53 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Academic Indifference - History reframed, August 21, 2000
If this WERE a work of fiction, Turk's book would not be so offensive, but I have spent well over twenty years interviewing people who knew Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. I am NOT Sharon Rich. I have spoken with Nelson Eddy. I have even interviewed Gene Raymond. I can honestly say the evidence is overwhelming that Jeanette MacDonald lead a different life than the one presented by Mr. Turk. It is not enough to just read a woman's unpublished autobiography and talk to her husband. There are reasons why both might lie. Jeanette MacDonald did not want to shock her fans or bring down the public personnas of herself and Nelson Eddy when she wrote her autobiography. If Mr. Turk had taken the time to look at the evidence which refutes the "Gene Raymond" version of Jeanette's life, then the book would have fulfilled its potential as a fairly accurate portrait of a complex woman living in a difficult period that straddles World War II. Once Jeanette met Nelson Eddy, he was a driving influence in her life. Nelson Eddy was not a monogamous man. He had many female lovers, and some of them are still alive to talk about him and his relationship with Jeanette, Gene, and Ann Eddy (a woman I have also had the "pleasure" of meeting). Had Turk taken the time to actually follow up the research on the Eddy/MacDonald relationship, he might have presented history in a much more accurate light. It's a shame when an ordinary researcher blurs history by looking at it through "tinted" glasses. It is a sin when an academic does it, either accidentally or on purpose. Mr. Turk varnished the truth, rewrote it by omission, and basically did a disservice to both Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. I am curious why Mr. Turk did not accept Lina Basquette's account of Nelson Eddy's prowess with women. I am even more curious why he would insinuate that Eddy was gay when even Shelley Winters has recounted Nelson's attempt to seduce her. The University of California should be ashamed for accepting the publication without looking at the research on the other side of the coin.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well researched truth, November 8, 2009
This review is from: Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald (Paperback)
This is a wonderful book, well researched and documented, about the greatest star ever to grace the Silver Screen. It portrays her as human, determined, disciplined and loving. If you want the real story of Jeanette MacDonald, read this and not the trashy fiction put out by another author who has created a real 'cash cow' with her lies about Jeanette. And to all of that author's fans, who want so desperately to believe in a doomed love affair, 'Wake up and smell the coffee!' This woman does not admire Jeanette or Nelson nor does she respect them. They are simply her meal ticket and she is eating quite well!
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25 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Diva" Hits a High Note!, August 22, 2001
Edward Baron Turk's brilliantly realized biography of the singer-actress Jeanette MacDonald, "Hollywood Diva" is worth the long wait.
For years fans of the beloved red-haired, green-eyed soprano, have longed for a complete and concise biographical work. "Diva" is all that and more.
Turk has conducted scores of interviews and gleamed through mountains of papers including MacDonald's own unpublished autobiography, to accurately reflect his subject. The reader comes away both educated and enlightened not to mention very impressed with the woman who dazzled and delighted millions in virtually every medium of show business.
Jeanette MacDonald was much more than one-half of the classic screen team of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. She starred in nearly 30 motion pictures, broke records performing on stage and in concert, not to mention realizing her dream of starring in Grand Opera. Nightclubs, radio, television, and recordings were fields that benefitted from the special MacDonald touch, and while she may have appeared to do it effortlessly, this book reveals the incredible energy and work that she put into everything she did. Every facet of her life she gave more than 100% to and fans of the star will come away impressed anew with her tireless dedication to her art. Those to whom MacDonald is a name from the far past will want to go out and explore her career by watching her films and discovering what many of us have said for decades - Jeanette MacDonald is one of the greats!
Turk perfectly balances his story by not placing MacDonald on an unreachable pedestal but portraying his subject as a real person, replete with faults, ferocious in her determination to never give less than her best. Nowhere does this apply more than to her personal life. Mr. Turk's handling of the marriage between MacDonald and actor Gene Raymond is a lesson to everyone in every kind of relationship. Their nearly 28 year marriage had periodic difficulties but ultimately what stands out is the real, deep-rooted, and very moving love that the couple shared, something not easily achieved in the milieu of Hollywood.
While some would prefer to believe that MacDonald and Eddy were an "item", Turk disproves that myth completely. The MacDonald-Eddy team were pure on-screen magic but off-screen were merely friends. Naysayers would like to believe that author Turk treats Eddy in a less than respectful manner in this tome but nothing could be further from the truth.
MacDonald was married only once. She didn't indulge in the affairs nor have the sometimes tawdry personal life that others of her generation may have had. She was a professional and that is a sometimes rare commodity in show business.
"Hollywood Diva" is must reading for anyone with even a slight interest in the history of the entertainment industry. You'll laugh, cry, learn, and grow. When a book can accomplish all of that, as well as portraying a real person as someone to admire and respect, then it is indeed something very special.
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