View allAll Photos Tagged harry frazee
Bain News Service,, publisher.
[Jacob Ruppert, Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, Tillinghast Huston, Harry Frazee, ? Flynn, at Yankee Stadium, 4/18/23 (baseball)]
1923 Apr. 18.
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Original data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards: Ruppert, Landis, Huston, Frazee, Flynn, 4/19/23 [opening day Yankee Staduim]..
Corrected title based on research by the Pictorial History Committee, Society for American Baseball Research, 2006.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see George Grantham Bain Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/274_bain.html
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Part Of: Bain News Service photograph collection (DLC) 2005682517
General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.35764
Call Number: LC-B2- 5973-5
Cover art by Harry Barton (with a change of dress colour)
Publisher in the UK is Trent,
Others in the Trident series!
Cropper's Cabin - Jim Thompson
Mississippi Flame - Ryerson Johnson
Back Country - William Fuller
Smart The Bugle Calls - Steve Frazee
Colorado Creek - E.E. Halleran
Originally published in the US by Ace Books - D9 - 1953 (see below)
While visiting g Boston's Fish Pier, we were looking for a lunch spot. Being Sunday we only found one restaurant open - the "No Name Restaurant" that is celbratng its 100th birthday in 2017. Did not have the lobster, the broiled scallops were good, the fried oyster not so hot.
About NO Name from their web site:
Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War – and a solid year before Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees – Nick Contos debuted a seafood stand on South Boston’s Fish Pier serving fresh catches to fisherman undocking from a long day.
Nick didn’t name the place, and that name stuck. “If it works, leave it alone,” he said.
Roy finds the belongings of Candy Martin (Jane Frazee) scattered over the trail.
Co-starring Tito Guizar as Rico
Andy Devine as Constable Cookie Bullfincher
Estelita Rodriguez as Lolita
Charles McGraw as Harry Blaisdell
Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers
Directed by William Witney
In Trucolor
“After a number of oil company payrolls are stolen, wanted posters of Gypsy Ricco (Tito Guizar) go up around Sioux City, Iowa. Cowboy Roy Rogers, in town to help out a singing group, investigates and learns that the singers' employer, the Great Southwestern Tent Show, was around at the time of each robbery. Roy and his sidekick, Cookie (Andy Devine), focus on following Ricco, unaware that he's being framed by the show's manager, Harry Blaisdell (Charles McGraw).” [Synopsis at Rotten Tomatoes.com]
Full Movie (in Black & White): www.youtube.com/watch?v=65NpCD_tHSY
Bud and Lou enlist in the army in order to escape being hauled off to jail, and soon find themselves in boot camp. To their dismay, the company's drill instructor is none other than the cop who was all set to run them off to the Jail in the first place!
The Andrews Sisters (one of my favourite groups) were the musical entertainment.
(History.com) On July 11, 1914, in his major league debut, George Herman "Babe" Ruth pitches seven strong innings to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Cleveland Indians, 4-3.
George Herman Ruth was born February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland, where his father worked as a saloon keeper on the waterfront. He was the first of eight children, but only he and a sister survived infancy. The young George, known as "Gig" (pronounced jij) to his family, was a magnet for trouble from an early age. At seven, his truancy from school led his parents to declare him incorrigible, and he was sent to an orphanage, St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. Ruth lived there until he was 19 in 1914, when he was signed as a pitcher by the Baltimore Orioles.
That same summer, Ruth was sold to the Boston Red Sox. His teammates called him "Babe" for his naiveté, but his talent was already maturing. In his debut game against the Indians, the 19-year-old Ruth gave up just five hits over the first six innings. In the seventh, the Indians managed two runs on three singles and a sacrifice and Ruth was relieved. His hitting prowess, however, was not on display that first night--he went 0 for 2 at the plate.
Ruth developed quickly as a pitcher and as a hitter. When the Red Sox made the World Series in 1916 and 1918, Ruth starred, setting a record with 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play. His career record as a pitcher for the Red Sox was 89-46.
To the great dismay of Boston fans, Ruth’s contract was sold to the New York Yankees before the 1920 season by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee, so that Frazee could finance the musical No, No, Nanette. Ruth switched to the outfield with the Yankees, and hit more home runs than the entire Red Sox team in 10 of the next 12 seasons. "The Sultan of Swat" or "The Bambino," as he was alternately known, was the greatest gate attraction in baseball until his retirement as a player in 1935. During his career with the New York Yankees, the team won four World Series and seven American League pennants. After getting rid of Ruth, the Red Sox did not win a World Series until 2004, an 85-year drought known to Red Sox fans as "the Curse of the Bambino."
Bain News Service,, publisher.
Longacre Theatre
[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.12417
Call Number: LC-B2- 2622-4
[Back row] Reid Boucher, Kelly Zajac, Phil DeSimone, Brandon Burlon, Damon Severson, J.S. Berube, Jon Merrill, Corbin McPherson, David Wohlberg, Raman Hrabarenka, Seth Helgeson, Harri Pesonen, Scott Wedgewood, Stefan Stepanov.
[Middle row] *, Kevin Morley, Joe Whitney, Mike Sislo, Darcy Zajac, Harry Young, Eric Gelinas, Mike Hoeffel, Dan Kelly, Chris McKelvie, Mattias Tedenby, Steve Bratspis, Ross Hoerman.
[First row] Jeff Frazee, Cam Janssen, Steve Zalewski, Jay Leach, Tommy Albelin, Chris Lamoriello, Rick Kowalsky, Dave Caruso, Tim Sestito, Matt Anderson, Chad Wiseman, Keith Kinkaid.
Copyright © 2013 James DiBianco | setup for this shot | Times Union Center, Albany, NY
Nikon D700
Nikon 17-35mm 2.8 | f/10 | 1/25 | ISO1000
Nikon SB-700 left fired 1/2 power via CLS
Nikon SB-600 right fired 1/2 power via CLS
Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts in 1912, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square. The French neo-classical building was constructed by impresario Harry Frazee, better remembered as the owner of the Boston Red Sox who, needing money for his theatrical ventures, sold Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees. A curse allegedly lingers on the theater as a result, and superstitious producers avoid it for fear they'll be backing a flop, as noted by William Goldman in his seminal book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway. Despite the rumor, a large number of performers who have appeared on stage here have taken home a Tony Award for their efforts.
The Longacre's first show was a production of the William Hurlbut-Frances Whitehouse comedy Are You a Crook?, which opened on May 1, 1913. With the exception of its use as a radio and television studio in the mid-1940s to early 1950s, the theatre has operated as a legitimate Broadway venue.
Babe Ruth, also know as the Bambino and Sultan of Swat, was a baseball player in the major leagues who playes for 22 years with 3 teams, most notably was his tenure with the New York Yankees.
Ruth broke into the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox in 1914. He was not the great hitter he became though, but a pitcher. He would become a prmeir pitcher in the American League helping the Red Sox win 3 World Series in a 4 year span. In 6 years with the Red Sox he would put up an amazing 94-46 record with an ERA of just over 2. In 1919, after his 6th season, Ruths contract was up and he wanted his salary doubled. Harry Frazzee, Red Sox owner, refused and Ruth threatened to retire, so Frazee sold Ruth to the New York Yankees. This would haught the Red Sox for the next 86 years because the Red Sox would never win the World Series again until 2004 when they defeated the St Louis Cardinals in 4 games. This long stretch of losing was called the curse of the Bambino.
When Ruth joined the Yankees in 1920, they quickly learned of his power and the way he had an eye for the ball. Yankees moved him from pitcher to rightfield so he could play everyday and have his chance to bat. The next 17 years, Ruth would hit records that at the time, nobody could ever imagine breaking.
