Beth Kenobi: It is now 8:02 and I ams starting the transcript now
Beth Kenobi: not yet
MamaLion27: Oh, well, better late than never.
LadyJoots: She appears at your command
Dugan EK has entered the room.
Beth Kenobi: Hi Eleanor
LadyJoots: Hello!
Beth Kenobi: Alright, Tonight's topic is Nelson's films
Dugan EK: Hello -- they are shooting a movie outside my window, sending up clouds of steam in the sunset. Very pretty.
MamaLion27: Hi, EK
LadyJoots: Awwww
LadyJoots: *sniff*  San Francisco
Beth Kenobi: This was to be for Joani to learn more
LadyJoots: She's invited, but she hasn't come
Beth Kenobi: Does anyone have a list of the movies he did without JEanette
Beth Kenobi: ok
MamaLion27: Maybe she couldn't connect?
LadyJoots: Just sent another invite
Dugan EK: Broadway to Hollywood, Dancing Lady, Student Tour, Balalaika, Let Freedom Ring, Chocolate Soldier, Phantom of the Opera, Make Mind Music, Knickerbocker Holiday, Northwest Outpost
DIXC: Chovcalate Soldier, Let Freedom Ring, Balalaika, Phantom are a few
Beth Kenobi: ok
Beth Kenobi: Lets start with BTH. Any Comments?
DIXC: "Chocalate"
MamaLion27: Eleanor hit them all!
MamaLion27: Awful. he was singing while others talked on screen!
Dugan EK: I was afraid I'd forget one. A book came out listing Astaire's films and FORGOT Top Hat. No one noticed!
JHami828 has entered the room.
Beth Kenobi: *Hi Joani we are talking about Broadway to Hollywood*
JHami828: OK!!
MamaLion27: The movie Nelson was almost in!
Dugan EK: Nelson is on screen for maybe 10 seconds.
JHami828: Which movie?
Beth Kenobi: BTH
Dugan EK: Broadway to Hollywood
MamaLion27: Broadway to Hollywood with Gable and Crawford.
JHami828: Oh...I see...didn't realize that was a movie...thought it was the topic.
DIXC: He was impressive
Beth Kenobi: No, the topic is Nelson's Solos
Beth Kenobi: How did he get the part for BTH?
JHami828: OK
Dugan EK: No, no. Gable and Crawford are Dancing Lady. Broadway to Hollywood is Alice Brady and Frank Morgan.
LadyJoots: And little Mickey Rooney
MamaLion27: Got me. EK. You are right.
MamaLion27: Dancing Lady gave him that song that was so not him!
DIXC: He did well with it.
LadyJoots: Yeah, a swingy tune... :-D  I think it's got charm though... even though it's not the Nelson we're used to.
JHami828: Which song was that?
Dugan EK: Rhythm of the Day by Rodgers & Hart
Beth Kenobi: Now what about Dancing Lady, Did that give him any better showing?
DIXC: Carlo?
Dugan EK: Rhythm of the Day was Dancing Lady -- he had a chorus or two in the middle of a production number.
Dugan EK: The Carlo was Student Tour -- a major number -- AND he had lines!
Dugan EK: But he had a moustache.
DIXC: Thanks.
Beth Kenobi: Eleanor, I just noticed you forgot Rosalie
MamaLion27: I'm back again and catching up. The moustache was something else. He even wore it in stills for Naughty Marietta.
Beth Kenobi: which I guess would be next since it came right after Rose Marie
Dugan EK: Ah, see?!  I DID forget one -- just like Top Hat.
MamaLion27: You didn't miss it in your book!
Dugan EK: No -- I was going off the top of my head -- and it is a MAJOR film.
JHami828: I haven't seen any of Nelson's non-Jeanette movies.  Recommendations?
LadyJoots: Yup... even Rhino thinks so ;-) *giggles in the background*
Beth Kenobi: I liked Rosalie.
LadyJoots: The Chocolate Soldier
MamaLion27: It was the movie where Nelson sang "In The Still of the Night". Ahhhh!
DIXC: Eleanor Powell said he left a Rose in her room everyday and was something special.
Dugan EK: I adore Chocolate Soldier!
MamaLion27: Rosalie, that is
Beth Kenobi: Who would pass up being Seranaded by Nelson
DIXC: C. S is ONE of my BIG favorites!
JHami828: Did he have a similar "chemistry" with other leading ladies...other than Jeanette?
MamaLion27: Of his solo films, I liked Balalaika" !
