“There are two factions of Jeanette MacDonald fans,” Maggie explained to me. “Those who believe she had a happy marriage with Gene Raymond and those who believe she had a longtime secret affair with her frequent co-star Nelson Eddy. In 1963, when Jeanette and Gene moved from a house to an apartment because of her failing health, they gave photos, scrapbooks, awards, and other items to her two fan clubs to use in their journals, as well as to auction within the clubs for the charities they supported. After Jeanette’s death, one club disbanded. Gene gave the other club more material and, after his death, they also acquired other items that belonged to the Raymonds. The co-presidents discussed donating to various archives, but never made a final decision. One died and the other developed dementia and moved into a care facility. A nephew hired an estate sale company and they, in turn, sold many items that belonged to the Raymonds. The two ‘sides’ battled it out over some of it. Some friends and I pooled resources so that we could purchase some things we were afraid would be buried if the pro-affair contingent acquired them. These include a great deal of correspondence between Jeanette and Gene. Most were written during World War II when Gene was stationed in England in the Army Air Force.”
Jeanette MacDonald planned to quote from some of the wartime letters, as well as a few others, in her unpublished autobiography. Maggie read three versions of the manuscript. One housed at USC, another in a private collection, and a third incomplete draft published some years ago by a different author. The latter of which has received some criticism from film historians who said the author incorrectly read into some passages, like claiming some of Jeanette’s handwritten notes about Gene’s mother applied to Nelson. Presently, it is not known if the final version still exists.
“I have a tremendous amount of correspondence about the autobiography,” Maggie explained. “Jeanette worked with several ghostwriters and ultimately decided to do it herself. Publishers kept wanting her to add more spice, but she said that was not the kind of life she led. They also wanted her to gossip about her movie colleagues and she refused. The troubles she had with ghostwriters and a literary agent are a book in themselves. The agent is the only one who profited, as he kept collecting commissions from Jeanette and various ghostwriters after she settled with them and hired someone else.”
Bear Manor Media chose to divide the book into three volumes because of its length, a wise decision based on the separation of time periods. Volume one covers Jeanette and Gene’s lives before and through World War II. Volume two contains transcriptions of wartime letters, as well as annotations, putting them in context and explaining people and events that are mentioned. Volume three covers the Raymonds’ lives after the war, showing how the war and changes in the entertainment industry and public taste affected their lives and careers.
