estranged father out from the east coast to try and talk some sense into him. As explained in my book Sweethearts, this “family reunion” failed miserably. Nelson’s father had been a drunk and deadbeat father, was physically abusive to young Nelson and his mother both before dumping them and walking out of their lives when Nelson was 14. Nelson had to drop out of school and go to work to help support his mother, who basically home-schooled the rest of his education. Now Nelson was forced to look civil and pose for photos with his dad on the set but privately fumed about Mayer: “He’s lucky I’m here at all,” and “What are you going to do next, spank me?”

57:00. Nelson and Jeanette arrive at Cypress Point in Monterey where it’s time for him to sing “Señorita” under the tree. This one is pretty G-rated; Jeanette stays in character for the song, playing coy. Nelson does start up with the finger caressing, however.

59:00. Nelson sings “you won’t love me a little so why should I love only you…” and now snakes his arm up along hers. She looks quickly at him and then down.

He quickly kisses her but she smacks him in the face and that ends that. We’re now up to one hour and they’ve had, as stated previously, about 9 minutes of actual togetherness on-screen.

1:00. The big Mariachi number starts, over 3 minutes of expertly choreographed MGM singing and dancing from everyone but the stars.

1:04. Nelson lassos Jeanette around the waist; they dance and in this scene they are themselves. Adoring Nelson is eating her up with his eyes and she responds in kind. Candid photos from this scene show them laughing and relaxed, with eyes only for each other, probably the only scene like this except for the last shot of the film.

1:04: They sing a few measures of a duet before Nelson runs off.

1:05. Now we go off to another long stretch without the two of them together. Actually a full 10 minutes as the sheriff plots to nab the bandit Ramirez, Nelson and Jeanette separately talk about their falling in love with Leo Carrillo and Buddy Ebsen. Buddy sings “The West Ain’t Wild Anymore.” Nelson wanders into the Polka, scoping it out to rob it before realizing Jeanette owns it.

1:16. Nelson and Jeanette speak to each other.

And when they walk out of the saloon, Nelson’s back to “beaming like a headlight.”

1:22. They sit under the tree where Nelson sings “Obey Your Heart” and Jeanette’s “acting” crumbles. Nelson is busy stroking between her fingers and up and down her thumb. Before they can kiss and reprise the duet (that couldn’t be filmed), Buddy Ebsen conveniently shows up and the scene ends. At the end of this article is a link to get a more detailed analysis of what to watch for in this scene as well as closeup footage of this and the actual pre-recorded duet as it was meant to be sung.

1:31. Nelson comes to her cabin for supper; they realize they have known each other since the childhood early sequence; Nelson caresses her fingers again…

1:33…. and they kiss. By this time in real life Nelson was grilling Jeanette repeatedly as to whether she had “learned to love Gene” or whether she was happy. He mentions to his mother that he questioned Jeanette again when he went to her dressing room to study their dialogue together. It was all kept very proper and professional, all they did was run their lines. But Jeanette’s hesitation in assuring him all was well in her marriage gave him hope.

I’m not sure whether it was this kiss or perhaps one at the end of the film where the following happened, as quoted from Sweethearts:

Nelson noted in his diary: “My baby’s arms were softly tender in our love scene today. I feel very badly tonight.”

And another quote from a report to his mother:

“When I kissed her, believe me, it was no make believe. My heart was torn with despair. When it was over, she turned her head quickly away from the camera and I saw tears on her face. Somehow they maddened me. I wanted the right to gather her close and make her say she loved me.” Instead he sniped, “Weep not, my dear. It was only acting.” Jeanette looked at him for a moment then stomped off to her dressing room, refusing to open the door for over two hours.

And another quote:

“I can’t trust myself to be alone with her. It was all I could do not to jump her.”

1:41. Nelson has left the cabin, been shot, and staggers back. Jeanette hides him from the sheriff. But a few dripping drops of blood gives away his hiding place and Jeanette has to help lug him back down where he collapses on the floor. As it had happened in their previous films, her closeness visibly aroused him.

In one of the still photos, we see Jeanette tending to him… and him still standing at attention despite his character supposedly being near death.

But this particular shot has been cut from the scene! Instead we see Jeanette tenderly ministering to Nelson only up to this point…

…and the rest of the shot showing Nelson’s problem is now only with Walter Pidgeon kneeling next to Nelson. Guess it was just a little too suggestive that Nelson might be aroused by Jeanette!?!

