DOROTHY PARKER and her husband, Alan Campbell, and W.S. Van Dyke - and it's about time Mr Van Dyke - and Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald and Frank Morgan all will surprise you. You might expect to find Sweethearts a great Technicolor extravaganza with girls hanging from the ceiling, but with the greatest surprise you will find instead an amusing and charming story of Broadway people, written by people who knew them, played and sung with extraordinary simplicity by Metro's highest paid canaries, and with another one of those superbly edited musical scores, based on Victor Herbert's operetta.
I frankly moaned when I saw I was supposed to go see this one, because after Mr Van Dyke's Rosalie, I presumed he would go the whole hog in colour and have five thousand chorus girls marching to every number.
I thank Miss Parker, Mr Campbell, Mr Van Dyke, the cast, and Metro for a very pleasant surprise, and for producing a tuneful, decorative, and generally satisfactory motion picture.
Alan Campbell: "We've got to find a new way for Nelson Eddy to meet Jeanette MacDonald."
Dorothy Parker: "What's the matter with the old way. Everyone seems to be satisfied. Eddy, MacDonald, and the audience."
Marionettes to Give Play
Puppets to Present "Sweethearts"
The world's oldest type of entertainment becomes the latest 1938 novelty in the form of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's travelling theatre Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This is a marionette theatre mounted on a sound-equipped truck with a 16-foot stage, a 16-foot curtain, and a glass-enclosed stage. The marionettes are likenesses of Hollywood stars, and the actual voices of these stars are played on a sound track as the puppets go through the motions of dramatic scenes from photoplays.
"Sweethearts", in which Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy are costarred, will be the presentation in front of Loew's Valentine Thursday.
The four operators who guide the puppets through their lifelike action are leading exponents of the marionette art. The travelling theatre is a brightly spangled affair with a roof that can be raised and lowered, a complete system of spotlights, dimmers, generators, and all the latest developments in the stage and screen fields.
The figures were created under the supervision of a master craftsman in California, by a special secret process. Their average weight is 10 pounds.
Gene Lockhart, who appears as Jeanette MacDonald's cousin in "Sweethearts", had a new tuxedo made for his role in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical. He arrived on the set to discover that he can wear the tuxedo pants and vest, but must wear a smoking jacket instead of the coat.
Reported squabbles between Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy on the "Sweethearts" set has put Director Woody Van Dyke five days behind schedule.
Clark Gable's singing voice will be heard in the chorus of the title number of "Sweethearts", only it won't get screen credit.
Gable dropped in on the stage to visit Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy while the song was being recorded. He was invited by the composer and conductor, Herbert Stothart, to join in, which he did with gusto.
Afterward Dr Edouard Lippe, Eddy's singing teacher, commented that with training the femme audience panicker might aspire to solo screen warbling.
"Not me," said Gable. "The most I expect from my barytone is that it will carry above the sound of a shower bath."
$20 Prize Letter
Grand Entertainment
Again I got a new thrill on seeing Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in their new technicolor film, "Sweethearts". What could be more joyous than to see and hear these two magnificent artists sing those immortal Victor Herbert melodies? They are finer than ever, if I am any judge! Their looks, their golden voices, their youth, their clever, intelligent acting are food for our senses, and I feel it a privilege to have lived to see such perfect artistic work on the screen.
A toast to Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the most delightful and romantic of all screen lovers. May both be with us for a long time to come! To be taken from our workaday tasks and wafted on wings of song and clever, delightful entertainment such as "Sweethearts" is a stimulus to the most jaded souls.
Mrs F. T. Crowther, Portland, Ore.
There is one sequence so funny in "Sweethearts" that Metro is afraid to let the public see it. It is the scene in which a talent scout phones a movie producer. Philip Loeb plays the movie producer, and his satire is so true that after the sneak preview the producers at the studio squawked and they re-shot the scene with Reginald Owen. But the scene isn't broad enough burlesque yet, and they are re-shooting it again with George Barbier. The scene is absolutely necessary to the picture and was written by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell... During a story conference John Wexley said to the producer: "Let me stop and think about that idea for a minute." He did. The producer tapped his fingers on the desk and impatiently mumbled: "Well, dreamer?"
