march 31 - april 6, 1999

photo: NAUGHTY MARIETTA

On the occasion of the publication of Edward Baron Turk's scrupulous and entertaining biography of the actress (University of California Press), we are showcasing 12 of Jeanette MacDonald's popular films, including THE FIREFLY (1937), Rudolf Friml's rarely shown film operetta and Franz Lehar's sparkling THE MERRY WIDOW (1934), directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

This program was organized by Joanna Ney.

about the program

LOVE ME TONIGHT
Rouben Mamoulian,1932; 96m
A brilliant fusion of plot and music, this legendary musical finds Maurice Chevalier as a humble Parisian tailor who woos the proud, love-deprived Princess Jeanette (MacDonald, in her third screen teaming with the straw-hatted Frenchman). Director Rouben Mamoulian turned to playwright Leopold Marchand for this social satire, which combined Sleeping Beauty with "Cinderfella," and to the songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for a score that gave memorable tunes to the film's stars, including "Mimi" for Chevalier, "Lover" for MacDonald, and "Isn't It Romantic?" for both. With Charles Butterworth, Myrna Loy (as the Princess's nymphomaniac cousin), Elizabeth Patterson, and C. Aubrey Smith. An enchanting treat.
Wed March 31: 2 pm and 6:15 pm

I MARRIED AN ANGEL
W. S. Van Dyke II,1942; 84m
A witty mix of surrealism and expressionism (completely misunderstood at its 1942 release), this lavish dream-fable slyly pokes fun at Jeanette MacDonald's post-Hays Code correctness, while glancing backward at her pre-Code spiciness. Louis B. Mayer had nixed this project when conceived for MacDonald in 1933, claiming its story of an angel who loses her wings on the night of her wedding to a playboy was too risqué. But after Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart reworked it into a Broadway hit in 1938, MGM had Anita Loos revamp the script, resulting in the eighth (and final) collaboration of MacDonald with Nelson Eddy, who duets "Spring Is Here" with Jeanette and gives his smoothest screen performance. Edward Everett Horton, Binnie Barnes, and Anne Jeffreys add to the overall wackiness.
Wed March 31: 4:10 pm and 8:30 pm

THE MERRY WIDOW
(Ernst Lubitsch, 1934; 99m)
Grace Moore, Lily Pons, Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson fought for the title role. But MGM's Irving Thalberg believed only MacDonald had the beauty, sophistication and comic flair needed to play Madame Sonia, the wealthy young widow who rushes to Paris and engages in sexual cat-and-mouse games with the roguish Count Danilo (Maurice Chevalier). Hitching Franz Lehar's beguiling melodies to Lorenz Hart's wry new lyrics, this mega-production, scripted by Samson Raphaelson, offers breathtaking Oscar-winning sets (by Cedric Gibbons), plush gowns (by Adrian) and dreamy choreography (by Albertina Rasch). A sensuous feast for the eyes, ears and imagination. Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel and Sterling Holloway are the hilarious foils.
Thurs April 1: 2 pm and 6:15 pm

NAUGHTY MARIETTA
(W.S. Van Dyke II, 1935; 106m)
The mold-breaker that ushered in the era of "modern," fast-paced movie operettas, MARIETTA launched MacDonald's legendary screen partnership with the untried Nelson Eddy. His resonant baritone ("Tramp, Tramp, Tramp"), her soaring soprano ("Italian Street Song") and the unique blending of the two ("Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life") instantly endeared "America's Singing Sweethearts" to audiences worldwide. Packed with high adventure, local color (colonial New Orleans) and intense romantic yearning, this tale of a runaway French princess and a dashing American mercenary displays state-of-the-art Hollywood craftsmanship of the mid-1930s. Frank Morgan as the bumbling colonial governor and Elsa Lanchester as his nagging spouse are memorable. Music by Victor Herbert.
Thurs April 1: 4 pm and 8:15 pm

THE FIREFLY
(Robert Z. Leonard, 1937; 131m)
This dazzling adaptation of the Rudolf Friml operetta showcases MacDonald's talents as dancer (fandango, bolero and flamenco!) as well as singer ("Love Is Like a Firefly," "Giannina Mia"). Boldly merging two separate movie genres--the historical war epic and the musical--the newly fashioned plot by Ogden Nash et al. finds MacDonald as a Spanish spy ensnaring Napoleon's officers, ultimately helping to liberate Spain from France. "The Donkey Serenade," specially composed for the film, gives MacDonald and tenor co-star Allan Jones (of "Showboat" and "A Night at the Opera" renown) a famously endearing sequence. This lavish, ambitious chronicle of international military intrigue is one of MacDonald's--and MGM's--rarely screened jewels. A must-see for movie musical buffs.
Fri April 2: 2 pm and 6:45 pm

SAN FRANCISCO
(W.S. Van Dyke II, 1936; 115m)
The disaster flick that has it all! Sin and religion; raw sex and pure idealism; foot-stomping ragtime and grand opera; earthquake special effects that still set the standards. Conceived for MacDonald by MGM gagman Robert "Hoppy" Hopkins (the first to nickname her "The Iron Butterfly") and developed by screenwriter Anita Loos, this colorful story gives us the Great Earthquake of 1906, Clark Gable as rough-and-ready cabaret owner Blackie Norton, MacDonald as the parson's daughter from Colorado with a gift for showbiz, and Spencer Tracy as the kindly chaplain of a Barbary Coast mission. MacDonald, who sings popular ballads along with Verdi and Gounod, delivers a rip-roaring rendition of the title song that sets the crowds to cheering and the ground to shaking.
Fri April 2: 4:30 pm and 9:30 pm

