Brigadier General Chuck Yeager--First Man to Break the Sound Barrier

 

Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (/ˈjeɪɡər/ YAY-gər, February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

Yeager was raised in Hamlin, West Virginia. His career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army, assigned to the Army Air Forces in 1941.^[a] After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942, he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II Army Air Force version of the Army's warrant officer), later achieving most of his aerial victories as a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot on the Western Front, where he was credited with shooting down 11.5 enemy aircraft (the half credit is from a second pilot assisting him in a single shootdown). On October 12, 1944, he attained "ace in a day" status, shooting down five enemy aircraft in one mission.

After the war, Yeager became a test pilot and flew many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Through the NACA program, he became the first human to officially break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records in the following years. In 1962, he became the first commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, which trained and produced astronauts for NASA and the Air Force.

Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, as well as in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In recognition of his achievements and the outstanding performance ratings of those units, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1969 and inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973, retiring on March 1, 1975. His three-war active-duty flying career spanned more than 30 years and took him to many parts of the world, including the Korean War zone and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Yeager is referred to by many as one of the greatest pilots of all time, and was ranked fifth on Flying's list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation in 2013. Throughout his life, he flew more than 360 different types of aircraft over a 70-year period, and continued to fly for two decades after retirement as a consultant pilot for the United States Air Force.  Wikipedia

Adam West

 

William West Anderson (September 19, 1928 – June 9, 2017), professionally known as Adam West, was an American actor. He portrayed Batman in the 1960s ABC series of the same name and its 1966 theatrical feature film, reprising the role in other films and television shows until his retirement from live-action appearances. West began acting in films in the 1950s. He played opposite Chuck Connors in Geronimo (1962) and The Three Stooges in The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). He also appeared in the science fiction film Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) and performed voice work on The Fairly OddParents (2003–2008), The Simpsons (1992, 2002), and Family Guy (2000–2018), playing fictionalised versions of himself in all three. 

Producer William Dozier cast West as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the television series Batman, in part after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik commercial. He was in competition with Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role.^[20]

The popular campy show ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968; a feature-length film version directed by Leslie H. Martinson was released in 1966.^[21]

 

In 1966, West released a novelty song Miranda as his Batman character.^[22]

Also in character, West appeared in a public service announcement in which he encouraged schoolchildren to heed then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for them to buy U.S. savings stamps, a children's version of U.S. savings bonds, to support the Vietnam War.^[23]

In 1970, West was considered for the role of James Bond by producer Albert Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever.     Wikipedia

 

Waylon Jennings

 

Waylon Arnold Jennings (born Wayland Arnold Jennings; June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music.

Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age 12 on KVOW radio, after which he formed his first band, The Texas Longhorns. Jennings left high school at age 16, determined to become a musician, and worked as a performer and DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, KLLL, in Coolidge, Arizona, and Phoenix.

In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings's first recording session, and hired him to play bass. Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight in 1959 that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens.

Jennings then formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors, which became the house band at "JD's", a club in Scottsdale, Arizona. He recorded for independent label Trend Records and A&M Records, but did not achieve success until moving to RCA Victor, when he acquired Neil Reshen as his manager, who negotiated significantly better touring and recording contracts. After he gained creative control from RCA Records, he released the critically acclaimed albums Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes, followed by the hit albums Dreaming My Dreams and Are You Ready for the Country.

During the 1970s, Jennings drove outlaw country. With Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser and Jessi Colter he recorded country music's first platinum album, Wanted! The Outlaws. It was followed by Ol' Waylon and the hit song "Luckenbach, Texas". He was featured on the 1978 album White Mansions, performed by various artists documenting the lives of Confederates during the Civil War. He appeared in films and television series, including Sesame Street, and a stint as the balladeer for The Dukes of Hazzard, composing and singing the show's theme song and providing narration for the show. By the early 1980s, Jennings struggled with cocaine addiction, which he overcame in 1984. Later, he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash, which released three albums between 1985 and 1995. During that period, Jennings released the successful album Will the Wolf Survive.

He toured less after 1997 to spend more time with his family. Between 1999 and 2001, his appearances were limited by health problems. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was posthumously awarded the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music.  Wikipedia

Gene Raymond

 

Gene Raymond (born Raymond Guion; August 13, 1908 – May 3, 1998)^[1] was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a singer, composer, screenwriter, director, producer, and decorated military pilot.He was the husband of Jeanette MacDonald.