1:49. Jeanette agrees to marry the sheriff in exchange for saving Nelson’s life. They’re not in anymore scenes together until the end of the film.

1:59. Jeanette and Nelson reunite in Father Sienna’s garden and kiss. The sheriff does the noble thing and lets them have a happy ending. But once again, we don’t really see much of the kiss or that scene, only hear their talking as the camera is on Walter Pidgeon and H.B. Warner listening. What are we missing visually?

There is again a still taken that gives us a glimpse although perhaps we’ll never fully know what was shot and why the footage wasn’t used.

2:00. They ride happily off into the sunset, his arm firmly around her waist; she’s holding his hand, covering it with her other hand so the audience doesn’t notice the interesting tug-of-war with a finger before they kiss again as the film ends.

In mid January 1938, Jeanette decided her marriage to Gene Raymond was over. She filed for a California divorce and she and Nelson moved into into a tiny, non-movie star residence in Burbank, not far from Warner Bros. studio. This was kept a secret for the time being for fear of studio interference. This divorce was never finalized but that’s another story and covered in the book Sweethearts.

Here is the link to both the “Obey Your Heart” study and footage as well as the lost duet itself, which was never commercially recorded or released as a duet.

© 2018 by Sharon Rich, all rights reserved. The above quotes and book passages are from Sweethearts (© 1994, 2001, 2014 by Sharon Rich) also available at Amazon as a Kindle or softcover.

Maytime was the third MacDonald/Eddy movie together. Originally, it was to be MGM’s first Technicolor film with Jeanette, Nelson, Paul Lukas and Frank Morgan in the cast. That it was shot for color release was verified by one of the makeup men on the shoot, Fred Phillips. (We can also see in the photos of Nelson from this production that his makeup is excessive, more suitable for color.) Edmund Goulding (Dark Victory) was director.

A color shot of the two stars was published in a magazine; don’t have it at hand right now but the production shut down with the death of producer Irving Thalberg. The script was completely re-written, a new supporting cast chosen and filming was now for black-and-white release (since so much money had been spent and wasted on the first version). Scrapped also was an extensive opera sequence from Tosca.

On the personal front, Jeanette and Nelson had reunited and were hot and heavy as shown here in May 1936, on a date at a live Civic Opera performance of the original operetta Maytime.

But in August they had a falling out and shortly after, her mother announced her engagement to Gene Raymond. Such were the circumstances when the first Maytime began shooting. It would appear that at this point, Nelson didn’t seriously believe that Jeanette would go through with a marriage to Gene Raymond. With the filming of the Maytime we know today, the filming was influenced as always with the off-screen emotional ups and downs.

There were some lighthearted moments in the Maytime set such as Nelson goofing around with John Barrymore or “threatening” Robert Montgomery who seems to be paying too much attention to Jeanette.

As he did with Rose-Marie, Herbert Stothart did an amazing job of weaving his film score through the Sigmund Romberg operetta music.

In the opening scenes, we are in “present day” May Day with old Jeanette telling her story in flashback. The studio had scrapped the plans for Technicolor but in the original theater release, these May Day scenes and the flashback May Day scenes with Nelson were tinted in pink.

Jeanette’s portrayal of elderly Marcia Mornay was subtle and spot on. Like Spender Tracy in the 1941 Jekyll and Hyde, Jeanette depended less on special effects and makeup and more on pure acting and truth pulled from the heart.

8:00. In the scene below, listen for the opening measures of the song “Farewell to Dreams” which was cut out from this version of Maytime. But Nelson and Jeanette recorded it as a record and Nelson later told a group of vocal students that this song was his favorite recording with Jeanette. The lyrics, like Maytime in general, were an eerie foretelling of what would happen in real life.

9:00. We first hear Nelson’s voice and Jeanette’s reaction to it.

14:25. We flashback to young, beautiful, naive and ambitious Jeanette stepping out of her carriage.

30:00. John Barrymore’ character, Jeanette’s older mentor, proposes marriage and she accepts out of a sense of duty even though she doesn’t love him. Barrymore intentionally chewed garlic in in this scene and you can see Jeanette instinctively move back ever so slightly but never breaks character. (Barrymore was not impressed with Jeanette’s engagement to Gene Raymond; most of the crew’s sympathies were with Nelson.) Barrymore by this time was also having trouble remembering lines so cue cards were used.

35:00. Our first glimpse of Nelson singing in a nightclub.

36:00. His first encounter with Jeanette. Nelson’s boyish personality here is very much what he was like in person at this time, gawky, funny and an open book in regards to his feelings.