Ruth would help the Yankees win 4 World Series. He would hit a record 714 homeruns which would stand as a record until Hank Aaron topped it 40 years later in 1973. He also hit a total of 60 homeruns in 1926 which past the record of 59 homeruns hit in 1921 by himself. It would be topped by Roger Maris with 61 homeruns but not til 1961. Besides his 714 homeruns, Ruth also hit almost 3000 hits with over 2200 RBIs and a batting average of .342.
During the 1934 season, Ruth was slowing down and talks were of him retiring, but Ruth wanted to manage the Yankees. Yankees owner Ruppert did not want to place manager McCarthy so he started shopping Ruth around. It was hard dealing him since the game was getting faster and he was slowing down. The Boston Braves would pick up Ruth but more for publicity to compete with cross city rivals and Ruths old team, the Boston Red Sox. The Braves would struglle and Ruth was not helping. His last great game was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh when Ruth went 4-4 with 6 RBIs and 3 homeruns in a loss. It look like Ruth still had alittle in him but injuured his knee the next game in outfield. Ruth would announce his retirement 2 days later completeing one of the greatest careers in baseball history.
Ruth still ranks in the top 10 in almost all hitting categories still. Most of these he owned at one time. He is still 10th in batting average at .342, 4th in runs, 3rd in homeruns and walks, and 2nd in slugging and on base percentage. In 1936, Ruth was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. He was 1 of 5 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame which was the first class ever inducted. in 1948, Ruth returned to Yankee Stadium where he talked in front of 60000 fans and his #3 was retired by the Yankees. In 1999, he was named to the All Century Baseball team and named 1 of the 3 top athletes of the century behind Muhammod Ali and Michael Jordan.
This wax statue of Babe Ruth is located at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Ky..
(from left to right) | View Large on Black.
[back row] Mike Sislo, Mike Banwell, Andy Thomas, Mike Hoeffel, Alexander Urbom, Harry Young, Joe Sova, Dan Kelly, Chris Murray, Darcy Zajac, Ryan Ginand.
[middle row] Matthew DeMado, Kevin Morley, Matt Anderson, Adam Henrique, Chad Wiseman, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Nathan Perkovich, Alexander Vasyunov, Louis Robitaille, Steve Zalewski, David McIntyre, Steve Bratspis, Ross Hoerman.
[first row] Dave Caruso, Mike McKenna, Rob Davidson, Stephen Gionta, Rick Kowalsky, Chris Lamoriello, Tommy Albelin, Olivier Magnan, Brad Mills, Tim Sestito, Jeff Frazee.
Copyright © 2011 James DiBianco
Babe Ruth, also know as the Bambino and Sultan of Swat, was a baseball player in the major leagues who playes for 22 years with 3 teams, most notably was his tenure with the New York Yankees.
Ruth broke into the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox in 1914. He was not the great hitter he became though, but a pitcher. He would become a prmeir pitcher in the American League helping the Red Sox win 3 World Series in a 4 year span. In 6 years with the Red Sox he would put up an amazing 94-46 record with an ERA of just over 2. In 1919, after his 6th season, Ruths contract was up and he wanted his salary doubled. Harry Frazzee, Red Sox owner, refused and Ruth threatened to retire, so Frazee sold Ruth to the New York Yankees. This would haught the Red Sox for the next 86 years because the Red Sox would never win the World Series again until 2004 when they defeated the St Louis Cardinals in 4 games. This long stretch of losing was called the curse of the Bambino.
When Ruth joined the Yankees in 1920, they quickly learned of his power and the way he had an eye for the ball. Yankees moved him from pitcher to rightfield so he could play everyday and have his chance to bat. The next 17 years, Ruth would hit records that at the time, nobody could ever imagine breaking.
Ruth would help the Yankees win 4 World Series. He would hit a record 714 homeruns which would stand as a record until Hank Aaron topped it 40 years later in 1973. He also hit a total of 60 homeruns in 1926 which past the record of 59 homeruns hit in 1921 by himself. It would be topped by Roger Maris with 61 homeruns but not til 1961. Besides his 714 homeruns, Ruth also hit almost 3000 hits with over 2200 RBIs and a batting average of .342.
During the 1934 season, Ruth was slowing down and talks were of him retiring, but Ruth wanted to manage the Yankees. Yankees owner Ruppert did not want to place manager McCarthy so he started shopping Ruth around. It was hard dealing him since the game was getting faster and he was slowing down. The Boston Braves would pick up Ruth but more for publicity to compete with cross city rivals and Ruths old team, the Boston Red Sox. The Braves would struglle and Ruth was not helping. His last great game was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh when Ruth went 4-4 with 6 RBIs and 3 homeruns in a loss. It look like Ruth still had alittle in him but injuured his knee the next game in outfield. Ruth would announce his retirement 2 days later completeing one of the greatest careers in baseball history.
Ruth still ranks in the top 10 in almost all hitting categories still. Most of these he owned at one time. He is still 10th in batting average at .342, 4th in runs, 3rd in homeruns and walks, and 2nd in slugging and on base percentage. In 1936, Ruth was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. He was 1 of 5 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame which was the first class ever inducted. in 1948, Ruth returned to Yankee Stadium where he talked in front of 60000 fans and his #3 was retired by the Yankees. In 1999, he was named to the All Century Baseball team and named 1 of the 3 top athletes of the century behind Muhammod Ali and Michael Jordan.
This memorial is located at the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum in Louisville, Ky.
"The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and was named for Longacre Square, now known as Times Square. The Longacre has 1,077 seats and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium's interior are New York City designated landmarks.
The ground-floor facade is made of rusticated blocks of terracotta. The theater's main entrance is shielded by a marquee. The upper stories are divided vertically into five bays, which contain niches on either side of three large windows. The auditorium contains ornamental plasterwork, a sloped orchestra level, two balconies, and a coved ceiling. The balcony level contains box seats topped by flat arches, and the proscenium opening is also a flat arch. In addition, the Longacre contains two lounges, and the top story formerly had offices.
Theatrical personality Harry Frazee acquired the site in 1911 and developed the Longacre Theatre to accommodate musicals. The Longacre opened on May 1, 1913, with the play Are You a Crook?, but the theater housed several flops in its early years. Frazee, who co-owned the theater with G. M. Anderson, sold his ownership stake in 1917 to focus on baseball. The Shubert brothers acquired the Longacre in 1924 and operated it for two decades before leasing it as a radio and television studio in 1944. The Shuberts returned the Longacre to legitimate theatrical use in 1953. The theater gained a reputation for hosting few successful productions in the late 20th century and was nearly converted to a court in the early 1990s. The Longacre was renovated in 2008.
New York City's Theater District (sometimes spelled Theatre District, and officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict") is an area and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan where most Broadway theaters are located, as well as many other theaters, movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, and other places of entertainment. It is bounded by West 40th Street on the south, West 54th Street on the north, Sixth Avenue on the east and Eighth Avenue on the west, and includes Times Square. The Great White Way is the name given to the section of Broadway which runs through the Theater District.
It also contains recording studios, record label offices, theatrical agencies, television studios, restaurants, movie theaters, Duffy Square, Shubert Alley, the Brill Building, and Madame Tussauds New York.
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.
The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.
Now on Instagram.
The Longacre Theatre at 220 West 48th Street - Now playing Magic/Bird by Eric Simonson about basketball stars Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, their rise from college basketball to the NBA and super stardom, and eventually the Olympic Dream Team, their team and personal rivalries and ultimately their long-running friendship.
Theatre history:
Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts in 1912, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square. The French neo-classical building was constructed by impresario Harry Frazee, better remembered as the owner of the Boston Red Sox who, needing money for his theatrical ventures, sold Babe Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees. A curse allegedly lingers on the theater as a result, and superstitious producers avoid it for fear they'll be backing a flop, as noted by William Goldman in his seminal book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway. Despite the rumor, a large number of performers who have appeared on stage here have taken home a Tony Award for their efforts.
