November 24, 2002                             Back to Chat

You have just entered room "NelsonAndJeanette."

GarlandGrl : ROFL

GarlandGrl : Sorry, Jessi!

GarlandGrl : I beat ya to it!

Beth Kenobi : Sorry about that....I didn't know Ginny had opened the chat

Beth Kenobi : :-)

GarlandGrl : Quite all right... ;-)

Dugan EK has entered the room.

MamaLion27 : How did we lose EK?
DIXC : Got 2 messages to join. But it is better than none. Hope all are well:-)

GarlandGrl : We got her back... ;-)

MamaLion27 : Oh, good.
Dugan EK : Thank you for fetching me back -- I suddenly was all alone.

GarlandGrl : Jessi and I didn't talk before we started... ;-)

MamaLion27 : Did anyone here beside EK read Nelson's first review?
DIXC : I did

GarlandGrl : I'm not sure if I really have or not... I have a lot of reading up on Nelson to do.

MamaLion27 : I loved it. He got it the night before he did his role in The Marriage Tax.

Beth Kenobi : i never did

MamaLion27 : The reporter heard him at rehearsal and literally begged the readers to go to the performance.

Beth Kenobi : :-) SHe had taste then
Dugan EK : You say "first review" -- but we don't know that he never got written up for a childhood school or church concert performance. Though PROBABLY Isabel would have immortalized it in a scrapbook as she did all his subsequent reviews.
DIXC : He over whelmed the audience.

MamaLion27 : Aha. You immediately assumed it was a woman! there is no reference to the gender of the reporter.
Dugan EK : :-)

MamaLion27 : And EK is right. I should have prefaced that with first review of his debut opera role.
Dugan EK : Jeanette was reviewed for a kiddy show in 1908 as I recall -- making a 1907 birthdate unlikely.
Dugan EK : No, YOU may be right -- Isabelle would probably have saved it if he had gotten an earlier plug.

MamaLion27 : His second, the night after his performance, said he had great talent as an actor and a voice that was thrilling. He was just 21 years old.
DIXC : Also Jeanette could not have been on a broadway stage if she was born later

MamaLion27 : But Jeanette performed in kiddie revues, didn't she?
Dugan EK : Yes -- toured in kiddy shows.
DIXC : You have to be old enough to do Broadway

MamaLion27 : And she was sweet 16 when she got her first real Broadway role?
DIXC : And not 13
Dugan EK : Yes -- November 1919. Not technically "Broadway" but chorus of a tab show in the Capital Theatre, a cinema on Broadway.
Dugan EK : And by the following February or so she was in the chorus of a Bway show.
Dugan EK : So -- yes -- 16 when playing on Broadway. (Not 13!) Still very respectable!!
Dugan EK : (Or even 12.)
DIXC : Very early but not 13!

MamaLion27 : I hate to admit my age, but the year I was born she got her first leading role..in "Yes, Yes, Yvette".
Dugan EK : Let's face it. Both J&N decided fairly early what they wanted to do with their lives. Although Nelson was sidetracked by having to earn a living -- working in the electrical factory and then for newspapers.
DIXC : One of his first performance he was not listed in the program and every one was asking "Who is he; he was great"

MamaLion27 : Yes. It seems Jeanette never had to do that.
Dugan EK : Yes -- Nelson was in "The Marriage Tax" -- which is remembered ONLY because he was in it. It was one of those society-lady vanity productions to raise funds for something.
Dugan EK : I recall doing costumes for several such productions in NYC.

MamaLion27 : Nelson was packing them in eight years later. At one concert there were 7500 people gathered and not all of them could get into the hall.
DIXC : My mother did many style shows but it was mostly "NEIGHBORHOOD" work
Dugan EK : In a sense, Jeanette actually chose the "easier" career -- many more jobs for chorus dancers than for baritone soloists.
Dugan EK : Many more performances of musicals than of operas.
DIXC : He was admired for his voice and good looks and friendliness EARLY.
DIXC : Nelson had to support his mother and worked and got ready for singing in ALL of his spare time, while J could take care of herself early on.

MamaLion27 : By 1929 of course Jeanette's Broadway years were over. Nelson was getting on the concert circuit and the radio while Jeanette went into films.
DIXC : They both had great Talent from an early age and FINALLY met in Hollywood. Thank God.

MamaLion27 : The collision was heard around the world!
Dugan EK : I have always enjoyed Nelson's writing. If he hadn't made it as a singer, I think he would have been a fine journalist. But I can't imagine Jeanette following any other career --

GarlandGrl : Are any of Nelson's earlier articles lurking about somewhere?
DIXC : Nelson was in many Operas in the 20's, both in Phil., N.Y. and in San Fran.
Dugan EK : I've not read anything he wrote as a teenager, but his "I Bought a Horse" is charming.

MamaLion27 : And his song lyrics were great, too. I loved the words he wrote to Rachmaninoff's music.

KathrynGraysonFn has entered the room.

GarlandGrl : You mean Night? :-)

MamaLion27 : I think that was the title.

GarlandGrl : Yay! :-D

GarlandGrl : By the way... Hello Kayla!

Beth Kenobi : hi Kayla
KathrynGraysonFn : Aloha

MamaLion27 : Yes, I just dug it out of my file. "Night" is the title.
DIXC : Sharon Rich has an excellent book about his early career "The OperaYears".

GarlandGrl : I was able to contribute! *leaps in joy!*

GarlandGrl : How is that, Dick? I haven't been able to pick a copy up yet... and I've heard a few tidbits from Eleanor.
DIXC : Took me 2 years of muscle to get it from her. But it is very informative about those early years also.