54:00. Nelson gazing at Jeanette and scoping her out in the doorway. Again, a trait from real life although a candid from this scene shows them fairly hostile. In real life they swung from one extreme to the other.

55:00. Some great comedy between Nelson and Herman Bing who played Nelson’s voice teacher. Bing was a German actor who appeared in several of their films and had started his career as production chief in German films. He came to America as an assistant director for F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, Sunrise, etc.) Tragically, after World War II, bumbling Germans were no longer considered funny and this talented comedian/filmmaker took his own life.

56:00. “Virginia ham served in saucers!” After Herman Bing toasts them, Nelson and Jeanette crack up just before the scene cut.

58:00. “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” This duet was meant to be sensual and for Nelson to move the romance along. Still, the two stars run with it with their own give and take. And as Merv Griffin said, it was obvious there was something going on with them because they “sang so close together.”

58:00. And there was…as the May Day scene begins. Here is Nelson grabbing Jeanette’s breast as he helps her out of the carriage.

Below they are talking during part of this dance but we don’t hear what they’re saying. They seem to be goofing off a bit here…and Nelson is again “beaming like a headlight” (his mother’s term).

1:20. The obligatory love song sung under a tree. In Maytime it’s “Will You Remember.” And while it was a song to remember for viewers, Nelson described a real-life love scene under this tree after hours in which “she seduced me!” Not that it took much doing but the next morning they showed up together on set all smiles and the crew wondered how exactly this was supposed to work with her fiancé Gene Raymond who, by the way, was barred from the set along with Jeanette’s mother, both of whom “upset” the two stars.

The filming of this scene proved to be traumatic for Nelson as Jeanette could not call off her engagement to Gene. So he alternates being loving and tender…and fighting back tears.

The fact that they had an open-mouth kiss as evidenced by a slight stream of saliva shocked some viewers.

Nelson reaching for her breast again…

He couldn’t get through the song “Will You Remember” so director Robert Z. Leonard told him to sing to the tree behind her, don’t look at her. Below we see his eyes well up…

…and Jeanette tears up as well.

Nelson stares at the tree though he does steal a few looks at her. You can also see him blinking rapidly when the camera is focused on her singing back to him.

One might think this hand kissing and caressing was “acting” but 15 years later when both were overwhelmed with emotion on the TV show This is Your Life, Nelson does exactly the same thing. Their unconscious public display of love is one reason Hollywood knew of their romance and protected it once they were trapped in marriages to others. Maytime…

…and This is Your Life.

Nelson is much more aggressive in this kissing scene than in their previous two movies. That she could love him and agree to marry someone else created a terrible insecurity and sadness in Nelson. If you read the Rose-Marie live blogging article, you will have seen the telegram she sent her fiancé Gene commenting that she LIKED him…no mention of love.

1:28: The wonderful montage scene created by Slavko Vorkapich, which brilliantly moves along the passage of years and loneliness.

Jeanette’s medley of operatic tunes may not be realistic as her natural repertoire but it was beautifully entwined plus shows the jealous possessiveness of John Barrymore’s character and Jeanette’s longing for Nelson as she ages.

1:31. Montage ends with arrival back in the US.

1:35. Barrymore confronting Jeanette on the fact that he knows in all their years together he has never truly possessed her emotionally. Jeanette’s acting in this scene is haunting and true.

1:39. The lovers finally meet again as rehearsals for “Czaritza” (an invented opera based on Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony) begins, sung in French.

The plot has Jeanette as a Russian princess turned Queen after Nelson’s character kills the oppressive Czar, her father. Nelson is her lover but she is forced to sign his death warrant.

Nelson is commanding and in his element in this operatic sequence. For the first time in films we experience him as opera audiences saw him in the 1920s when he became a star from his very first Aida performance.

The two sing together with such unity and fluidity of movement and voices. They wanted to film operas together some day and it is our loss that this never happened. They did however record operatic duets and trios on Nelson’s home recording equipment; if only some of them had survived!

Nelson in tears again. As he later said, he felt this movie was foretelling how their lives would turn out.

More tears…Jeanette cried too and the filming of this scene dragged out due to their emotional response. This movie is best viewed in a 35mm print where the glistening tears are clearly visible.

“Czaritza” is one of the most gripping 10 minutes of film ever captured…on so many levels.

Just before a quick cut, Jeanette sags into Nelson’s arms.