It's a thrill for a newcomer to receive her first fan letter, but Ann Morriss got a triple thrill because her first fan letter came from the stars.
A Dallas, Texas girl, Miss Morriss is making her screen debut opposite Dennis O'Keefe in "The Chaser". The fan mail boy arrived on the set and presented her with the letter. It was signed by Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Eleanor Powell, and Luise Rainer. It contained greetings and a warm welcome.
STAR DONS SKI SUIT BICYCLING TO WORK
Jeanette MacDonald is the only person in Hollywood who wears a ski suit in the summer time. In order to keep trim while working on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Sweethearts", she rides a bicycle part of the way to work. When she tires, her driver, who follows, picks her up.
Nelson Eddy and dignity are synonymous. Over a period of years the great singer has kept his place as an artist and a gentleman. Never once has he broken faith with his millions of fans. In his quiet forceful way, Nelson has remained true to type and never turned to crazy comedy. So it is difficult to connect the singing star with any situation that isn't entirely dignified.
Still in Sweethearts there is one scene that would be even funnier if all audiences were in on the truth. Nelson sings a song while the stagehands move scenery all around him. He has to duck to keep from being hit. He has to jump back and forth to keep them from mowing him down. Finally he has to stoop quickly to keep from getting clunked over the head.
Time and again they took this scene. Some little thing would alwasy happen at the last moment and it would have to be done again. Finally, one especially good "take" got under way. Nelson went through his gymnastics beautifully. But, as he stooped to carry out the action, only a kindly fate and a long protecting cape saved the situation from low comedy. His tights had split, and there was nothing to do but sing. Nelson carried on for the sake of good ol' Metro. The director called it a perfect scene. When you see it on the screen, if you'll look closely you'll note an amused twinkle in Nelson's eyes.
In a New York restaurant the other night the autographunters nearly mobbed Gene Raymond and overlooked the two ladies he escorted. They only happened to be Jeanette MacDonald and Irene Dunne...
BOLGER TO SING IN NEW CINEMA
Ray Bolger will go operatic in the Victor Herbert operetta, "Sweethearts", and sing a duet with Jeanette MacDonald. It was a jittery moment for the eccentric, dashing star, when he stepped up to the microphone opposite Miss MacDonald, flanked by a 60-piece symphony orchestra and a chorus of 200, for his first test recording.
"Bet you can't even hear me with all that noise," said Bolger, with a sweeping gesture, taking in the orchestra and chorus, when Conductor Herbert Stothart lowered his baton.
"Let's listen to the test," Stothart suggested.
Bolger's voice came out clear as a bell.
"Was that my voice?" Bolger asked. "Play it again."
Bolger cocked one ear and grinned.
"Not bad," he laughed. "Not bad."
Bolger will sing and dance a Dutch wooden shoe number with Miss MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, which W.S. Van Dyke is directing.
Since his operatic debut, Bolger is enquiring about singing teachers.
Ray Bolger is an "ice cream" tenor. While recording his numbers with Jeanette MacDonald for the Victor Herbert operetta, "Sweethearts", he consumed one ice cream sandwich after another.
"It's no gag," said Bolger, who makes his operatic debut in the film. "I have tried all the gargles and throat soothers manufactured. None eases the vocal chords like ice cream."
Adrian refers to one of his most gorgeous creations for Jeanette MacDonald as his "mermaid gown". It's an evening dress made of overlapping, iridescent blue sequins which glitter as one might imagine a mermaid. Miss MacDonald wears it in a fashion parade sequence of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Sweethearts".
LUCK IN LETTERS M-N FOR JEANETTE
There is luck in the letters "M" and "N" for Jeanette MacDonald, who has seen that her screen character names start with one or the other ever since the sensational success of "Naughty Marietta", the operetta that teamed her for the first time with Nelson Eddy and Director W. S. Van Dyke II.
This was amusingly revealed when the singing star walked on the set to begin work in her latest musical, "Sweethearts", which began a week's run in Loew's Valentine Theatre today. She discovered that she had been given the name Gwen Arden by Scenarists Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell.
Miss MacDonald called a conference with Eddy and Van Dyke. "Think up a good 'M' or 'N' name before we start," she said. Miss MacDonald decided on Gwen Marlowe.
