Customer Reviews

Nelson Eddy - America's Favorite Baritone: An Authorized Tribute

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Having been a fan of Nelson & Jeanette's for many years and purchased and read the recent new book on Jeanette MacDonald, I found this book to be very slight and not really very interesting on Nelson's life. I'm glad the author did not try and make outrageous assertions on Nelson's romantic life that some others tried and linked Nelson to Jeanette in their private lives. I guess that poor Nelson, while a fine singer and actor led a very conservative life which on reading some 40 years later becomes quite mundane. Sadly missing was a discography on Nelson's music which would have been a real asset. There was a filmography however included. The biggest disappointment to me was the very poor quality of the illustrations and photos in this edition. They are so bad they are like poor photostats and do not help the book at all. I was quite disappointed in the book I have to say. I read it in one day! I doubt whether I would ever read it again and it would be difficult to keep as a reference book on Nelson's career.

1. If you are already a fan of Nelson Eddy, you can read everything in this biography elsewhere, or you've already heard it in a dozen places. This book says nothing about him that gives you any insights into HIS life, HIS work, HIS interests. It paints an obviously whitewashed portrait of a thrillingly unconventional man. Nelson was anything but bland, square, and conservative, but the author seems to want him to be so, and portrays him in this fashion to suit her taste.

2. If you are not already a fan of Nelson Eddy, and are ignorant about his life, you will not be able to read this at all. The writing is incoherent, to say the least, and laden with grievous errors of the worst kinds throughout. Basically, it reads like it was pieced together, mix 'n' match, from fan journals, news clippings, and the like. Nelson Eddy still needs a talented writer who really understands him, one with an analytical mind, to do justice to any discussion of his career and life achievements.

3. The pictures (many of which are more than a little obviously selected to portray Nelson's relationship with the Eddy side of his family in the most friendly, chummy light possible), are indeed very poorly reproduced here. Don't buy this edition for the pictures. (The first edition is expensive and hard to find, by the way, but those pictures are acceptable in reproduction quality)

SO, to sum up, this book will neither give new insights to old fans, nor will it be readable or enjoyable to new fans. Sadly, it's not of much use at all.

Nelson Eddy met his future wife Ann Franklin in 1933 and fell madly in love with her...but didn't marry her till 1939? Isn't it kind of suspicious that in another well-documented book, "Sweethearts," we learn that Nelson was going hot-and-heavy with his co-star Jeanette MacDonald and got her pregnant twice during those years? The second time was in 1938 when RELIABLE SOURCES like The L.A. Times and Look Magazine repeatedly talk about Jeanette getting a divorce from Gene Raymond and place her in the hospital toward the end of 1938 and Hedda Hopper all but comes out and says that she had a miscarriage? But then, Jeanette's divorce doesn't happen...and then suddenly, shortly after, Nelson elopes with Ann? Doesn't Gale Lulay smell anything fishy about this? Isn't she interested in what drove Nelson into his marriage? Obviously not. Nor is she interested in the unusual living arrangement Nelson had in his last decade of life--leaving his wife at home and traveling on the road with his nightclub partner, Gale Sherwood. Forget the comments of opera star Robert Merrill and other people who don't make any bones about the fact that Nelson and Gale were "an item." Yet once again Gale Lulay denies, denies, denies, even using Gale Sherwood as a source to claim that there was NEVER anything between her and Nelson, or Jeanette and Nelson. Don't insult our intelligence!

Anyone who claims to be a Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald fan, then writes a tepid 'sugar coated' biography deserves to have scathing reviews heaped upon the book.

This is one of the worst biographies I have ever read. Almost everything in here has a false note to it. Any Eddy fan knows that the love of his life was Jeanette MacDonald and that Ann Eddy only used him for his name and stature.

Aside from all the untruths in this book, the rest of it is all mish/mash and fodder. This book does a great injustice to a great singer and a fine actor.

If you want to get the real Nelson Eddy story...read "Sweethearts" by Sharon Rich. There you will get the real truth and I wonder why biographers continually support the myth that both Eddy and MacDonald were happily married to others. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Save your money folks....this book is not worth it, believe me!

This biography was authorized? By whom, I ask. Nelson Eddy was a vibrant, lusty man, and the author makes him dull and uninteresting. She completely ignores a longtime love affair with Jeanette Mac Donald. I believe the author used Sidney Franklin jr., Nelson's stepson as her primary source. I believe her agenda was to protect the so called marriage of Nelson and his wife, rather than giving a true picture of Mr. Eddy. She has cheated his fans and done his memory great harm.

Certainly Ms. Lulay isn't the best author ever, but one has to admire her for portraying Nelson as a more believeable person than another author has done.

It's nice to read a book about someone by someone who isn't out to unearth the sins and scandals of a Hollywood person. It's nice to know that out there there are other people who agree with me on the point that Nelson was a gentleman who loved his wife - not some abusive, alcholic, obsessive person out to rape his leading lady. Nelson's reputation as a person while he was alive so contradicted this odd view that one has to believe Lulay is much closer to the truth.

What's wrong with a man who likes to read and spends a quiet life at home, shut away from the world when not performing? Nothing. I think that's rather normal. It's certainly far more admirable and more refreshing to think about than illicit affairs and the like.

This book is easy to read and I recommend it far above the other book out there that (sadly) most people run into first.

I'm sure I'll receive flack from people for having said a good word for this book, but that's OK. It's my opinion, and I'm not going to force it on anyone.

The only good thing about this book is the jacket cover and that about covers it. No need to keep repeating the negatives and there are no pluses.

While Ms. Lulay's book has been described by those who knew Mr. Eddy as being a superficial biography, I can't help but feel it is much closer to the truth of this talented man's life than the "Sweethearts" biography. I would recommend this book for anyone seriously interested in learning more about Nelson Eddy, his life and his career.