The Longacre's first show was a production of the William Hurlbut-Frances Whitehouse comedy Are You a Crook?, which opened on May 1, 1913. With the exception of its use as a radio and television studio in the mid-1940s to early 1950s, the theatre has operated as a legitimate Broadway venue.
Longacre Theatre (1913)
Architect: Henry B. Herts
220 W. 48th St.
Times Square, New York
The Longacre was built by Boston Red Sox-owner and theatrical producer Harry Frazee (1880–1929). He ran into financial difficulties, and the theatre traded owners several times before ending up in the hands of the Shuberts in 1919. Early successes here included LEAVE IT TO JANE (1917). After the Shuberts took over, the theatre offered George S. Kaufman's THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN (1925), AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (1926), Clark Gable in HAWK ISLAND (1929), Jessica Tandy in THE MATRIARCH (1930), the Group Theatre's productions of WAITING FOR LEFTY and PARADISE LOST (1935).
The theatre was leased to WOR for radio productions from 1943 until 1953. Since then, it has hosted such significant productions as THE LARK (1955), Zero Mostel in RHINOCEROS (1961), Hal Holbrook in MARK TWAIN TONIGHT (1966), AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' (1978), CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD (1980), and Diana Rigg in MEDEA (1994).
After architects Henry Beaumont Herts (1871–1933) and Hugh Tallant (1869–1952) formed a partnership in 1900, they became the preeminent theatre architects of the day. For the Theatrical Syndicate, they designed the New Amsterdam followed by the Lyceum (1903), and the Liberty (1904) They then designed the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1908), the Gaiety (1909–1982), and the Folies Bergère theatre-restaurant (later re-envisioned as the Fulton, 1911–82). After the partnership dissolved in 1911, Herts later designed the Shubert, Booth, and Longacre (1913), all for the Shuberts before his assistant, Herbert J. Krapp set out on his own to build Shubert theaters.
© Matthew X. Kiernan
NYBAI13-4706
No, No, Nanette (1930) is a musical comedy film with Technicolor sequences. and was produced and directed by Harry Frazee.
Cast::
Bernice Claire - Nanette
Alexander Gray - Tom Trainor
Lucien Littlefield - Jim Smith
Louise Fazenda - Sue Smith
Lilyan Tashman - Lucille
Bert Roach - Bill Early
ZaSu Pitts - Pauline
Mildred Harris - Betty
Henry Stockbridge - Brady
Jocelyn Lee - Flora
No film elements are known to exist. The complete soundtrack survives on Vitaphone disks.
In honor of the start of the baseball season, and in honor of our new, free eBook “Baseball: the National Pastime in the National Archives,” we’re highlighting some of our best baseball related holdings!
George Herman “Babe” Ruth’s World War I Draft Registration Card shows his place of employment as “Fenway Park.” (This record is from the holdings of National Archives at Atlanta)
During World War II, twelve players of the Boston Red Sox served in the Naval Reserves, making the prospect of the team’s ability to survive during the 1918 season questionable. Team President Harry H. Frazee wrote to Assistant Secretary of the Navy to request the temporary detachment of two players, although he added “I am only too happy to know that the Boston club has been able to provide so many good men and stands in the front rank of all the base ball clubs in America as having contributed the largest number of men, twelve in all.”
Frazee’s request was denied, and the baseball season was cut short due to the war.
But the Red Sox went on to win the 1918 World Series game against the Chicago Cubs—their last World Series victory until 2004. And in 1919, Frazee sold Babe Ruth’s contract to New York. via National Archives
George Herman "Babe" Ruth (John Goodman) grows from a troubled boy who was sent to an orphanage to one of the most successful baseball players on record. Babe first becomes a power hitter and pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. After a falling-out with Red Sox owner Harry Frazee (Peter Donat), Babe is sold to the New York Yankees. He is idolized in New York, setting a record for home runs, as well as creating dramatic moments like hitting two homers for a sick boy in the hospital.
PG 1992 ‧ Sport/Historical drama ‧ 1h 55m
I saw this portrait of "The Babe" painted on a block wall on a recent hike.
The Tracks at Brea
Brea, CA
Thanks for your views, comments and critiques, much appreciated!
November 27, 2020
long at the corner of Main and Cambridge streets. This building was torn down a few years ago and a filling station occupies the Site. Mr. Roseman was for Some years a partner of T. M. Hathaway in the dry goods business. He was a county commissioner at the time of the building of the court house in Cambridge and also served on the building committee for the Cumberland grade school. He was a man of Sterling honesty and much credit was given him for the good work on the court house and the School.
Josiah Knowlton was born in Belchertown, Mass. He was the son of Rev. Warren Knowlton who moved to French Creek, Va., in 1817, and cleared a good farm which he lost through a defective title. In 1843 he moved to Cumberland and engaged in the mercantile business. He was also a minister in the Baptist church. His wife, Mary, was the daughter of Capt. Josiah Dunbar, a native of Scotland and an officer in the Revolutionary War. Coming to the Brookfield neighborhood in 1829, Josiah. Knowlton moved to Cumberland in 1843. He married Sarah B. Lippitt, daughter of Joseph and Melinda Rice Lippitt of Cranston, R. I. Their son Irville, carried on for many years a photograph and jewelry business in Cumberland and managed a farm of considerable extent. He sold his business to Henry B. Zoller and went into the grocery business where he continued for 14 years. Late in life he moved to Granville, Ohio, to spend his remaining years. His wife was Mary L. Phillis.
The first McClelland in the Cumberland district was James, who came from near McDonald, Pa., in 1838, and located on a farm east of town, later purchased by the Bay brothers and still later by Lee Harper. James McClelland bought the farm west of town known as the William McClelland farm, the birthplace of Cary and Harry McClelland. James McClelland had ten children, Jane, Alexander, John, James, Jr., Joshua, Nancy, William, Mark, Lewis and Allen. They lived on the farm until the children were grown, except Allen, when they moved into town.
John McClelland came to Cumberland about the same time as his brother James, bringing his family to locate on a part of the Collins farm. John McClelland had seven children. One of the girls, Mary, married Theodore Frazee. They were the parents of Mrs. Mary Agnes Squier. Sallie McClelland married William Smith. The Smiths kept the hotel at Main and Cambridge Streets for a time. This hotel was later run by Allen McClelland and called the Gibson House. The Smith children were Mary Smith Fulton and Eva Smith Martin. Another daughter of John McClelland married Joel Ferree, a gunsmith who had a shop on Main street east of Cambridge street. John McClelland's son John married a Miss St. Clair, whose family lived in the brick house at St. Clair's cut, later the residence of John Young, and now the residence of the Pavlick family. The children of the John McClelland, Jr., family were Mrs. Nolie McClelland White, Mrs. Ida McClelland Luse, John, Rush and Edward.
John St. Ciair, grandfather of Henry T. St. Clair, was the first of the name in the Cumberland district. He settled on lands now known as the Arthur Frazier and John Elliott farms. John St. Clair was twice
11
Bain News Service,, publisher.
[Harry Frazee, Boston AL team owner (baseball)]
[1916]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Original data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards: HH Frazee.
Corrected title and date based on research by the Pictorial History Committee, Society for American Baseball Research, 2006.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.23160
Call Number: LC-B2- 4041-12
The Postcard
A postcard bearing no studio name that was posted using a ½d. stamp on Thursday the 18th. June 1903. It was sent to:
Mrs. J. Land,
60, High Street,
Brompton,
Kent.
The back of the card is undivided, but the sender has nevertheless squeezed in an additional message at the side which refers to the message on the front of the card:
"Sorry but there's only
one 't' in bonnet. I've
put two.
Thanks for cards.
Love."
Jeanette MacDonald
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 18th. June 1903 marked the birth in Philadelphia of the American singer and actress Jeanette MacDonald.
Jeanette is best remembered for her musical films of the 1930's with Maurice Chevalier (The Love Parade, Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow and One Hour With You) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime).