Beth Kenobi: Similar, but not quite as much
LadyJoots: He's grand along-side Rise Stevens.  It's too bad they didn't do more films together, but it would have deprived us possibly of more films with Jeanette, where more dollars rolled in.
DIXC: They all were suprised how thoughtful he was to them.
Beth Kenobi: Money was the main factor for them *the studio, not Nelson and his co-stars*
MamaLion27: The chemistry just wasn't there with the others. Almost with Ilona Massy but never quite the same.
Beth Kenobi: She was in 3 of his films
Beth Kenobi: 2 starring and one supporting
DIXC: He had great chemistry with Rise S.
MamaLion27: Yes, she was. Rosalie, Balalaika and Northwest Outpost.
Dugan EK: But she was not his leading lady in Rosalie -- she was the heroine's chum.
Beth Kenobi: She was always the foriegn girl
Beth Kenobi: I said one supporting role
Dugan EK: Hard for her to be from Kansas with her accent.
MamaLion27: I think the least chemistry was with Susanna Foster in "Phantom of the Opera". Of course, he didn't even get the girl in that film
Dugan EK: There was then a big age difference between Foster and Nelson -- he seemed almost more avuncular.
JHami828: Definition?  Avuncular?
Dugan EK: Like an uncle.
Dugan EK: A kindly uncle.
MamaLion27: I would die for an uncle like that!
Beth Kenobi: I didn't really see any chemistry between him and Virgina Bruce but that may just be me
Beth Kenobi: Me too!
LadyJoots: *gives Dorothy a virtual high five*  Hee hee
MamaLion27: Sorry, dear. Grandma first!
DIXC: She (S. Foster) had a great voice.
LadyJoots: I agree with ya, Jessi...
Beth Kenobi: lol
Beth Kenobi: She just never came off to be as being easy going with him
JHami828: Which Jeanette non-Nelson movies would you all recommend?
Dugan EK: One non-Nelson pairing of Jeanette's that didn't quite work and which puzzles me greatly is with Reginald Denny. I've recently seen some of his silent comedies and he was superb -- a double for Cary Grant in romantic comedy.
MamaLion27: The Merry Widow ties with San Francisco for me..
Dugan EK: Perhaps because the film's director didn't tap into their unique chemistry --
Dugan EK: Denny sang -- imagine if they had clicked!  MacDonald & Denny, not MacDonald & Eddy!
MamaLion27: Heaven help us all!
Dugan EK: (His "bad singing" in the film was put on -- )
DIXC: SING???
Dugan EK: Just as Jeanette sometimes pretended to sing badly --
Beth Kenobi: For some odd reason that statement just remined me of her "Brother" in NA
Beth Kenobi: *NM
MamaLion27: Nelson had a hard time doing that even when asked in front of a music class!
Dugan EK: Why "sing???" -- Denny played an aspiring singer who insisted on auditioning  for Carlotte, the opera singer.
Beth Kenobi: NA is the nasty school every respectable SV student dislikes
Dugan EK: What is NA and SV?
MamaLion27: An inside high school joke!
MamaLion27: Rival high schools in Jessi's home town!
Beth Kenobi: SV is my Highschool
Beth Kenobi: Seneca Valley and North Allegheny
Beth Kenobi: Anyway, back to Nelson...
Beth Kenobi: What did you guys think of Northwest Outpost
MamaLion27: I loved it.
MamaLion27: But i am apt to be biased!
Beth Kenobi: I did too except for the creepy ex
DIXC: It had Nelson singing.
Dugan EK: I loved the story -- but hated the songs. Just meandering riffs with awful lyrics ("Raindrops on a drum"??)
CraziLadii has entered the room.
LadyJoots: Hello, Diane!
CraziLadii: Hi Ginny
LadyJoots: O:-)
CraziLadii: and everyone else
MamaLion27: Love is the Time is one I liked and his recording of it is better than the film soundtrack!
JHami828: How about Let Freedom Ring?  How was that one?
MamaLion27: Gr
MamaLion27: GREAT!
CraziLadii: loved it.  He was really himself
Beth Kenobi: I loved it
Beth Kenobi: Well...Except for the kiss in the Cave that was cut short
DIXC: It showed that Nelson was a very good actor AND could sing
MamaLion27: Yes, Jessi. I hate it when they cut the love scenes.
MamaLion27: So right, Dick!
LadyJoots: I liked it, too... I think it was weaker due to how Ms. Bruce's part was written, though.
