Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald | 
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Product Description
Jeanette MacDonald, the movie musical's first superstar, was an American original whose onscreen radiance mirrored a beguiling real-life personality. Based in large part on the author's exclusive access to MacDonald's private papers, including her unpublished memoir, this vivid, often touching biography transports us to a time when lavish musical films were major cultural events and a worldwide public eagerly awaited each new chance to fall under the singer's spell. Edward Baron Turk shows how MacDonald brilliantly earned her Hollywood nickname of "Iron Butterfly," and why she deserves a privileged position in the history of music and motion pictures. What made MacDonald a woman for our times, readers will discover, was her uncommon courage: Onscreen, the actress portrayed strong charcters in pursuit of deep emotional fulfillment, often in defiance of social orthodoxy, while offscreen she personified energy, discipline, and practical intellect. Drawing on interviews with individuals who knew her and on MacDonald's own words, Turk brings to life the intricate relations between the star and her legendary costars Maurice Chevalier, Clark Gable, and, above all, baritone Nelson Eddy. He reveals the deep crushes she inspired in movie giants Ernst Lubitsch and Louis B. Mayer and the extraordinary love story she shared with her husband of twenty- seven years, actor Gene Raymond. More than simply another star biography, however, this is a chronicle of American music from 1920s Broadway to 1960s television, in which Turk details MacDonald's fearless efforts to break down distinctions between High Art and mass-consumed entertainment. Hollywood Diva will attract fans of opera and concert music as much as enthusiasts of the great Hollywood musicals. It is first-rate cultural and film history.
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Customer Reviews:
• Hollywood's Golden Diva 30 November, 2006
I so much enjoyed reading about Jeannette McDonald. The author did an outstanding job with the research. She presented this talented actress and singer in such a perfect light-she talked about her hard working fund raising for the troops and her concert tours. What a great performer. I would have loved to have been able to see her live in concert!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3P35F595L7P6
• Valuable, Really, If You Read It With Two Other Books! 30 May, 2008
I gave this book three stars, but that's only if you read it along with Sharon Rich's "Sweethearts" and Elizabeth Clare Prophet's "Soul Mates and Twin Flames". Edward Baron Turk has written a detailed, readable bio of Jeanette, but you must read Sharon Rich's book to get the scoop on Jeanette's relationship with Nelson Eddy, as well as, it certainly seems to me, a much more accurate depiction of her relationship with the man she married, Gene Raymond. Elizabeth Clare Prophet's book tells what Jeanette and Nelson realized -- that they, Jeanette and Nelson, are twin flames (although they didn't quite use that phrase, so it seems), destined to be in love forever. Reading those two books (along with "Hollywood Diva") will give you a wonderful, sweet yet poignant, description of the dramas that twin flames in embodiment on earth might go through. The real, fulfilled love is in the ascended realms; Elizabeth Clare Prophet is, I do believe, the planetary expert thereon. The main thrust of her extensive teachings is how to get there!
- Reviewed by customer ID: AWYTWBOEMBRIV
• A First Rate Biography 22 March, 2006
This was a biography that was hard to put down. Jeanette MacDonald lived an incredibly rich life. She came into her own during a period of time that I have always found fasinating. Beginning her career on the New York stage, she eventually found her way to Hollywood. You definetely got the impression that while Miss. MacDonald treasured her talant and her career, that her personal life was just as important to her. She had a supportive family and eventually a solid marriage to actor Gene Raymond that endured. I found that she had a wonderful sense of humor and a great talent. It made me go out and rent some of her earlier films, the ones she did with the great director, Ernest Lubitsch. Before all of those sugary musicals of the mid 1930's, our Jeanette was quite the coquette! Before the horrible Hay's code was inforced, Jeanette was able to portray some deliously decadent women on film. I loved this book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3FVN4J07I1NAL
• It's All Fiction 04 June, 2005
I have loved Jeanette for years and I honestly think this is the worst biography ever written about her. After all these years how can the author ignore all the evidence of a love affair between Nelson and Jeanette. A biography is supposed to uncover the truth about a star but this is just a sanitized look at Jeanette's much too perfect life. It seems like this guy is trying to nominate Jeanette for sainthood. You can't possibly get Jeanette's full life story here because there is so much that is left out. One of the biggest problems here is that Jeanette's widow Gene Raymond is one of the main sources. He was obviously trying to preserve their image as a perfect couple and never revealed anything new about their life together. This book makes Gene and Jeanette's marriage look like a glossy pictorial from a 1940's movie magazine. Since the stories about Jeanette and Gene are purely fiction it makes you wonder if anything in this book is true.
You won't know it by reading this book but the real Jeanette was a passionate human being who made a lot of mistakes in her life. If the author had dared to talk about her ill fated romance with Nelson it would have shown another side to her personality. I don't know why there are certain Jeanette fans who want to believe she was perfect. Are they really happy accepting a nicely packaged bunch of sugarcoated lies about her life? If you want to learn about the real Jeanette please read Sharon Rich's well-researched book about her. Sharon is the first author was not afraid to tell Jeanette's true life story. Since at least nine other fans have written negative reviews I am obviously not the only one who has problems with this so-called biography. Amazon should move Hollywood Diva into their fiction section. I am praying that this author doesn't write a book about any of my other favorite stars.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2P03CJTDIR0ZX
• Bad 25 June, 2005
A bad book!!!!!!!!!! This book is nothing but a sugar coated look at Jeanette MacDonald's life. The facts in this book come from Jeanette's husband (the author leaves out that he was arrested for soliciting male prostitutes) and Jeanette's unpublished autobiography (which was written in the conservative 1950s when stars did not reveal any secrets about their private lives). There are many better books out there about Jeanette.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A25K69NIZJ2BXW
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