His screen debut was in Personal Maid (1931). Another early appearance was in the multi-director If I Had a Million with W. C. Fields and Charles Laughton. With his blond good looks, classic profile, and youthful exuberance – plus a name change to the more pronounceable "Gene Raymond" – he scored in films like the classic Zoo in Budapest with Loretta Young, and a series of light RKO musicals, mostly with Ann Sothern. He wrote a number of songs, including the popular "Will You?" which he sang to Sothern in Smartest Girl in Town (1936). His wife, Jeanette MacDonald, sang several of his more classical pieces in her concerts and recorded one entitled "Let Me Always Sing".

His most notable films, mostly as a second lead actor, include Red Dust (1932) with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, Zoo in Budapest (1933) with Loretta Young, Ex-Lady (1933) with Bette Davis, Flying Down to Rio (1933) with Dolores del Río, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I Am Suzanne (1934) with Lilian Harvey, Sadie McKee (1934) with Joan Crawford, Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, and The Locket (1946) with Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, and Robert Mitchum. MacDonald and Raymond made one film together, Smilin' Through, which came out as the U.S. was on the verge of entering World War II.^[2]

After service in the United States Army Air Forces Raymond returned to Hollywood. He wrote, directed and starred in the 1949 film Million Dollar Weekend. In later years he appeared in only a few films. His last major film was The Best Man in 1964 with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson.^[3]

In the 1950s he mostly worked in television, appearing in Playhouse of Stars,^[4] Fireside Theatre, Hollywood Summer Theater and TV Reader's Digest. In the 1970s he appeared on ABC Television Network's Paris 7000 and had guest roles in The Outer Limits, Robert Montgomery Presents, Playhouse 90, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ironside, The Defenders, Mannix, The Name of the Game, Lux Video Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre and U.S. Steel Hour

 

Following the beginning of World War II in Europe in 1939, Raymond felt certain the U.S. would eventually enter the war.^[6] He trained as a pilot for that eventuality,^[7] and after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces.^[7] He served as an observer aboard B-17 anti-submarine flights along the Atlantic coast before attending intelligence school and shipping out to England in July 1942. He served with the 97th Bomb Group before taking over as assistant operations officer in the VIII Bomber Command.^[7] He was transferred back to the U.S. in 1943 and piloted a variety of aircraft, both bombers and fighters, in stateside duties. He remained in the United States Air Force Reserve following the war, retiring in 1968 as a colonel,^[7] awarded with a Legion of Merit for his efforts during the Vietnam War

Raymond was notorious in Hollywood for being outspoken against the studio system, saying that it was not "living up to expectations".^[9] The only actors that he had faith in were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, two people that he claimed "knew what they were doing".^[9] He was one of the first actors of the time to go freelance, although he admitted that it was mostly to spite the studios.^[9]

He also excelled at sports, such as gymnastics and tennis.^[9] George Sidney once called Raymond "the most gorgeous thing the world had ever seen".^[9]

Raymond with wife Jeanette MacDonald in the late 1950s.

Raymond married Jeanette MacDonald in 1937.^[10] He met her at a Hollywood party two years earlier at Roszika Dolly's home;^[11] MacDonald agreed to a date, as long as it was at her family's dinner table.^[11] Despite the strong relationship, Raymond's mother did not like MacDonald, attempting to snub her a few times (such as arranging her son with Janet Gaynor as a plus one at a charity ball),^[12] and did not attend the wedding.^[10]

The Raymonds lived in a 21-room Tudor Revival mansion named Twin Gables with their pet dogs, birds and their horse White Lady, which Raymond gave to MacDonald as a birthday present;^[13] after MacDonald's death, it was briefly owned by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips from The Mamas and Papas.^[14]

MacDonald often worried about her husband's self-esteem.^[15] Although she appreciated his support, MacDonald wished that their success was equal;^[16] when Raymond turned down her offer to join one of her music tours, she did not feel let down: "Trailing along on my tours would make him 'Mr. MacDonald', a galling label for any self-respecting man. As it was, he was called 'Mr. MacDonald' often enough to make me admire tremendously his good sportsmanship in taking it on the chin."^[16] Raymond was sometimes mistaken for Nelson Eddy by MacDonald's fans and passersby, which MacDonald later admitted that she never liked either: "Of course we always laughed it off—sometimes Gene even obliged by signing Nelson's name—but no one will ever know the agonies I suffered on such occasions. More than anything else in the world those days, I wanted to see him receive as much acclaim as I, to spare him these humiliations."^[16] When she reunited with Maurice Chevalier in 1957, he asked her why she had retired from films, to which she replied, "Because for exactly twenty years I've played my best role, by his [Raymond's] side. And I'm perfectly happy."^[17] The two of them were married for almost 28 years until MacDonald's death in 1965.