For those who have never seen this film, I will not spoil the ending. When screened in theaters today, there is usually a group gasp of disbelief at the plot twist.

Maytime was Jeanette’s favorite of all her films and rightly so; her performance was worthy of an Oscar. She did win a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress and was featured on their magazine cover.

The New York Times called Maytime “a film to treasure” and added: “The screen can do no wrong while these two are singing.”

Finally, one of my favorite shots of them ever. On the Maytime set, she’s sitting on his lap, he has one arm around her and with the other she is caressing his thumb. This is not a scene; this a serene moment where they are snuggled together; both look happy and at peace with the world. How rare was that?

© 2018 by Sharon Rich, all rights reserved. The above quotes and book passages are from Sweethearts (© 1994, 2001, 2014 by Sharon Rich) also available at Amazon as a Kindle or softcover.

Rose-Marie was the second Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy film and it is probably still to this day their most famous. You may speak to someone who isn’t familiar with them but if you mention it’s the movie about a Mountie and they sing “When I’m calling you-oo-oo-oo,” the person tends to say: “Ah, yes, I’ve heard of that.” For recent generations, it’s probably more that the film or “Indian Love Call” was endlessly spoofed in the decades since but still, it remains in the public consciousness whether you’re an old movie buff or not.

Rose-Marie was also perhaps the most vital film personally for Jeanette and Nelson because it was on location at Lake Tahoe where Nelson proposed to Jeanette and she accepted. They exchanged private marriage vows and from then on considered themselves married “by God’s law.” That this didn’t translate into a legally accepted U.S. marriage “by man’s law” is another story. For decades they referred to such other as “my husband” and “my wife” both in letters and sometimes even in public. Over many years they would try to return to Tahoe for “their anniversary” in the fall.

Most candids of Nelson and Jeanette together on this film show his adoration of her whether attentively holding her makeup kit for her or eating her up with his gaze.

If you have read my book Sweethearts you know that Chapter One opens with Nelson’s sexually explicit diary entry of their activities on their 1943 trip to Tahoe.

Five years later, in 1948, Jeanette noted the date of their Tahoe trip in her desk diary as September 6. The previous day, she and husband Gene Raymond hosted a party for singer Eleanor Steber (pictured below). Nelson and his wife Ann attended and all looked very civilized.

Jeanette smiled happily in photos snuggled into Nelson’s chest with his arm around her even while posing with their spouses on his other side. Next day Jeanette and Nelson hightailed it out of town for Tahoe, as seen below.

The very year after Rose-Marie filmed, Jeanette made a trip back to Tahoe, presumably for a hopeful if brief reconciliation with Nelson. We can rule out her manager and ex-love Bob Ritchie being there with her, as his best friend Steve Kroeger later updated Ritchie by letter as to Jeanette’s visit with him shortly after, describing her tears and unhappiness at her new engagement to Gene Raymond. (All this is detailed in my book.) We can rule out her new fiancé Gene Raymond being there with her as the telegram below was sent to Gene Raymond from Chambers Lodge (Jeanette and Nelson’s favorite hideout at Tahoe) to Gene in Beverly Hills.

What’s most shocking about the telegram above is that Jeanette has been engaged to marry Gene Raymond since August 20, 1936. This telegram is dated September 12 and Jeanette writes: “I like you more and more.” She LIKES him?

To understand the emotional importance of Rose-Marie and Lake Tahoe in their lives, read through to the very bottom of this article and prepare to be stunned.

Now to the film itself with a screen team that was box office magic!

Allan Jones, who was Jeanette’s singing partner in the opera scenes, received 4th billing while a young Jimmy Stewart had 5th billing as Jeanette’s wayward brother.

A common misconception is that Rudolf Friml was the sole composer of this operetta. (Only the musical score was used; the story was re-written for Jeanette and Nelson.) I spent many hours visiting with Herbert Stothart, Jr., listening to every record he had of his dad’s film scores. They were stored in his garage and getting moldy. (They were later packed up and donated to a university.) Herb Jr told me how angry his father was that he did not receive equal fame for co-writing the score to the operetta Rose-Marie…even though he also scored the movie version as well.

Note in the cast list below: David Niven has a walk-on role but is listed as David Nivens.

The movie opens with Jeanette as a gorgeous, ethereal opera singer in Romeo et Juliette who makes opera look amazing. The result of her performance? A whole generation of aspiring singers went off to train in opera because Jeanette made it look so natural and “cool”. The following year, Nelson (the actual opera singer of the two at that time) cemented this craze for opera when they dueted in Maytime.