The star's lucky "M" and "N" names in pictures have been Marietta in "Naughty Marietta", Rose Marie in "Rose-Marie", Mary Blake in "San Francisco", Marcia Mornay in "Maytime", and Nina Azara in "The Firefly".
The first wax recording to be made on a motion picture set was made by Nelson Eddy and a marine band of 85 pieces for the "On Parade" number of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Sweethearts", in which Jeanette MacDonald co-stars.
Sweethearts - M-G-M
VICTOR HERBERT'S music, as melodic as the colour tones in which this extravaganza is filmed, sustains a familiar story here. The newest of the Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy pictures is a welcome addition to the list of their successes. It has beauty, charm, and great production and, in addition, a masterly blending of yesterday's light-opera technique with today's ultra-modern tempo.
In the story, Nelson and Jeanette are sweethearts celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary and also their sixth year as stars of a Broadway play named "Sweethearts". Into this tranquil bit of happiness comes Reginald Gardiner, agent from Hollywood, who attempts to steal the pair for the movies from stage producer Frank Morgan. When it appears they are about to accept, playwright Mischa Auer steps in with a bit of plotting that not only stops the Hollywood plans, but causes the team to separate. Jeanette and Nelson go their separate ways until Auer's machinations are uncovered and Morgan confesses his part in the strategy. There is a happy quality about the entire piece which may be sorely needed amid the deluge of bleak pictures with a message which Hollywood has produced lately and, as a result, you will remember especially the blithe manner in which both Jeanette and Nelson handle their assignments. Neither has ever been in better voice. You will appreciate the work of little Terry Kilburn who plays Jeanette's brother and you will like Florence Rice as the faithful secretary. Director W. S. Van Dyke is to be congratulated.
SWEETHEARTS - M-G-M
YOU MacDonald-Eddy fans have already written your own reviews of this one, in long lines at theatre box-offices from New York to California, so what can I say? It is definitely what you have ordered, it is a glossy show. For once, I suspect that neither Jeanette MacDonald fan-clubs nor the Nelson Eddy addicts can quarrel, because it seems to me each star has an equal amount of close-ups. Or wait a minute - that's exactly what will start a New Feud, with the MacDonald fanatics claiming that with Jeanette's undoubted advantage in Technicolor she should have rated more close-ups than Mr Eddy, and the Nelson adorers just as positive that the blond baritone's slight edge in a more human and sympathetically written role should have been rewarded with just one more song. I'm not taking sides. I think Miss MacDonald is ravishing in Technicolor. For once Mr Eddy leaves a warmer impression as an actor. The "big", but big musical numbers are overpoweringly gorgeous, but I liked the "little" big numbers in which Miss MacDonald's voice is a joy and her radiant presence a rainbow of loveliness. Frank Morgan, Reginald Gardiner, and Mischa Auer provide de luxe comedy.
Nelson Eddy, working in "Sweethearts" at M-G-M, is whiling away his spare moments on his hobby, carving figures from big blocks of balsa wood.
As the temperature climbs, Nelson works on the figure of a woman. Maybe it's the thought of the heat in the back of his mind, but this lady won't have a stitch on when her figure is completed.
STAR'S GOOD DEED SAVES BALLERINA
Rather than see one of the Albertina Rasch ballet girls embarrassed because she had accidentally spoilt a "take" Jeanette MacDonald took the blame for the mistake.
It was the "Pretty as a Picture" number for "Sweethearts", in which Miss MacDonald waltzes with Nelson Eddy. With more than 400 extras on the immense set, more than an hour had been required to light the scene. The Metro-Goldwyn Mayer picture is being filmed in Technicolor.
Just before the end of the long sequence, one of the girls partly dropped her flowered hoop. Director W. S. Van Dyke had not noticed the slip, as it had occurred behind Miss MacDonald, and had ordered the take printed, but the eagle eye of Mme Rasch detected it and she reprimanded the girl for spoiling an otherwise perfect picture.
"It was my fault," said the star, noting the girl's embarrassment. "I swung too close to her on that last turn."
"Forget it," whispered Nelson Eddy to the girl, "if I don't wreck this next take it will be a miracle."
Albertina Rasch's dancers are bleaching themselves these days and lemons are much in demand. Sixty of them are doing their best to get back to their normal shades after taking sun baths outside the sound stage for four weeks.