Despite rumors of getting close with Jane Wyman,^[8] in 1974, Raymond married Nelson Bentley Hees and they lived together in Pacific Palisades.^[8] Hees died from Alzheimer's^[8] in 1995.^[3]

Raymond devoted time to Jeanette MacDonald's International Fan Club, befriending president Clara Rhoades, and taking a few members out to lunch annually.^[18] His last public appearance was June 27, 1997, at the 60th-anniversary banquet of the Fan Club at Beverly Wilshire Hotel.^[8]

He was a Republican^[18] and supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.^[19]

During the time of the Hollywood Blacklist, he and MacDonald did not involve themselves with the HUAC investigations; neither were ever summoned to a hearing (MacDonald openly disagreed with the situation in a radio interview).^[20]

On May 3, 1998, at 89 years of age, Raymond died of pneumonia at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center^[8] in Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]} His body was interred next to Jeanette MacDonald's in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn, Glendale.   Wikipedia

Nelson Eddy

 

Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American singer, baritone and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby soxers and opera purists, and in his heyday, he was the highest paid singer in the world.

During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career. 

Eddy developed his talent as a boy soprano in church choirs. Throughout his teens, Eddy studied voice and imitated the recordings of baritones such as Titta Ruffo, Antonio Scotti, Pasquale Amato, Giuseppe Campanari, and Reinald Werrenrath. He gave recitals for women's groups and appeared in society theatricals, usually for little or no pay.^[4]

He had a job in an iron works factory and then spent ten years as a newspaper reporter. He was fired for paying more attention to music than to journalism. His first professional break came in 1922, when the press singled him out after an appearance in a society theatrical, The Marriage Tax, although his name had been omitted from the program.^[4]

In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of roles in 28 operas,^[5] including Amonasro in Aida, Marcello in La bohème, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, both Tonio and Silvio in Pagliacci, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser.^[4]

Eddy performed in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the Savoy Company, the oldest amateur theater company in the world devoted exclusively to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in the traditional manner. With Savoy, Eddy sang the leading role of Strephon in Iolanthe at the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia in 1922. The next year, he played the role of Major-General Stanley in Savoy's production of The Pirates of Penzance. He reprised the role of Strephon with Savoy in 1927, when the theater group moved their performances to the famed Academy of Music. Thirty-one years later, he was asked by a Savoy lead playing the role of Strephon in 1958 for his thoughts and recommendations on how to play the role. Eddy wrote:

I envy you. I'd like to play Strephon again, too! The one thing I suggest is to keep him gay, happy, and care-free. You can set the character with your first entrance. Dance in with a sort of cute abandon. Then in "Good morrow, good mother" act joyfully in love. The rest will fall right into line. The first time I did it – at the old Broad Street Theatre – was better than when I did it at the Academy. I let myself get impressed with the importance of the latter house and with my growing experience in opera – and I played it too grand. Don't fall into that trap. Good luck and my very best wishes – to you and all the Company. Sincerely, Nelson Eddy.

Eddy studied briefly with the noted teacher David Scull Bispham, a former Metropolitan Opera singer, but when Bispham died suddenly, Eddy became a student of William Vilonat. In 1927, Eddy borrowed some money and followed his teacher to Dresden for further study in Europe, which was then considered essential for serious American singers. He was offered a job with a small German opera company. Instead, he decided to return to America, where he concentrated on his concert career, making only occasional opera appearances during the next seven years. In 1928, his first concert accompanist was a young pianist named Theodore (Ted) Paxson, who became a close friend and remained his accompanist until Eddy's death 39 years later. In the early 1930s, Eddy's principal teacher was Edouard Lippé, who followed him to Hollywood and appeared in a small role in Eddy's 1935 film Naughty Marietta. In his later years, Eddy changed teachers frequently, constantly learning new vocal techniques. He also had a home recording studio, where he studied his own performances. It was his fascination with technology that inspired him to record three-part harmonies (tenor, baritone, & bass) for his role as a multiple-voiced singing whale in the animated Walt Disney feature, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", the concluding sequence in the 1946 feature film Make Mine Music.^[2]