10:00. Here is David Niven in his brief role as “Teddy,” Jeanette’s spurned suitor.

26:00. Nelson finally makes his appearance. After amazing actual footage of real Mounties in Canada, Nelson sings against film footage of Mounties in the background. The scene looks cheap and this was just the first attempt to subtly ridicule Nelson in the film (not by the director but by studio orders).

In Sweethearts I describe the attempts of makeup men Bill Tuttle and Fred Phillips (both who then worked under the credited makeup man Jack Dawn) to overdo Nelson’s makeup in a ridiculous manner. In a very lengthy interview with Phillips, he told me that yes, Jeanette was promised MGM’s first color film and it was originally to be Rose-Marie. He verified that Mayer became furious with Nelson (for reasons explained below) and decided to “sabotage” Nelson even after the Technicolor plan was dropped. Phillips, probably most famous for later inventing Spock’s ears in Star Trek, told me:

“They did decide against color….the studio would never spend money to re-shoot footage…we were the best in the business. You think we didn’t know our job or made him (Nelson) look bad on purpose? You did what you were told and didn’t ask questions.”

Below, Fred Phillips with Leonard Nimoy.

35:00. One of the most amusing scenes in Rose-Marie was Jeanette with Gilda Gray. Director Woody Van Dyke used a lot of scruffy, comedic bit players to add authenticity and comedy to the scene.

57:00. The Indian maiden dancing below is actually Mary Anita Loos, niece of screenwriter Anita Loos (San Francisco, Saratoga, The Women, I Married an Angel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, etc.). When I interviewed Mary Loos, she confessed that she lied about being an Indian and didn’t know how to dance when she landed this role. Mary was the one, when things went south with Nelson, who delivered letters from Gene Raymond to Jeanette.

59:00. Curious moment: What is behind their looks and the smug lilt in their voices as Jeanette and Nelson discuss “getting their man”? There’s something going on here…

1:05. Blooper: the hotel manager Robert Greig is wearing one sleeping gown before Nelson walks into Jeanette’s room…and a different gown once they’re inside!

1:08. Jeanette’s “Three Blind Mice” is charming but according to Fred Phillips and others, there was supposed to be an “echo song” between Jeanette and Nelson that was cut due to the efforts to minimalize Nelson’s presence in the film.

1:09.The closeups of Jeanette floundering in the water were shot in the studio water tank. The long shots of Nelson saving Jeanette were filmed with their stunt doubles.

For those familiar with how film scoring works, the way Herbert Stothart weaves the various theme melodies throughout this particular scene and a few others is nothing short of brilliant. His fluidity in moving forward the story and emotions in all his films has been highly underrated in Hollywood history. Stothart went in to win an Oscar for his original score for The Wizard of Oz.

1:10. It’s hard to see unless you’re watching a sharp 35mm print but sprinkles of water fly off Jeanette’s hair as she shakes her head which makes Nelson look even more stoic for not reacting.

Their chemistry together in these outdoor scenes is very noticeable. Some have accused Nelson of being “wooden” in this film but he himself explained that the uniform was very rigid and he was forced to wear the Mountie hat in most of the scenes because that was authentic for a Mountie on duty. In the scene where he lifts Jeanette onto a tree branch to watch the Indian dance, Nelson claimed his hat nicked Jeanette on the nose and it had to be covered up with makeup before they could continue the scene.

1:15. The beans and bacon scene. It took so long to shoot that Jeanette was vomiting between takes. They also had to pull over because she was carsick driving up to Tahoe. It wasn’t till some time after Nelson proposed to her that Jeanette realized she was pregnant.

1:20. Nelson first singing “Indian Love Call” to her as a solo. He meticulously plays with his pipe, almost caressing it. If you can take your eyes away from Nelson and look closely at Jeanette (hard to do in this scene, I know), her fingers move in unison with his although they do not touch; a very sensual moment indeed.

1:22. From 4 different people I was told stories about this tent scene. That they privately filmed an R-rated version of it to show as a home movie gag. That they re-enacted the scene more realistically in an X-rated way when privately returning to Tahoe; role-playing, if you will.

From Sweethearts:

[A visiting writer] watched the two stars together on the set, sitting side by side. Nelson was dozing and Jeanette was “just looking [at him] and her eyes are filled with dreams.”

Nelson would later recall in an interview the many hours off set that Woody provided for them to lose themselves, riding on horseback in the area, finally having some private time to get perspective on their lives.