ONE HOUR WITH YOU
(Ernst Lubitsch, 1932; 80m; UCLA Film & TV Archive 35mm tinted print)
Featuring Pre-Code sophistication, a staple of Paramount movie musicals: MacDonald plays the kittenish wife of an urbane Paris doctor (Maurice Chevalier) whom she suspects of having an affair with her best girlhood friend (Genevieve Tobin). Featuring an enticing score by Oscar Straus and Richard A. Whiting, with lyrics by Leo Robin, ONE HOUR abounds in musical double entendres (vide the MacDonald-Chevalier duet "What a Little Thing Like a Wedding Ring Can Do," Tobin's outrageously sexy "Three Times a Day" and the famous title tune. Roland Young, Charles Ruggles and George Barbier add to the sly comedy in this sparkling remake of Lubitsch's silent 1924 film The Marriage Circle.
Sat April 3: 4 pm and 8:30 pm

MAYTIME
(Robert Z. Leonard, 1937; 132m)
Perhaps the most romantic screen musical ever made. Certainly the most sumptuous, visually and musically. In a heartrending story that diverges totally from the original Sigmund Romberg operetta, MacDonald shines as a great 19th century opera star who sacrifices true love for a brilliant career. Along with stirring excerpts from Meyerbeer, Verdi, Donizetti and Wagner, we hear MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in their signature love duet, Romberg's "Will You Remember?," and in "Czaritza," an ersatz Russian opera composed for the film from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. With chilling credibility, John Barrymore plays MacDonald's insanely jealous manager / husband. A milestone in the fusion of opera, song and cinema, this was MacDonald's personal favorite of her 28 pictures. Among the large supporting cast: Herman Bing, Sig Rumann and Leonid Kinsky.
Sat April 3: 6 pm

SMILIN' THROUGH
(Frank Borzage, 1941; 100m)
From Frank Borzage, MGM's master director of full-bodied screen sentiment, a glorious Technicolor remake of a classic tearjerker (filmed silently with Norma Talmadge in 1922 and in black-and-white with Norma Shearer in 1932). Tackling the dual roles of Moonyean, a bride shot to death at her wedding by a jilted lover, and Kathleen, the bride's niece who falls in love with the murderer's son, MacDonald plays opposite Brian Aherne as the grieving fiancé and Gene Raymond in the dual roles of the murderer and his son. This was MacDonald's only big-screen appearance with Raymond, her real-life husband of 27 years. The songs are revivals of WWI hits, including "A Little Love, A Little Kiss" and the nostalgic title tune. Be sure to bring hankies!
Sun April 4: 4 pm and 8:45 pm

SWEETHEARTS
(W.S. Van Dyke II, 1938; 114m)
Walter Winchell called "red-haired, green-orb'd" MacDonald one of the reasons Technicolor was invented, and this melodious screwball comedy proves his point. MGM's first three-color Technicolor feature, it won a Special Oscar for Color Cinematography, and Academy nominations for Best Sound and Best Score. Resetting Victor Herbert's original stage music, screenwriters Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell serve up a modern backstage Broadway plot wickedly satirizing show business. MacDonald and Eddy, in their fifth screen pairing, duet the famous lilting title waltz, "Pretty as a Picture" and "Little Gray Home in the West." With Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan, Herman Bing, Mischa Auer--and drop-dead costumes by Adrian.
Sun April 4: 6:15 pm

ROSE MARIE
(W.S. Van Dyke II, 1936, 113m)
It was standard operating procedure at MGM to cast their favorite singing team of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald in new versions of old operettas, then retain only the music, drastically altering the plotlines to conform to popular tastes. The Eddy-MacDonald version [of ROSE MARIE] casts McDonald as a spoiled, temperamental Canadian opera star who learns that her uncontrollable brother (James Stewart), serving a prison sentence, has escaped to a cabin in the North Woods and needs someone to tend his wounds. McDonald travels to northern Canada incognito, where in a hilarious sequence she tries and fails to pass muster as a dance-hall girl. Upon meeting likeable mountie Nelson Eddy, who unbeknownst to her has been assigned to locate her brother, McDonald fabricates a story about needing an escort for a rendezvous with her lover. Gradually, Nelson and McDonald fall in love, only to fall out of love when Nelson tracks down and captures McDonald's brother. Despite this rift, a happy--and logical--ending is not long in coming.
-- Hal Erickson, The All-Movie Guide.
Highlights include such Eddy-McDonald duets as "Rose Marie" and "Indian Love Call."
Tues April 6: 2 pm and 6:15 pm

THE LOVE PARADE
(Ernst Lubitsch, 1929; 111m; UCLA Film & TV Archive 35mm print)
MacDonald's debut film and Lubitsch's first sound picture offers a mischievous scrambling of time-honored sex roles, with music by Victor Schertzinger and lyrics by Clifford Grey. MacDonald is the husband-seeking ruler of Sylvania, a mythic European queendom, and Maurice Chevalier is the womanizing count she elevates to prince consort and royal stud. In lacy, low-cut lingerie, MacDonald warbles the sensuous "Dream Lover"; Chevalier delivers the spicy lyrics of his showstopping male complaint, "Nobody's Using It Now." Lillian Roth and Lupino Lane sparkle as the comic maid and valet. Catch Jean Harlow as one of the extras.
(Nominated for Best Picture Oscar.)
Tues April 6: 4 pm and 8:10 pm