Beth Kenobi: She seemed very distint and I couldn't relate to her as I could with the others
JHami828: I guess one thing I like is that I can understand just about every word that Nelson sings
CraziLadii: wonderful diction
MamaLion27: In Westerns the female lead is secondary.
Beth Kenobi: yeah, He does sing in all english
JHami828: Oops...I mean I understand his English songs.
MamaLion27: His diction is perfect for any language he sings in.
CraziLadii: gotta run
JHami828: I have more trouble understanding a soprano voice.
CraziLadii has left the room.
LadyJoots: Yeah, but she slows down the film a lot... *appologizes to self and Jessi before hand*... like... in John Wayne movies, Mareen O'Hara brings more life to the films.
DIXC: He sounds American compared to some famous European talents.
JHami828: I mean..I miss some of Jeanette
JHami828: Jeanette's words
JHami828: Are all of Nelson's movies available on video?
Dugan EK: No -- Broadway to Hollywood hasn't been --
DIXC: Now again more are.
Dugan EK: But not a huge loss -- and it's been on Turner.
JHami828: The others are?
Dugan EK: Maybe not all right this minute -- but the others have all been put out in commercial versions.
Beth Kenobi: I have seen LFR a couple of times at Blast Movies
DIXC: Many are available from a place in ITASCA, IL.
MamaLion27: Mother just came for her children as now-bald great-grandma sighs with relief!
DIXC: We saw all our grandchildren yesterday
Dugan EK: For those lucky enough to have Turner (sob), all the MGM films have shown from time to time. Same for both Jeanette and Nelson.
MamaLion27: Yes, a number of them are slated for April
MamaLion27: We haven't touched on Willy yet have we?
Dugan EK: No leading lady in that one, just the seagull.
DIXC: Fine performance by Nelson
MamaLion27: True. Nelson sang the soprano parts in that.
JHami828: That was a very nice performance.  I saw it with my son when he was young!
DIXC: He did a WHALE of a job
Dugan EK: Groannnnnn.
MamaLion27: OOH, Dick!
DIXC: He did sing in MANY ranges.
LadyJoots: *giggles*
JHami828: EEK...Dick...that was bad!
MamaLion27: He could sang just about anything. The children laugh when I tell them he could make a hit out of the recipe on a box of cake mix!
Beth Kenobi: Why do I think I should be glad this is going over my head?
DIXC: Remember he did OPERA down to Night Club singing and all very well.
MamaLion27: Yes, and that was another leading lady he had chemistry with..But "The Desert Song" wasn't on film..it was live television!
DIXC: We were lucky he spent some time in MOVIES!
JHami828: So true!  Any of his movies not recommended?
MamaLion27: None. All of them had Nelson!
JHami828: :-)
MamaLion27: Just don't spend too much time on those ones where he had bit parts.
DIXC: ALL were great. Some drew more money than others.
JHami828: Glad to hear that...I'm collecting them...
MamaLion27: Great hobby!
JHami828: Yes, it is!
JHami828: How was Knickerbocker Holiday?
MamaLion27: That was one where Nelson lost his shirt..in investing in it. The film bombed.
JHami828: Do you all still like it?  Even though it didn't do well?
Beth Kenobi: I never saw it
DIXC: He was in it. That helps much.
MamaLion27: Probably because the film's big song went to a non-singer! But Nelson still kept up his end.
JHami828: Who sang the big song?
MamaLion27: I have it here, Jessi.
DIXC: Charles Coburn sang it
Dugan EK: The horror of Knickerboc ker is that they cut most of the Kurt Weill songs and substituted very inferior ones. Also, they changed the plot which was highly critical of political corruption. It was okay on stage, but too "controversi
Beth Kenobi: Ok....Its (
Beth Kenobi: *9
Dugan EK: "controversial" for a film they thought --

Dugan EK: Jon Svvenson keeps saying in his concerts that Nelson should have sung "September Song" which is absurd. The song is sung by an old man near death -- not by the young hero.
MamaLion27: Well, it is still worth having, Joani, for the reasons previously espoused!
DIXC: Will have to go now. Thanks for the good time. Bye all.:-)
LadyJoots: Night, Dick!

MamaLion27: Bye Dick!
DIXC: :-)
DIXC has left the room.
JHami828: Time to say goodbye...THANKS FOR THE CHAT!
Beth Kenobi: welcome
MamaLion27: I have to go, too, Bye all.
JHami828 has left the room.
MamaLion27 has left the room.
Beth Kenobi: I am going to send the Transcript now

Posted May 17, 2003