Their issues had never been physical compatibility but rather professional competition. Nelson did not want a career wife. Despite taunts that he was “the singing capon,” he was actually a highly sexed guy who wanted his wife at his side at all times, tending to him and raising his kids. A happy, stable home life was important to Nelson as his childhood was traumatic; he dropped out of school at age 14 to work and help support his mother after his physically abusive father walked out on them. Jeanette was unwilling to give up all she had worked so hard for; she felt it was unfair of Nelson to demand she give it all up. Both were strong, competitive personalities and weren’t inclined to budge; Nelson wanted to be the breadwinner and not “play second fiddle to her career.” Against the beautiful Tahoe backdrop, Jeanette finally agreed she might cut down her work load enough that she could juggle being both wife and movie star. They seemed to have worked out their differences…until Jeanette found herself pregnant.

Poor Ruth Van Dyke, pictured here with her husband and with Jeanette and Nelson who are smugly smiling as though they’re sharing a secret. Ruth told us that this Tahoe trip was supposed to be a sort of belated honeymoon but Woody was always running off to deal with Jeanette and Nelson’s personal drama. As detailed in Sweethearts, Mayer refused to let them marry, blamed Nelson for being a troublemaker and insisted Jeanette get an abortion. She did not do so but miscarried; Woody nursed her through that and then tried to deal with Nelson who called off their engagement and broke up with Jeanette. With frightening speed, the love fest between the two stars was over. It would be a long time before Nelson believed Woody’s version of events. (I verified this as well with Jeanette’s sister Blossom, who went directly to Tahoe as emotional support for her sister after this happened.)

1:33. In certain shots like this, you can see the bags under Jeanette’s eyes as the strain of this new development took its emotional toll on her.

1:34. A young Jimmy Stewart makes a strong impact in his one sequence in the film. On the rebound, some months later, Jeanette briefly dated him.

1:42. Allan Jones played her opera Romeo in the opening scenes and is pictured here with Jeanette in their Tosca excerpts. The opera scenes were filmed upon their return to Los Angeles.

1:47. The final scene of the film. They had been forced to see each other professionally back in LA and of course this led to them ending up back in the sack for a “27 hour marathon”, according to Nelson. He wanted her to join him on his upcoming national tour and not film San Francisco. She was concerned about his ability to remain faithful to her as evidenced by his activities after they broke up; he was like a rock star with adoring fans and other women throwing themselves at him and he had little resistance when they were on the outs. The reconciliation attempt failed and they decided to just remain friends.

It was after this marathon that the scene below was filmed. As Nelson explained and I quoted in Sweethearts:

Their emotions in that scene were real and the tenderness with which Jeanette caresses and kisses him was real.

By Christmas 1935, Nelson was already going through withdrawals. Even though he and Jeanette had supposedly “moved on”, he wrote her on Christmas, “Dearest Jeanette… I love you and will always be devoted to you…your Nelson.”

Rose-Marie turned out to be a huge hit. In later years, Nelson as the Mountie was spoofed as Dudley Do Right with his redheaded girlfriend Nell.

Later generations remember Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman spoofing them on her comedy show… or watching the Ocean Spray cranberry-apple juice commercial in which the Mountie sings “Sweet-tart” to his girl (although the song sung is from Maytime).

For Jeanette and Nelson, Rose-Marie and Lake Tahoe remained a treasured moment of happiness in their years together. So much so that they agreed that some of their ashes were to be scattered on the very spot where they made love after Jeanette accepted Nelson’s marriage proposal. When Jeanette’s instructions to be cremated were not honored, Nelson was distraught but still wanted part of his ashes scattered there anyway. He returned to Tahoe, pointing out the exact location to the person entrusted to carry out this task but his written wishes (in his will) were also ignored and he was not cremated.

Watching the Jeanette-Nelson Rose-Marie today, one cannot help but be caught up in their amazing chemistry on the screen, once again mirroring what was going on in real life. Note that there was a silent Rose-Marie filmed in 1928 starring Joan Crawford and a 1954 version with Howard Keel and Ann Blyth. But this Rose-Marie is the definitive version. As Howard Keel said to me: “I never saw the need to remake Rose-Marie, why touch a classic?”

© 2018 by Sharon Rich, all rights reserved. The above quotes and book passages are from Sweethearts (© 1994, 2001, 2014 by Sharon Rich) also available at Amazon as a Kindle or softcover.