With the Philadelphia Civic Opera, Eddy sang in the first American performance of Feuersnot by Richard Strauss (December 1, 1927) and in the first American performance of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (November 1, 1928) with Helen Jepson. In Ariadne, Eddy sang the roles of the Wigmaker and Harlequin in the original German. He performed under Leopold Stokowski as the Drum Major in the second American performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck on November 24, 1931.^[4]

At Carnegie Hall in New York City, Christmas 1931, he sang in the world premiere of Maria Egiziaca (Mary in Egypt), unexpectedly conducted by the composer Ottorino Respighi himself when famed conductor Arturo Toscanini fell ill at the last minute. Years later, when Toscanini visited the MGM lot in California, Eddy greeted him by singing a few bars of Maria Egiziaca.^[4]

Eddy continued in occasional opera roles until his film work made it difficult to schedule appearances the requisite year or two in advance. Among his final opera performances were three with the San Francisco Opera in 1934, when he was still "unknown". Marjory M. Fisher of the San Francisco News wrote of his December 8, 1934, performance of Wolfram in Tannhäuser, "Nelson Eddy made a tremendously fine impression ... he left no doubt in the minds of discerning auditors that he belongs in that fine group of baritones which includes Lawrence Tibbett, Richard Bonelli, and John Charles Thomas and which represents America's outstanding contribution to the contemporary opera stage."^{[citation needed]} He also sang Amonasro in Aida on November 11, 1934, to similar acclaim. Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, and Ezio Pinza were in the cast. However, opera quietly faded from Eddy's schedule as films and highly lucrative concerts claimed more and more of his time.^[4]

When he resumed his concert career following his screen success, he made a point of delivering a traditional concert repertoire, performing his hit screen songs only as encores. He felt strongly that audiences needed to be exposed to all kinds of music. 

Eddy was "discovered" by Hollywood when he substituted at the last minute for the noted diva Lotte Lehmann at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles on February 28, 1933. He scored a professional triumph with 18 curtain calls, and several film offers immediately followed. After much agonizing, he decided that being seen on screen might boost audiences for what he considered his "real work", his concerts. (Also, like his machinist father, he was fascinated with gadgets and the mechanics of the new talking pictures.) Eddy's concert fee rose from $500 to $10,000 per performance.^[4]

Eddy and MacDonald from the trailer for Sweethearts (1938): The pair acted in eight films together.

Eddy signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he made the first 15 of his 19 feature films. His contract guaranteed him three months off each year to continue his concert tours. MGM was not sure how to use him, and he spent more than a year on salary with little to do. His voice can be heard singing "Daisy Bell" on the soundtrack of the 1933 Pete Smith short Handlebars. He appeared and sang one song each in Broadway to Hollywood and Dancing Lady, both in 1933, and Student Tour in 1934. Audience response was favorable, and he was cast as the male lead opposite the established star Jeanette MacDonald in the 1935 film version of Victor Herbert's 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta.^[2]

Naughty Marietta was the surprise hit of 1935. Its key song, "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", became a hit and earned Eddy his first gold record. He also sang "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" and "I'm Falling in Love with Someone". The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, received the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture, and was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics. Critics singled out Eddy for praise:

• "A new movie star emerged from the Capitol screen..." — New York Daily News.^[6]
• "The screen has found a thrilling thrush, possessed not only of a rare vocal tone, but of a personality and form and features cast in the heroic mold." – New York American.^[7]
• "Eddy ... has a brilliant baritone voice. He is engaging and good looking..." – Richard Watts, Jr., in the New York Herald.^[7]

Eddy appeared in seven more MGM films with Jeanette MacDonald:

• Rose Marie (1936) is probably his most-remembered film. Eddy sang "Song of the Mounties" and "Indian Love Call" by Rudolf Friml. His definitive portrayal of the steadfast Mountie became a popular icon, frequently spoofed in cartoons and TV skits, and even generating travesties on stage (Little Mary Sunshine, 1959). One long-lived imitation, Dudley Do-Right , began as a cartoon character on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959-1964) and went on to be portrayed by Brendan Fraser in a live-action film, Dudley Do-Right (1999). When the Mounties retired their classic red jackets and campaign hats in 1970, except for ceremonial attire, hundreds of newspapers accompanied the story with a photo of Nelson Eddy as Sgt. Bruce in Rose Marie, made 34 years earlier.
• Maytime (1937) is regarded as one of Eddy's best films. "Will You Remember" by Sigmund Romberg brought Eddy another gold record. Frank Nugent wrote in The New York Times wrote that the film [was] "the most entrancing operetta the screen has given us. ...and it affirms Nelson Eddy's preeminence among the baritones of filmdom".^[8]
• The Girl of the Golden West (1938) had an original score by Sigmund Romberg and reused the David Belasco stage plot also employed by Giacomo Puccini for La Fanciulla del West.