That was all right at the time because "Sweethearts", starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, in which they are to dance, was scheduled to be filmed in black and white. Tanned skin would have saved a make-up job. Now the picture's to be done in colour.
So the girls have been told to lose their tan as quickly as possible.
NO MORE gay week-ends, swimming and playing tennis and sun-tanning, for Jeanette MacDonald until she finishes "Sweethearts". The picture is being done in Technicolor which means that if Jeanette even gets so much as a dash of sunburn she'll look funny on the screen. When a star starts a technicolor picture she might as well reconcile herself to sitting at home and knitting until it's over.
"Sweethearts" is dedicated to all the lovers in the world. This is a new idea. Pictures have been dedicated to mothers, to doctors, to families, to boys, to sailors, but never to lovers. Are you a lover? Well, this is National Lover Month. You are initiated when you see "Sweethearts", that glamourous and exciting Victor Herbert musical thrill.
It was directed by Sweetheart Van Dyke, produced by Sweetheart Stromberg and written by Sweethearts Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell.
In addition to Sweethearts MacDonald and Eddy, the cast includes Sweetheart Frank Morgan, Sweetheart Ray Bolger, Sweetheart Florence Rice, and that trio of sensation Sweethearts - Herman Bing, Mischa Auer, Reginald Gardiner.
This truly big picture has been filmed entirely in technicolor.
Love is sweeping the country. - Leo
MOVIE REVIEWS
****Sweethearts
Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy singing the Victor Herbert melodies from "Sweethearts" reunite for their best picture since the captivating "Naughty Marietta". The music is superb, the dialogue provocative, the story plausible and absorbing, and sheer magic is acheived with the colour photography.
Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, writing a play within the original stage version, concocted an amusing plot. The "Sweethearts" are not only hero and heroine of the Broadway success, but man and wife in real life and much in love. They're allowed to stay that way until Reginald Gardiner, a Hollywood talent scout, breaks up the six-year run of the play with promises of an utopian life for the team in the film capital. Mischa Auer, playwright of Sweethearts, conspires with producer Frank Morgan and the heroine is made to believe that her husband is really in love with their secretary, Florence Rice. The team splits, the play closes, and into the story comes Young Douglas McPhail and Betty Jaynes to co-star with the separated lovers on different road tours. All ends happily, of course, but not without a thoroughly satisfactory sequence of comedy, song, and dancing from MacDonald and Eddy, the talented Ray Bolger, and an excellent cast. The gentle satire on Hollywood and the fun poked at typical Broadway theatrical families are very amusing. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke. - M-G-M.
First '39 Baby Will Win Pass For Its Parents
If the first baby born in Lucas County in 1939 is named Jeanette or Nelson, the parents will be given a three-months pass to Loew's Valentine Theatre, manage Wally Caldwell announced last night.
The name would honour one of the stars in the current attraction at Loew's. They are Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
Records of the birth registrar will determine whose baby was born first.
Continuing
LOEW'S VALENTINE - "Sweethearts", M-G-M's streamlined version of the Victor Herbert operetta starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Mellifluous and handsome in gorgeous Technicolor, it is easily the best of the Eddy-MacDonald series.
During rehearsals of the musical finale of "Sweethearts", Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were working at the top of a high ramp on a theatre stage setting. The Technicolor lights made the set extremely hot and Jeanette felt her throat drying up. She expressed a desire for a glass of water and Nelson gallantly offered to get it for her. Just as he reached the top of the slope on the return trip his feet shot out from under him and he fell flat on his face, but he hung onto the glass of water and spilled less than half of it. "The mail must go through," cracked Nelson, while the extras explauded his unexpected acrobatics.
Continuing
LOEW'S VALENTINE - "Sweethearts", Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the best of their series to date. Splendidly sung, lavishingly produced and gorgeously coloured.
Loew's Holding "Sweethearts" For Added Week
"Sweethearts", M-G-M's gloriously sung screen version of Victor Herbert's mellifluous operetta of the same name, will be held over for a second week's run in Loew's Valentine Theatre starting tomorrow. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy are the co-stars of this feature, which has been sumptuously produced and filmed entirely in technicolor. Surrounding the co-stars is a strong cast numbering such favourites as Frank Morgan, Herman Bing, Mischa Auer, Florence Rice, Gene Lockhart, Ray Bolger, and Reginald Gardiner. Action centres around a pair of musical comedy stars who are married to each other and very much in love.