During the 1930's and 1940's she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour with You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco).
Jeanette also recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th. century, introducing opera to film-going audiences and inspiring a generation of singers.
-- Jeanette MacDonald - The Early Years
MacDonald was born Jeannette Anna McDonald at her family's Philadelphia home at 5123 Arch Street.
She was the youngest of the three daughters of Anna May (née Wright) and Daniel McDonald, who was a factory foreman and also a salesman for a contracting household building company.
One of Jeanette's sisters was the character actress Blossom Rock (born Edith McDonald), who was most famous as "Grandmama" on the 1960's TV series The Addams Family.
Jeanette was of Scottish, English, and Dutch descent. The extra 'n' in her given name was later dropped for simplicity's sake, and 'a' was added to her surname in order to emphasize her Scottish heritage.
Jeanette began dancing lessons with local dance instructor Caroline Littlefield, mother of American ballerina/choreographer Catherine Littlefield, when very young. Jeanette performed in juvenile operas, recitals, and shows staged by Littlefield around the city, including at the Academy of Music.
Jeanette later took lessons with Al White and began touring in his kiddie shows, heading his "Six Little Song Birds" in Philadelphia at the age of nine.
-- Jeanette MacDonald's Acting Career
(a) Broadway
In November 1919, MacDonald joined her older sister Blossom in New York. She took singing lessons with Wassili Leps, and landed a job in the chorus of Ned Wayburn's The Demi-Tasse Revue, a musical entertainment presented between films at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway.
In 1920, she appeared in two musicals: Jerome Kern's Night Boat as a chorus replacement, and Irene on the road as the second female lead; future film star Irene Dunne played the title role during part of the tour, and Helen Shipman played the title role during the other part of the tour.
In 1921, MacDonald played in Tangerine as one of the "Six Wives." In 1922, she was a featured singer in the Greenwich Village revue Fantastic Fricassee, for which good press notices brought her a role in The Magic Ring the next year.
MacDonald played the second female lead in this long-running musical which starred Mitzi Hajos.
In 1925, MacDonald again had the second female lead opposite Queenie Smith in Tip Toes, a George Gershwin hit show.
The following year, 1926, found MacDonald still in a second female lead in Bubblin' Over, a musical version of Brewster's Millions.
She finally landed a starring role in Yes, Yes, Yvette in 1927. Planned as a sequel to producer H. H. Frazee's No, No, Nanette, the show toured extensively, but failed to please the critics when it arrived on Broadway.
MacDonald also played the lead in her next two plays: Sunny Days in 1928 in her first show for the producers Lee and J. J. Shubert, for which she received rave reviews; and Angela (1928), which the critics panned.
Jeanette's last play was Boom Boom in 1929, with her name above the title; the cast included young Archie Leach, who would later become Cary Grant.
While MacDonald was appearing in Angela, film star Richard Dix spotted her and had her screen-tested for his film Nothing but the Truth. The Shuberts, however, would not let her out of her contract in order to appear in the film, which starred Dix and Helen Kane (the "Boop-boop-a-doop girl").
In 1929, famed film director Ernst Lubitsch was looking through old screen tests of Broadway performers and spotted MacDonald. He cast her as the leading lady in The Love Parade, his first sound film, which starred Maurice Chevalier.
(b) Jeanette MacDonald's Film Career
MacDonald starred in six films - the first four for Paramount Studios. Her first, The Love Parade (1929), directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-starring Maurice Chevalier, was a landmark of early sound films, and received a Best Picture nomination.
MacDonald's first recordings for RCA Victor were two hits from the score: "Dream Lover" and "March of the Grenadiers."
The Vagabond King (1930) was a lavish two-strip Technicolor film version of Rudolf Friml's hit 1925 operetta. Broadway star Dennis King reprised his role as 15th.-century French poet François Villon, and MacDonald was Princess Katherine.
Jeanette sang "Some Day" and "Only a Rose." The UCLA Film and Television Archive owns the only known color print of this production.
1930 was an extremely busy year for both Paramount and MacDonald. Paramount on Parade was an all-star revue, similar to other mammoth sound revues produced by major studios, in order to introduce their formerly silent stars to the public.
MacDonald's footage singing a duet of "Come Back to Sorrento" with Nino Martini was cut from the release print due to legal reasons with Universal Studios, which had recently acquired the copyright to the song for an upcoming movie, King of Jazz.
Let's Go Native was a desert-island comedy directed by Leo McCarey, co-starring Jack Oakie and Kay Francis.
Monte Carlo became another highly regarded Lubitsch classic, with British musical star Jack Buchanan as a count who disguises himself as a hairdresser in order to woo a scatterbrained countess (MacDonald).
MacDonald introduced "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which she recorded three times during her career, including performing it for the Hollywood Victory Committee film Follow the Boys.
In hopes of producing her own films, MacDonald went to United Artists to make The Lottery Bride in 1930. However despite music by Rudolf Friml, the film was not successful.
MacDonald next signed a three-picture deal with the Fox Film Corporation, a controversial move in Hollywood; every other studio was far superior in the eyes of many, from their budgets to the fantastical entertainment of their films.
Oh, for a Man! (1930) was more successful; MacDonald portrayed a temperamental opera singer who sings Wagner's "Liebestod" and falls for an Irish burglar played by Reginald Denny.
In 1931, Don't Bet on Women was a non-musical drawing-room comedy in which a playboy (Edmund Lowe) bets his happily married friend (Roland Young) that he can seduce his friend's wife (MacDonald).
Annabelle's Affairs (1931) was a farce, with MacDonald as a sophisticated New York playgirl who does not recognize her own miner husband, played by Victor McLaglen, when he turns up five years later. Although highly praised by reviewers at the time, only one reel of this film survives.
In 1931 MacDonald took a break from Hollywood in order to embark on a European concert tour, performing at the Empire Theater in Paris, and at London's Dominion Theatre. She was invited to dinner parties with British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and French newspaper critics.
Jeanette returned to Paramount the following year for two films with Chevalier. One Hour with You in 1932 was directed by both George Cukor and Ernst Lubitsch, and simultaneously filmed in French with the same stars, but a French supporting cast.
Currently, no surviving print of Une Heure Près de Toi is known to exist.
Rouben Mamoulian directed Love Me Tonight (1932), considered by many film critics and writers to be the perfect film musical. Starring Chevalier as a humble tailor in love with a princess played by MacDonald, much of the story is told in sung dialogue.
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote the original score, which included the standards "Mimi," "Lover," and "Isn't It Romantic?"
On sets, MacDonald would never lip-sync, instead singing along to song playbacks during filming, which Lew Ayres discovered when he starred alongside her in Broadway Serenade, whereupon he was supplied with earplugs after the volume nauseated him.
(c) Jeanette MacDonald at MGM, and the Nelson Eddy Partnership
In 1933, MacDonald left again for Europe, and while there signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first MGM film was The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), based on the Jerome Kern Broadway hit. Her co-star was Ramón Novarro.
The plot about unmarried lovers shacking up just barely slipped through the new Production Code guidelines that took effect on the 1st. July 1934.
However despite a Technicolor finale—the first use of the new three-color Technicolor process other than Disney cartoons—the film was not a huge success. It lost $142,000.
In The Merry Widow (1934), director Ernst Lubitsch reunited Maurice Chevalier and MacDonald in a lavish version of the classic 1905 Franz Lehár operetta. The film was highly regarded by critics and operetta lovers in major U.S. cities and Europe, but failed to generate much income outside urban areas, losing $113,000.
The Merry Widow had a huge budget of $1.6 million, partially because it was filmed simultaneously in French as La Veuve Joyeuse, with a French supporting cast and some minor plot changes.
Naughty Marietta (1935), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, was MacDonald's first film in which she teamed with newcomer baritone Nelson Eddy.