MamaLion27 : I haven't read that one,Dick.
DIXC : His reviews and the audience reaction are all in there. Even a chapter on J in Opera
Dugan EK : Ginny, I have a copy on my bookshelf. Sorry I didn't lend it to you.

GarlandGrl : LOL ;-) That's okay... :-)
KathrynGraysonFn : I try to avoid her books at all costs...
KathrynGraysonFn : I fear them now.

MamaLion27 : Jeanette's opera career evolved after her movie career was over, didn't it?
Dugan EK : Curiously -- the "Irving Stone letters" book that Sharon put out, formerly listed as forthcoming on www.BarnesandNoble.com, is no longer listed. Hmmm.

GarlandGrl : Eeeeee... she says on her site it's out.
Dugan EK : In November B&N listed it as due out in October --
DIXC : The 3 CD that i sent out for some of you were from S. R. It took me almost 3 years to get those from her after I paid for them.
Dugan EK : I recommend that anyone wishing any book or CD get it through a reliable source like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble or Larry Edmunds -- one which will refund money if goods aren't delivered.
DIXC : She has a special book company that sells it.

MamaLion27 : That's why I haven't ever sent for anything. I am afraid after hearing how long it takes to get them.
DIXC : It is listed in her "HOME PAGE".

Beth Kenobi : Amazon is not getting too much good reviews. Two people on my LOTR list were told they would recieve the movie the day it came otu and are still waiting for it
Dugan EK : Which movie?

GarlandGrl : Lord of the Rings

GarlandGrl : ;-)

GarlandGrl : November 22, 2002: The Irving Stone book is OUT!! Yay!!! Thanks for hanging in there with me while the formatting of this book was completed.

GarlandGrl : (SR)
Dugan EK : Of course, Amazon and others are at the mercy of the suppliers.

GarlandGrl : Details for the Los Angeles meeting on December 15th have been posted.
DIXC : She has some great stuff but it is hard to get, often. She is not reliable.

MamaLion27 : I will stick to B&N or Amazon. I have never had trouble with them.
Dugan EK : Someone in LA might go and try to buy the book/s, but with the opera book, she had only a few copies, not for sale, because "the printer goofed" -- I suspect he just wanted to be paid.
KathrynGraysonFn : most likely

GarlandGrl : I want to try to go... but I'm not going alone! :-)
Dugan EK : Ginny, Helen might be happy to go with you.

GarlandGrl : I always end up being out of state when one of the meetings takes place, I think it's a conspiracy...

GarlandGrl : Really? I'll have to see... I have my last final on the 13th...

MamaLion27 : I would find tha a bit far to go for a book! :-D
Dugan EK : Ah, but the ENTERTAINMENT value of hearing about how Nelson murdered a man, etc.

GarlandGrl : She's right Dorothy... I want to see her in action :o)

GarlandGrl : It's like the horrible curiousity after a car crash... which generally I don't have.

GarlandGrl : :-D
Dugan EK : "Six impossible things before breakfast," to quote Lewis Carroll.

MamaLion27 : Did anyone see the item about Nelson's unusual rehearsal for his broadcast on WABC in 1931?
Dugan EK : No.
DIXC : What happened?

MamaLion27 : The one where he had to rehearse in a phone booth because he forgot to reserve a studio. He passed on accompaniment because it was too hard to fit a piano in there with him.
Dugan EK : Like singing in the shower!

MamaLion27 : Yep. I loved that one, too!:-)

GarlandGrl : Singing in the shower?
Dugan EK : The resonance of a phone booth must be like a shower stall.

MamaLion27 : Nope. The phone booth scenario! It was in a New York paper.
DIXC : I know he did two shows. One for the west coast at an earlier time and since there were no tapes in those days he would have supper and the redo the same show for the West coast.
DIXC : East then west - sorry.
Dugan EK : Yes, they still did that when my father was at NBC in the 1940s.

MamaLion27 : Yes, both radio and even television live shows had to be done twice.

MamaLion27 : Didn't Christine have a question for this topic? I can't get my mail but I think she sent one in.

GarlandGrl : I'm honestly blanking out... it's a wonder I'm still here. ;-) (Sorry Christine)

GarlandGrl : What do you all want to discuss next week?
Dugan EK : Okay, let me pose one. What career might Jeanette have followed if she had not succeeded in show business? Would she have "just married" and become a spectacular wife, aiding her husband's career? Or might she have followed one of h
Dugan EK : her own -- and if so, what?

KathrynGraysonFn has left the room.
Dugan EK : That's a question for today, not next week -- oh, time's almost gone.

GarlandGrl : I personally think Jeanette would have worked... I don't think she's really house wife material in the long run. :-)

GarlandGrl : I don't know what she'd have done... but she would have been involved somehow, especially during WWII.
Dugan EK : But she considered marriage to Ohlmeis and Ritchie before finding Gene who agreed to her continuing her career.

MamaLion27 : Jeanette was too independent to follow..she would have wanted her own career and it would have been something in the entertainment field, I am sure..

GarlandGrl : She may have gotten married... but it might not have lasted, because she would have been bored. This is totally speculation :-D

MamaLion27 : Let's give some others out there a chance to develop a topic for next week. But bu Wednesday, at least.

GarlandGrl : Okie dokie... anything else we want to discuss?
DIXC : Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Thanks for the nice time. Have to go now. Take care.

GarlandGrl : Same to you, Dick! Bye!
Dugan EK : Happy Thanksgiving --

MamaLion27 : Well, I have to go. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Dugan EK has left the room.

GarlandGrl : Bye!

MamaLion27 has left the room.
DIXC : Bye:-):-)

DIXC has left the room.

Beth Kenobi : Happy Thanksgiving everyone....since it is now about 9 I shall send teh transcripts out

GarlandGrl has left the room.

Posted May 24, 2003