Success of "Sweethearts" has determined M-G-M to put Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy into another picture together. Studio is now considering "Katinka" for the pair. Vehicle will be ready when Eddy completes a concert tour, which will follow his honeymoon.
Mitch Woodbury Reports
On the Movies
"Sweethearts", the latest in a series of Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald screen operettas, is a "sweetheart" of a picture. Done in technicolor by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the production cost a pretty penny (yeah, even the pennies come that way in H-wood). The gold has been wisely spent, however, for the finished product possesses everything movie audiences delight in.
"Sweethearts" is an adaptation of the Victor Herbert operetta of similar title. But in the streamlined version M-G-M turned out, only the caption and the music remain. The original story has been tossed into the blue Pacific and a more modern tale substituted. Dorothy Parker and her husband, Alan Campbell, are the compounders of the latter.
And though their narrative is sometimes pretty obvious, it is so filled with bright dialogue and so often interrupted by the glorious voices of the stars singing the glorious Herbert melodies that this shortcoming never becomes glaringly disernable.
The feature went on view in Loew's Valentine Theatre yesterday and met with heartfelt approbation from tremendous holiday crowds. It has been scheduled for a week. But if the throngs continue to pack the show shop, the run will have to be extended. Don't count on that, however.
Jeanette and Nelson appear as musical comedy stars in the story. They're not only sweethearts in this tale but man and wife - and very much in love. And they're allowed to stay that way until they threaten to have a whirl at Hollywood.
Then a dirty trick is played on them by their producer and his staff in an attempt to keep them in New York. The wife is made to think hubby has been cheating on the side with their faithful and attractive secretary.
This leads to the big bust-up and separate road tours because H-wood only wants them as a team. However, in the end it is all straightened out and forgiven.
Technicolor has been very kind to Miss MacDonald and she looks far more lovely than ever before. And in the shopping sequence, which finds her donning many becoming dresses, gowns, and outfits in a miniature fashion revue, she elicits "ohs" and "ahs" from the fans of both genders. Mr Eddy, too, is benefitted by the colour camera. And, in addition, he seems more at ease and more flexible than ever before. Vocally both are perfect and the thrill of their singing the Herbert arias will linger for many days.
The comedy assignments are many in this picture and they are about equally divided between Lucille Watson, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, Raymond Walburn, Berton Churchill and Terry Kilburn, who depict the members of the stars' amusing stage family, and Frank Morgan, Mischa Auer, Herman Bing, Allyn Joslyn, and Olin Howland, who enact the theatrical producer and his aides.
Florence Rice competently plays the secretary and Ray Bolger appears all too briefly for a dance in the opening sequence. W. S. Van Dyke has accomplished a masterful task in directing the lavish production.
It is our observation that when they fall for Jeanette MacDonald they really tumble - and no foolin'. We've received numerous letters to prove this - and here's still another one... "Dear Mr Woodbury: May I add a few lines to your review of that magnificent picture, 'Sweethearts'? I have just come from seeing it and the things I told my sister were practically the same things you said except that you didn't give the most beautiful woman friend and actress in the world enough credit. Of course, I mean Jeanette MacDonald. There aren't enough words in the English language to describe her breathtaking beauty... Her hair takes all the glamour away from her eyes. They look so different. Colour has made her another person. Technicolour hasn't been kind to her, it has just shown how beautiful she really is. Her acting is flawless. And her supporting cast is grand also... The person that misses this picture will miss the biggest treat of their lives. Nelson Eddy has shown that he can act at last. He really puts his whole heart into his part. I have seen it three times for a small start." Win Lawrence... Guess Win really cares about the gal.
"GIRL OF THE GOLDEN VOICE!" She's Jeanette MacDonald and her next picture will be "Girl of the Golden West". She is to be seen currently in "Sweethearts" at the United Artists Theatre. In this technicolor film, Jeanette is even more lovely than she appears here. The many hues bring out her peach-bloom complexion in fine style.
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