Victor Herbert's 1910 score, with songs like "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life," "I'm Falling in Love with Someone," "'Neath the Southern Moon," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "Italian Street Song," enjoyed renewed popularity.
The film won an Oscar for sound recording, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. It was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics. It was also awarded the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of 1935 (beating Mutiny on the Bounty, which won the Oscar).
MacDonald earned gold records for "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" and "Italian Street Song."
In 2004 it was selected to the National Film Registry.
The following year, MacDonald starred in two of the highest-grossing films of that year. In Rose-Marie, MacDonald played a haughty opera diva who learns her young brother (pre-fame James Stewart) has killed a Mountie, and is hiding in the northern woods; Eddy is the Mountie sent to capture him.
Nelson Eddy and Jeanette sang Rudolf Friml's "Indian Love Call" to each other in the Canadian wilderness (actually filmed at Lake Tahoe). Eddy's definitive portrayal of the steadfast Mountie became a popular icon.
When the Canadian Mounties temporarily retired their distinctive hat in 1970, photos of Eddy in his Rose Marie uniform appeared in thousands of U.S. newspapers.
San Francisco (1936) was also directed by W. S. Van Dyke. In this tale of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, MacDonald played a hopeful opera singer opposite Clark Gable as the extra-virile proprietor of a Barbary Coast gambling joint, and Spencer Tracy as his boyhood chum who has become a priest and gives the moral messages.
In the summer of 1936, filming began on Maytime, co-starring Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, and Paul Lukas, produced by Irving Thalberg.
After Thalberg's untimely death in September, production was shut down, and the half-finished film scrapped. A new script was filmed with a different storyline and supporting actors (including John Barrymore, whose relationship with MacDonald was strained due to his alcoholism).
The 'second' Maytime (1937), was the top-grossing film worldwide of the year, and is regarded as one of the best film musicals of the 1930's.
"Will You Remember" by Sigmund Romberg brought MacDonald another gold record.
The Firefly (1937) was MacDonald's first solo-starring film at MGM with her name alone above the title. Rudolf Friml's 1912 stage score was borrowed, and a new song, "The Donkey Serenade," added, adapted from Friml's "Chanson" piano piece.
With real-life Americans rushing to fight in the ongoing revolution in Spain, this historical vehicle was constructed around a previous revolution in Napoleonic times. MacDonald's co-star was tenor Allan Jones, whom she demanded get the same treatment as she would, such as an equal number of close-ups.
The MacDonald/Eddy team had split after MacDonald's engagement and marriage to Gene Raymond, but neither of their solo films grossed as much as the team films, and an unimpressed Mayer used this to point out why Jones could not replace Eddy in the next project.
The Girl of the Golden West (1938) was the result, but the two stars had little screen time together, and the main song, "Obey Your Heart," was never sung as a duet.
The film featured an original score by Sigmund Romberg, and reused the popular David Belasco stage plot (also employed by opera composer Giacomo Puccini for La Fanciulla del West).
Mayer had promised MacDonald the studio's first Technicolor feature, and he delivered with Sweethearts (1938), co-starring Eddy.
In contrast to the previous film, the co-stars were relaxed onscreen and singing frequently together. The film integrated Victor Herbert's 1913 stage score into a modern backstage story scripted by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell.
MacDonald and Eddy played a husband-and-wife Broadway musical-comedy team who are offered a Hollywood contract. Sweethearts won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of the Year.
Mayer dropped plans for the team to co-star in Let Freedom Ring, a vehicle first announced for them in 1935; only Eddy starred.
Instead MacDonald and Lew Ayres co-starred in Broadway Serenade (1939) as a contemporary musical couple who clash when her career flourishes while his founders.
MacDonald's performance was however subdued, and choreographer Busby Berkeley, just hired away from Warner Bros., was called upon to add an over-the-top finale in an effort to improve the film.
However, Broadway Serenade did not entice audiences in a lot of major cities, with Variety claiming that New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles' cinema attendances were "sad," "slow,"and "sour."
Following Broadway Serenade, and not coincidentally right after Nelson Eddy's surprise elopement with Ann Franklin, MacDonald left Hollywood on a concert tour and refused to renew her MGM contract.
Months later she summoned her manager Bob Ritchie from London to help her renegotiate. After initially insisting that she wanted to film Smilin' Through with James Stewart and Robert Taylor, MacDonald finally relented and agreed to film New Moon (1940) with Eddy, which proved to be one of MacDonald's more popular films.
Composer Sigmund Romberg's 1927 Broadway hit provided the plot and the songs: "Lover, Come Back to Me," "One Kiss," and "Wanting You," plus Eddy's version of "Stout Hearted Men."
This was followed by Bitter Sweet (1940), a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward's 1929 stage operetta, which Coward loathed, writing in his diary about how "vulgar" he found it.
Smilin' Through (1941) was MacDonald's next Technicolor project, the third adaptation filmed in Hollywood, with Brian Aherne and Gene Raymond. Its theme of reunion with deceased loved ones was enormously popular after the devastation of World War I, and MGM reasoned that it should resonate with audiences during World War II, but it failed to make a profit.
MacDonald played a dual role—Moonyean, a Victorian girl accidentally murdered by a jealous lover, and Kathleen, her niece, who falls in love with the son of the murderer.
I Married an Angel (1942), was adapted from the Rodgers & Hart stage musical about an angel who loses her wings on her wedding night. The script by Anita Loos suffered serious censorship cuts during filming that made the result less successful.
MacDonald sang "Spring Is Here" and the title song. It was the final film made by the team of MacDonald and Eddy. After a falling-out with Mayer, Eddy bought out his MGM contract (with one film left to make) and went to Universal, where he signed a million-dollar, two-picture deal.
MacDonald remained for one last film, Cairo (1942), a cheaply budgeted spy comedy co-starring Robert Young as a reporter and Ethel Waters as a maid, whom MacDonald personally requested.
Within one year, beginning in 1942, L. B. Mayer released his four highest-paid actresses from their MGM contracts; Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Jeanette MacDonald. Of those four stars, MacDonald was the only one whom Mayer would rehire.
(d) Jeanette MacDonald's Final Roles
After opening the Metropolitan Opera's membership campaign, MacDonald appeared as herself in Follow the Boys (1944), an all-star extravaganza about Hollywood stars entertaining the troops.
The more than 40 guest stars included Marlene Dietrich, W. C. Fields, Sophie Tucker, and Orson Welles. MacDonald is shown during a concert singing "Beyond the Blue Horizon," and in a studio-filmed sequence singing "I'll See You in My Dreams" to a blinded soldier.
Jeanette returned to MGM after five years off the screen for two films. Three Daring Daughters (1948) co-starred José Iturbi as her love interest. MacDonald plays a divorcée whose lively daughters (Jane Powell, Ann E. Todd, and Elinor Donahue) keep trying to get her back with her ex, but she has secretly remarried.
The song "The Dickey Bird" made the hit parade.
The Sun Comes Up (1949) teamed MacDonald with Lassie in an adaptation of a short story by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. MacDonald played a widow who has lost her son, but warms to orphan Claude Jarman Jr. It would prove to be her final film.
Jeanette frequently attempted a comeback movie, even financing and paying a screenwriter. One of the possible film reunions with Nelson Eddy was to be made in England, but Eddy pulled out when he learned MacDonald was investing her own funds.
Eddy preferred to publicly blame the proposed project as mediocre, when in fact MacDonald was uninsurable due to her heart condition.
A reunion with Maurice Chevalier was also considered. Other thwarted projects with Eddy were The Rosary, The Desert Song, and a remake of The Vagabond King, plus two movie treatments written by Eddy for them, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle.
Offers continued to come in, and in 1962, producer Ross Hunter proposed MacDonald in his 1963 comedy The Thrill of It All, but she declined.
20th. Century Fox also toyed with the idea of MacDonald for the part of Mother Abbess in the film version of The Sound of Music. However it never moved beyond the discussion stages, partly because of MacDonald's failing health.