New Moon (1940)

• Sweethearts (1938) was MGM's first three-strip Technicolor feature, incorporating Victor Herbert's 1913 stage score into a modern script by Dorothy Parker. It won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of the Year.
• New Moon (1940) based on Romberg's 1927 Broadway hit, became one of Eddy's most popular films, although in 1978 it was included in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. His key songs were "Lover, Come Back to Me", "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise", "Wanting You", and "Stout Hearted Men".
• Bitter Sweet (1940) was a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward's 1929 operetta. The love theme was "I'll See You Again". Eddy played a Viennese singing teacher who elopes with his pretty English pupil and takes her to live in Vienna.
• I Married an Angel (1942), adapted from the Rodgers and Hart stage musical about an angel who loses her wings on her wedding night, suffered from censorship problems. Eddy sang "Spring Is Here" and the title song.

Nelson Eddy also starred in films with other leading ladies:

• Rosalie (1937), with Eleanor Powell, offered a score by Cole Porter. In his first solo-starring film, the script called for Eddy to portray a football-playing West Point pilot who pursues a princess-in-disguise to Europe. Eddy recorded the title song.
• Let Freedom Ring (1939), with Virginia Bruce, was a Western. Eddy got to beat up rugged Oscar winner Victor McLaglen and preserve freedom and the American way from bad guys, a popular theme just before World War II.
• Balalaika (1939), with Ilona Massey, was based on the 1936 English operetta by George Posford and Bernard Grün. Eddy is a prince in disguise, in love with a commoner during the Russian Revolution. The title song became one of his standards.
• The Chocolate Soldier (1941), with Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens, was a stylish musical adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman. Eddy played a dual role and turned in one of his best performances.
• Phantom of the Opera (1943) was Eddy's first film after he left MGM at the end of his seven-year contract. This lavish Technicolor musical also starred Claude Rains as the Phantom and Susanna Foster as Christine.
• Knickerbocker Holiday (1944) was based on the popular stage musical by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson. It co-starred Charles Coburn (singing the classic "September Song") and Constance Dowling.
• Make Mine Music (1946) was a Walt Disney animated feature compilation. Eddy provided all the singing and speaking voices for the touching final segment, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," later released as a short, Willie, the Operatic Whale, by Disney in 1954. Using a technique based on his technical experiments with his home recording equipment, Eddy was able to sing sextets with himself on the soundtrack, providing all the voices from bass to soprano.
• Northwest Outpost (1947) co-starred Ilona Massey. Rudolf Friml provided the songs for a story of Fort Ross, a Russian settlement in the Wild West of California. It was made at Republic Studios and turned out to be Eddy's final film.

After Eddy and MacDonald left MGM in 1942, several unrealized films remained that would have reunited the team. Eddy signed with Universal in 1943 for a two-picture deal. The first was Phantom of the Opera and the second would have co-starred MacDonald. She filmed her two scenes for Follow the Boys, then both stars severed ties with Universal, as Eddy was upset with how Phantom of the Opera turned out.

Among their later other proposed projects were East Wind; Crescent Carnival, a book optioned by MacDonald; and The Rosary, the 1910 best-seller, which Eddy had read as a teen and pitched to MGM as a "comeback" film for MacDonald and himself in 1948. Under the name "Isaac Ackerman" he wrote a biopic screenplay about Chaliapin, in which he was to play the lead and also a young Nelson Eddy, but it was never produced.^[9] He also wrote two movie treatments for MacDonald and himself, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle. Wikipedia

 

 

Elsa Maxwell

 

Elsa Maxwell (May 24, 1883 – November 1, 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day.

Maxwell is credited with the introduction of the scavenger hunt and treasure hunt for use as party games in the modern era.^[1] Her radio program, Elsa Maxwell's Party Line, began in 1942; she also wrote a syndicated gossip column. She appeared as herself in the films Stage Door Canteen (1943) and Rhapsody in Blue (1945), as well as co-starring in the film Hotel for Women (1939), for which she wrote the screenplay and a song. 

