Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair-On-Screen and Off-Between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy

Rating:
Summary: Keeping one's promises
Review: Sharon Rich is an extraordinary woman. I know. I've known her since first reading "Farewell to Dreams" and asking her to actually document the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald story better before attempting to sell it to Hollywood. It was at this time that I began to insist that all of the interviews with some of Sharon's sources be videotaped... or audiotaped... so that the research could be preserved even after the interviewees died. Many of them have, sadly, passed on. But the tapes survive! In those days, a co-writer and I insisted that Sharon meticulously database the whereabouts of all the principals from the moment they met until their deaths, and she did just that. She poured through documents -- every kind of printed source (including the LA Times, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department logs, English newspapers, fanzines, Variety, etc) until she could darn near tell you on an hourly basis where Nelson, Jeanette, Gene, Ann Eddy, L.B. Mayer, and others were. While compiling the database, Sharon also came into possession of letters, unpublished autobiographies, and people who are still alive who can swear to the veracity of the information in Sweethearts. I can personally swear to meeting many of the people who knew Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. I can tell you, I have met Gene Raymond... interviewed him over lunch and also watched him meet one of his former lovers and Jeanette's gay friends. I have talked to people who sat at Blossom Rock's feet and heard the story first hand. I am convinced, from these interviews, that Blossom was not only in her right mind... but capable of telling the story (one way or another). Just because you cannot always speak doesn't mean you cannot write or communicate in other ways. This book is true, and the sources are available for researchers to access. It's a shame people like Turk do NOT make use of the invitation to do so. This is not only a terrific read, but it is the the life work of a woman who made a promise to Blossom Rock to tell the truth about Jeanette. She has kept her promise.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I ever READ!
Review: This is the best book that I have ever read on the couple, Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy. I am the biggest fan and have loved them since 1965, I couldn't believe it when I viewed the "This is your life" tv show. The way she looked at Nelson when he walked out of the curtain, it was so clear, you KNOW it was love! FINALLY a book came out revealing what WE ALL KNEW ALREADY! Thanks so much Sharon Rich! (And to those fans who are not liberated enough to believe Jeanette had loved Nelson, FACE IT and get on with your life! It's not hard to believe!)