An annual poll of film exhibitors listed MacDonald as one of the top-10 box-office draws of 1936, and many of her films were among the top-20 moneymakers of the years in which they were released.
In addition, MacDonald was one of the top-10 box-office attractions in Great Britain from 1937 to 1942. During her 39-year career, MacDonald earned two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for films and recordings) and planted her feet in the wet concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.
(e) Jeanette MacDonald and Musical Theatre
MacDonald and her husband Gene Raymond toured in Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman. The production opened at the Erlanger Theater in Buffalo, New York, on the 25th. January 1951, and played in 23 Northeastern and Midwestern cities until the 2nd. June 1951.
Despite less-than-enthusiastic comments from critics, the show played to full houses for virtually every performance. The leading role of "The Actress" was changed to "The Singer" to allow MacDonald to add some songs. While this pleased her fans, the show closed before reaching Broadway.
In the mid-1950's, MacDonald toured in summer-stock productions of Bitter Sweet and The King and I.
She opened in Bitter Sweet at the Iroquois Amphitheater, Louisville, Kentucky, on the 19th. July 1954. Her production of The King and I opened on the 20th. August 1956, at the Starlight Theatre.
While performing there, Jeanette collapsed. Officially, it was announced as heat prostration, but in fact it was a heart seizure. She began limiting her appearances, and a reprisal of Bitter Sweet in 1959 was her last professional stage appearance.
In the 1960's, MacDonald was approached about starring on Broadway in a musical version of Sunset Boulevard. Composer Hugh Martin also wrote a song for the musical, entitled "Wasn't It Romantic?"
(f) Jeanette MacDonald and Nightclubs
MacDonald also made a few nightclub appearances. She sang and danced at The Sands and The Sahara in Las Vegas in 1953, The Coconut Grove in Los Angeles in 1954, and again at The Sahara in 1957, but she never felt entirely comfortable in their smoky atmospheres.
(g) Jeanette MacDonald's Music Career
Starting in 1931 and continuing through the 1950's, MacDonald engaged in regular concert tours between films. Her first European tour was in 1931, where she sang in both France and England.
Her first American concert tour was in 1939, immediately after the completion of Broadway Serenade. MacDonald performed at the Mayo Civic Auditorium in Rochester, Minnesota on the 19th. April 1939, in order to open that venue before an audience.
She sang several times at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall.
When America joined World War II in 1941, MacDonald co-founded the Army Emergency Relief and raised funds on concert tours.
When she was home in Hollywood, she held an open house at her home on Sunday afternoons for GIs. On one occasion, at the request of Lt. Ronald Reagan, she was singing for a large group of men in San Francisco who were due to ship out to the fierce fighting in the South Pacific.
She closed with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and 20,000 voices spontaneously joined in. She auctioned off encores for donations and raised almost $100,000 for the troops (over $1.5 million, adjusted for inflation).
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who considered MacDonald and Eddy two of his favorite film stars, awarded her a medal. Jeanette also did command performances at the White House for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(h) Jeanette MacDonald and Opera
Unlike Nelson Eddy, who came from opera to film, MacDonald in the 1940's yearned to reinvent herself in opera. She began training for this goal with Lotte Lehmann, one of the leading opera stars of the early 20th century.
Lehmann later wrote:
"When Jeanette MacDonald approached me for
coaching lessons I was really curious how a
glamorous movie star, certainly spoiled by the
adoration of a limitless world, would be able to
devote herself to another, a higher level of art.
I had the surprise of my life. There couldn't have
been a more diligent, a more serious, a more
pliable person than Jeanette. The lessons which
I had started with a kind of suspicious curiosity
turned out to be sheer delight for me. She studied
Marguerite with me—and lieder. These were the
ones which astounded me most. I am quite sure
that Jeanette would have developed into a serious
and successful lieder singer if time would have
allowed it."
MacDonald made her opera debut singing Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in Montreal at His Majesty's Theatre (8th. May 1943).
Jeanette quickly repeated the role in Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor.
Her U.S. debut with the Chicago Opera Company in 1944 was in the same role. She also sang Marguerite in Gounod's Faust with the Chicago Opera.
In the summer of 1945, she appeared with the Cincinnati Opera as Juliette in two performances of Roméo et Juliette and one as Marguerite in Faust. That November, she did two more performances of Roméo et Juliette and one of Faust in Chicago.
In December 1951, Jeanette did one performance of Faust with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company at the Academy of Music.
Claudia Cassidy, the music critic of the Chicago Tribune wrote:
"Her Juliet is breathtakingly beautiful
to the eye and dulcet to the ear."
The same critic reviewed Faust:
"From where I sit at the opera, Jeanette
MacDonald has turned out to be one of
the welcome surprises of the season ...
her Marguerite was better than her Juliet ...
beautifully sung with purity of line and
tone, a good trill, and a Gallic inflection
that understood Gounod's phrasing ...
You felt if Faust must sell his soul to the
devil, at least this time he got his money's
worth."
(i) Jeanette MacDonald and Radio and Television
MacDonald's extensive radio career began on a 1929 radio broadcast of the Publix Hour. She was on the Academy Awards ceremony broadcast in 1931.
Jeanette hosted her own radio show, Vicks Open House, from September 1937 to March 1938, for which she received $5,000 a week.
However, the time demands of doing a weekly live radio show while filming, touring in concerts, and making records proved enormously difficult, and after fainting on-air during one show, she decided not to renew her radio contract with Vicks at the end of the 26-week season. Thereafter, she stuck to guest appearances.
MacDonald appeared in condensed radio versions of many of her films on programs such as Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, often with Nelson Eddy, and the Railroad Hour, which starred Gordon MacRae.
These included The Merry Widow, Naughty Marietta, Rose Marie, Maytime, Sweethearts, Bitter Sweet, Smilin' Through, and The Sun Comes Up.
She also featured in other operettas and musicals such as Victor Herbert's Mlle Modiste, Irene, The Student Prince, Tonight or Never with Melvyn Douglas, A Song for Clotilda, The Gift of the Magi, and Apple Blossoms.
Other radio shows included The Prudential Family Hour, Screen Guild Playhouse, and The Voice of Firestone, which featured the top opera and concert singers of the time.
In 1953, MacDonald sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, broadcast on both radio and TV.
MacDonald sang frequently with Nelson Eddy during the mid-1940's on several Lux Radio Theater and The Screen Guild Theater productions of their films together.
Jeanette also appeared as his guest several times on his various radio shows such as The Electric Hour and The Kraft Music Hall. He was also a surprise guest when she hosted a war-bonds program called Guest Star, and they sang on other World War II victory shows together.
The majority of her radio work in the mid to late 1940's was with Eddy. Her 1948 Hollywood Bowl concert was also broadcast over the air, in which she used Eddy's longtime accompanist, Theodore Paxson.
MacDonald appeared on early TV, most frequently as a singing guest star. She sang on The Voice of Firestone on the 13th. November 1950. On the 12th. November 1952, she was the subject of Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life.
Her surprise guests included her sisters, a sailor she danced with at the Hollywood Canteen, her former English teacher, her husband and the clergyman who married them.
Nelson Eddy also appeared as a voice from her past, singing the song he sang at her wedding; his surprise appearance brought her to tears.
Shortly thereafter, Jeanette appeared as the mystery guest on the 21st. December 1952 episode of What's My Line? After the panelists guessed her identity, she told John Daly that she was in New York for the holidays, and would have a recital at Carnegie Hall on the 16th. January.
On the 2nd. February 1956, MacDonald starred in Prima Donna, a television pilot for her own series, written for her by her husband Gene Raymond. The initial show featured guest stars Leo Durocher and Larraine Day, but it failed to find a slot.
In December 1956, MacDonald and Eddy made their first TV appearance as a team on the Lux Video Theatre Holiday Special.
In 1957, Eddy and Jeanette appeared on Patti Page's program The Big Record, singing several songs. On Playhouse 90 (28th. March 1957), MacDonald played Charley's real aunt to Art Carney's impersonation in "Charley's Aunt."
Jeanette MacDonald's Personal Life
When Jeanette was born, her father quickly doted on her. Although he had hoped for a son who would pursue "an American dream" life that he believed he had failed to live himself, he advised his three daughters to do this instead.
Jeanette MacDonald was the only daughter in the family that had inherited both her father's red hair and blue-green eyes, although she often admired her sisters' beauty, such as Blossom's dimples and her elder sister Elsie's (1893—1970) blonde hair and blue eyes.
Elsie could play the piano, and taught toddler Jeanette a variety of popular waltzes and Stephen Foster's compositions.
At this time, MacDonald discovered that she was an extravert who enjoyed socializing with friends and performing for others, admitting that:
"I needed people to watch and
applaud me as much as I needed
food and drink."
She recalled that at the end of her first performance in the local church as a child:
"I paused ever so slightly and then,
when I realized they needed prodding,
I promptly began clapping my hands
and said to the congregation: 'Now
everybody's got to clap!'"
Jeanette MacDonald and the Number Thirteen
MacDonald cited the number thirteen as her lucky number. Her characters always had a name beginning with M, the first letter of her surname, and the 13th. letter of the English alphabet, a ritual upon which she had insisted.
Thirteen became a recurring number throughout her life, such as the thirteen-year gap between her overseas tours in Europe. Principal photography for The Merry Widow took thirteen weeks to film, and her first movie, The Love Parade, was the number-one box-office draw for 13 weeks.
MacDonald performed opera for the first time for a screen test thirteen years after meeting Newell (who was also on set).
There was a thirteen-year gap between her death and that of her sister Blossom, and Jeanette's husband Gene Raymond's birthday was the 13th. August.
Jeanette MacDonald's Health
A recurrent issue throughout MacDonald's career was her health. A letter handwritten by Jeanette in August 1929 indicates that she had recently suffered a heart attack at the age of 26.
She also suffered from stage fright throughout her life, to the point that her therapist told her to imagine that all of the members of the audience were lettuce.
Due to her heart condition, Jeanette could not carry a pregnancy to term. She had blackouts and fainting spells, and became stressed to the point of not being able to eat.
She was frequently in and out of hospitals trying different treatments (one being massage therapy), which only worked for a limited time, if at all.
Jeanette's illnesses would not allow her to perform early morning filming shoots, much to her colleagues' annoyance.
Jeanette MacDonald's Religion and Politics
A few years before her death, MacDonald became a Religious Scientist.
Jeanette was a Republican, but she mostly avoided commenting on politics. When approached by the House Un-American Activities Committee about whether she had heard any gossip about Communist activity in Hollywood, she replied:
"As at any focal point, there are some
belligerents, but they are no more
numerous than in any other community."
Neither she nor Gene Raymond were ever considered or subpoenaed for a HUAC hearing. When Jeanette was asked during a radio interview how she felt about the investigations, she replied:
"Let he who is without sin
cast the first stone."
Jeanette fired her manager Charles Wagner for his anti-Semitic abuse of her Jewish friend Constance Hope.
She declared during the 1940 presidential election:
"I sing for Democrats and Republicans,
black and white, everyone, and I just
can't talk politics."
Jeanette MacDonald's Relationships
-- Jack Ohmeis
Jeanette MacDonald met Jack Ohmeis (1901-1967) at a party during her appearance in Tangerine. He was an architecture student at New York University, and the son of a successful bottle manufacturer.
His family was hesitant about the relationship, assuming that MacDonald was a gold-digger, but accepted her after they met.
She and Ohmeis became engaged a year later, but their future plans and aspirations forced them to go their separate ways. The sudden death of MacDonald's father was another factor in the break-up.
Unfortunately, the Ohmeis family lost a lot of their fortune after the Wall Street Crash, so MacDonald loaned money to Jack, and he repaid her as soon as he could, which was as late as the 1950's.
-- Irving Stone
MacDonald next dated Irving Stone (1901-1968) from around 1926–28; they met when she was touring in Chicago in The Magic Ring.
Stone, who lived in Milwaukee, was the nephew of the founder of the Wisconsin Boston Store, and worked in the family business.
Few details were known of Stone's romance with MacDonald until the discovery of hundreds of pages of handwritten love letters she wrote to him that were found in his apartment after his death, which happened three years after Jeanette had died.
-- Robert Ritchie
MacDonald eventually dated a Wall Street rep named Robert Ritchie (died 1972), 12 years her senior, who claimed that he was the son of a fallen millionaire.
They traveled with MacDonald's family to Hollywood, and he became a press agent for MGM. Rumors circulated that they were engaged and/or secretly married, since Ritchie was by MacDonald's side during her European tour and they lived together.
Jeanette even signed her return address as "JAR" (Jeanette Anna Ritchie) and referred to him as her "darling husband."
However despite Ritchie's family claiming that he had been married to MacDonald, but that the marriage was annulled in 1935, he never confirmed the claims.
Ritchie later relocated to Europe as an MGM representative, becoming responsible for recruiting Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr, and Luise Rainer.
-- Gene Raymond
MacDonald married Gene Raymond in 1937. She had met him at a Hollywood party two years earlier at Roszika Dolly's home; MacDonald agreed to a date, as long as it was at her family's dinner table.
However despite the strong relationship, Raymond's mother did not like MacDonald, attempting to snub her a few times - she arranged her son to partner Janet Gaynor as a plus-one at a charity ball, and did not attend the wedding.
The Raymonds lived in a 21-room Mock Tudor mansion named Twin Gables with their pet dogs and their horse White Lady, which Raymond gave to MacDonald as a birthday present.
After MacDonald's death, White Lady was briefly owned by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas.
Jeanette MacDonald often worried about her husband's self-esteem; his acting career was constantly shaky, and RKO Pictures eventually sold out his contract when he had two movies left to make with them in the 1950's.
Although she appreciated his support, MacDonald wished that their success was equal.
Gene Raymond was sometimes mistaken for Nelson Eddy by MacDonald's fans and passersby, which MacDonald later admitted that she never liked:
"Of course we always laughed it off—sometimes
Gene even obliged by signing Nelson's name—
but no one will ever know the agonies I suffered
on such occasions.
More than anything else in the world those days,
I wanted to see him receive as much acclaim as I,
to spare him these humiliations."
When she re-united with Chevalier in 1957, he asked her why she had retired from films, to which she replied:
"Because for exactly twenty years
I've played my best role, by Gene's
side. And I'm perfectly happy."
The Death of Jeanette MacDonald
MacDonald died at the age of 61 at the Houston Methodist Hospital from heart failure on the 14th. January 1965, with Raymond by her hospital bed.
Two years before, she had been assigned Dr. Michael DeBakey, who had recently operated successfully on the Duke of Windsor, in the hope that he could save her.
However despite having surgery, MacDonald became ill with pleurisy a week later, and was in Houston Methodist Hospital for over a month.
In December 1964, her condition worsened, and she was rushed to UCLA Medical Center. DeBakey suggested open-heart surgery, and Raymond brought MacDonald into the hospital on the 12th. January.
On the afternoon of the 14th., Raymond was at her bedside massaging her feet when she died. He said that their last conversation was when MacDonald said, "I love you," and he replied, "I love you too;" she then sighed deeply, and her head hit the pillow.
The funeral took place on the 18th. January. Along with close family and widower Raymond, it was notably attended by a handful of MacDonald's co-stars (such as Eddy, Allan Jones, Chevalier, Joe E. Brown, Spencer Tracy, Lloyd Nolan, etc.), representatives of her fan club, former presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Senator George Murphy, former vice-president Richard Nixon, future governor & president Ronald Reagan, and Mary Pickford.
Dr. Gene Emmet Clark of the Church of Religious Science officiated. Newsreel footage shows Nelson Eddy as the last person to exit the church, with Lauritz Melchior and other celebrities offering him condolences.
MacDonald was interred in a pink-marbled crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, which reads "Jeanette MacDonald Raymond." Her crypt is next to Nat King Cole, and George Burns and Gracie Allen.
When Raymond died in 1998, his remains were placed in the same crypt with hers, with his name added.
Jeanette MacDonald's Honors and Commemorations
MacDonald was crowned as the Queen of the Movies in 1939 with Tyrone Power as her king. The ceremony was filmed and presented by Ed Sullivan.
She was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Ithaca College in 1956.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, MacDonald has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6157 Hollywood Blvd.
For her contribution to recording, MacDonald has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine Street.
Jeanette was named Philadelphia's Woman of the Year in 1961. Of the award, she said:
"It is strange how awards, decorations,
doctorates, etc., can be conferred from
various parts of the country, and even
the world.
And yet, the funny satisfaction of being
recognized in one's home town seems to
be a more gratifying recognition than all."
Shortly after MacDonald's death, surviving classmates from her high school contributed a $150 donation in her name to the Children's Heart Hospital of Philadelphia.
The USC Thornton School of Music built a Jeanette MacDonald Recital Hall in her honor.
A bronze plaque for MacDonald was unveiled in March 1988 on the Philadelphia Music Alliance's Walk of Fame in Raymond's presence.
Controversy Associated WIth Jeanette MacDonald
-- Jeanette MacDonald's Autobiography
MacDonald began developing an autobiography in the 1950's. She wanted her readers to both be inspired by her career and understand how she had coped with balancing a public and personal life.
In one early version she intended to candidly discuss Nelson Eddy, but dropped that idea when Eddy feared public fallout.
Jeanette hired and fired ghostwriters and wrote a manuscript solo, but it was rejected by the publisher for being "too genteel." However MacDonald refused to include many personal details about Eddy, and she deleted already typed pages admitting to one single pregnancy that ended in miscarriage.
Her last ghost writer, Fredda Dudley Balling, noted that MacDonald was too ill to work more than a couple hours a day, so a final draft was never completed. The unfinished manuscript was published and annotated in 2004.
MacDonald said that publishers wanted her to spice up her story. She refused to gossip about her colleagues, and said she did not live that kind of life. In the last year of her life, despite declining health, she still was trying to find a publisher.
An early version of the book, written with James Brough, is in the Cinematic Arts Library, Doheny Memorial Library, University of Southern California.
-- Jeanette MacDonald's Relationship with Nelson Eddy
Despite public denials from the stars themselves of any personal relationship between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, documentation shows otherwise.
In a handwritten 1935 letter by Nelson to "Dearest Jeanette," written on his letterhead, Nelson Eddy writes:
"I love you and will always
be devoted to you."
In the biography Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, the author presents MacDonald and Eddy as continuing an adulterous affair after their marriages.
Rich, who was a close friend of MacDonald's older sister Blossom Rock, also knew Gene Raymond, and documents that the relationship lasted—with a few breaks—until MacDonald's death.
MacDonald had a reported eight pregnancies by Eddy, the first while they were filming Rose Marie. This was before she had an intimate relationship with Gene Raymond.
Raymond was physically unable to father children, and MacDonald alluded to this fact in her unfinished autobiography, writing that she returned from her Hawaii honeymoon with Raymond with the knowledge and accurate admittance that "The MacRaymonds had no children."
Nevertheless, MacDonald had additional, later, documented and visible pregnancies while married to Raymond, all of which ended in miscarriage.
Rich's findings also included documentation that Raymond physically and emotionally abused MacDonald, and had affairs as early as their honeymoon when MacDonald allegedly discovered Raymond in bed with Buddy Rogers.
Raymond was arrested three times, the first in January 1938, as verified by a court document, and also in England during his army service, for his behavior.
Raymond's wedding to MacDonald, orchestrated by Louis B. Mayer, forced MacDonald to become Raymond's "beard," and the 1938 arrest resulted in Mayer blacklisting him in Hollywood for almost two years.
Biographer E. J. Fleming also alleged that Eddy had confronted Raymond for abusing MacDonald, who was visibly pregnant with Eddy's child while filming Sweethearts, which ended with Eddy attacking him and leaving him for dead, though newspapers reported Raymond was recovering from a fall down the stairs.
At that time Mayer adamantly refused to allow MacDonald to annul her marriage and elope. The situation ended with MacDonald losing her baby at nearly 6 months. The boy was named Daniel Kendrick Eddy, and Nelson buried him (or his ashes) on private property in Ojai, California.
Other co-stars and friends verified the MacDonald/Eddy relationship.
Over the decades, MacDonald and Eddy privately occupied several homes together. In 1938, they had a small Burbank house located at 812 S. Mariposa Street in Burbank.
In the 1940's, Nelson leased and remodeled for himself and MacDonald the old cowboy bunkhouse at 1330 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills.
Starting in 1947, they used 710 N. Camden Drive, which had been the home of MacDonald's mother until her death.
They also stayed at favorite hotels and homes across the country owned by celebrity friends, including Lily Pons and Irene Dunne.
In 1963, MacDonald and Raymond moved into two adjoining apartments at the Wilshire Comstock in Westwood, on the 8th. floor in the East building.
Nelson Eddy had his own apartment on the 7th. floor of the West building, and allowed MacDonald to decorate it; they used it as a rendezvous spot until she was too weak to walk the few yards over to his building. (After Eddy's death, his widow Ann learned of the apartment and moved into it.)
Forbidden to marry early on by MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer, MacDonald and Eddy performed a mock wedding ceremony at Lake Tahoe while filming Rose Marie. They considered that "by God's laws" they were married, although they were never able to do so legally.
Every autumn, they returned to Lake Tahoe to renew their vows. After their 1943 visit, Eddy wrote a lengthy diary entry about their trip and his love for her, calling her "my wife," which he did in private to the end of her life. As late as 1948, MacDonald's desk diary has a "Lake Tahoe" entry.
Harry Frazee was owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923. He saw his Red Sox win the World Series in 1918. The next year, he did the one thing that marked his career, he sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. This would start the Curse of the Bambino that haunted the Red Sox until they won the World Series again in 2004. His team would sink to the bottom of the league so he sold the team in 1923. He is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, NY.
Living with God's Kids - Kay Kuzma
How to Teach Nature in the Home - Helen Frazee [SOLD]
Through Early Childhood - Arthur Spalding and Belle Wood-Comstock
Fountains of Freedom - Rotter, Goldstein and Weresh
Adventist Family Fun
Family Worship With Young Children - Jan J McConell
Quiz Fun - Harry W Taylor
The Covenant Connection - Larry Stephens
The rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox began when Boston owner Harry Frazee started sending his stars to New York to stave off financial difficulties. Carl Mays and Bae Ruth preceded Red Sox manager Ed Barrow to New York, but Barrow solidified the Yankees' first dynasty by acquiring pitchers Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock, catcher Wally Schang, third baseman Joe Dugan and shortstop Everett Scott from Boston.
Exhibition in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
Notable Quotables at the 1920 Series, Brooklyn. The Lannins had owned the Red Sox and sold the team to Harry Frazee in 1917, who was then later infamous for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees to finance his musical _No, No, Nanette_. Mr Lannin died eight years later after a fall from a ninth story window, believed to have been accidental, since he was worth $7m at the time.
Notable Quotables at the 1920 Series, Brooklyn. The Lannins had owned the Red Sox and sold the team to Harry Frazee in 1917, who was then later infamous for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees allegedly to finance his musical _No, No, Nanette_, but really to pay Lannin the money still owed him. Mr Lannin died eight years later after a fall from a ninth story window, believed to have been accidental, since he was worth $7m at the time.