In spite of the persistent rumor that Elsa Maxwell was born at a theater in Keokuk, Iowa, during a performance of the opera Mignon, she actually admitted late in life that the outlandish story was a fabrication that she went along with, since she was actually born at her maternal grandmother's home in the same town.^[2] She was raised in San Francisco, where her father sold insurance and did freelance writing for the New York Dramatic Mirror.^[3] Maxwell never completed grammar school because her father did not believe in formal education; as a result, he tutored his daughter at home. Her interest in parties began when she was 12 years old and was told she would not be invited to a party because her family was poor.^[4] She developed a gift for staging games and diversions at parties for the rich, and began making a living devising treasure-hunt parties, come-as-your-opposite parties and other sorts, including a scavenger hunt in Paris in 1927 that inadvertently created disturbances all over the city.^[3]

In Venice in the early 1920s, Maxwell attracted stars like Cole Porter, Tallulah Bankhead, Noël Coward and Fanny Brice to Venice's Lido shoreline to enjoy its daytime amenities and nightly parties.^[5] Later, the principality of Monaco employed Maxwell's services to put it on the map as a tourist destination as she had done for the Lido. Maxwell and Porter were lifelong friends, and he mentioned her in several of his songs, including "I'm Throwing a Ball Tonight" from Panama Hattie (sung by Ethel Merman) and "I'm Dining with Elsa (and her ninety-nine most intimate friends)."^[6] She is also mentioned in Rodgers and Hart's "I Like to Recognize the Tune" from Too Many Girls, Irving Berlin's "The Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball" from Call Me Madam and in "Listen, Cosette!" from Sherry!

Elsa Maxwell, 1933

Returning to the U.S., Maxwell worked on movie shorts during the Depression, unsuccessfully. "Her imprimatur of social acceptability carried so much weight that the Waldorf Astoria gave her a suite rent-free when it opened in New York in 1931 at the height of the depression, hoping to attract rich clients because of her."^[5] Following World War II, she gained an audience of millions as a newspaper gossip columnist.^[3] Beginning in 1942 she also hosted a radio program, Elsa Maxwell's Party Line,^[7] for which Esther Bradford Aresty was a writer and producer.^[8]

Maxwell was responsible for the success of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Bergen had been playing small theaters for 17 years; when he decided to ask for Maxwell's help, he was persistent enough in his telephone calls that Maxwell agreed to meet with him. When Bergen arrived, Maxwell asked him if he was a singer; Bergen replied that he was a ventriloquist and told her he wanted her to meet Charlie McCarthy. Charlie's meeting with Maxwell was an instant success; Maxwell asked crooner Rudy Vallée to find him a place on his radio program.^[9]

Maxwell was a closeted lesbian who publicly condemned same-sex love despite enjoying an almost 50-year partnership with the Scottish singer Dorothy Fellowes-Gordon ("Dickie"). The two met in 1912 and remained together until Maxwell's death.^[10][11]

In the 1950s her friendship with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor attracted much publicity in the United States as did her long running feud with the Duchess. She had encountered the Duke several times when he was the Prince of Wales and became acquainted with him and the Duchess in 1946 when they were all living at the Waldorf Astoria Apartments in New York. They became friends the following year, in France. The Duke and Duchess frequently entertained her and sometimes Fellowes-Gordon at their chateau on the Riviera and over the coming years they attended Elsa's parties in Paris, Monte Carlo, New York and elsewhere.^[12]

A fall-out between Elsa and Wallis was first reported in May 1953,^[13] rumored to have started at a charity event the previous January, although reports from that event suggest they were friendly. Over the next few years the feud was much detailed in US gossip columns. In April 1957 Cholly Knickerbocker announced there had been a "peace treaty" between them.^[14] It followed a reconciling letter from Elsa after newspapers accused her of deliberately trying to upstage Wallis by inviting her to a party and then getting Marilyn Monroe to make a grand late entrance, driving all attention away from Wallis.

Maxwell took credit for introducing Rita Hayworth to Prince Aly Khan in the summer of 1948.^[15] In 1953, Maxwell published a single issue of her magazine, Elsa Maxwell's Café Society, which had a portrait of Zsa Zsa Gabor on the cover. Anne Edwards's biography of Maria Callas (Callas, 2001) and Peter Evans's biography of Aristotle Onassis both claim that Maxwell introduced Callas to Onassis.^[16][17] Edwards also claims that Maxwell fell obsessively in love with Callas, 40 years Maxwell's junior.^[18] Callas biographer Stelios Galatopoulos produced love letters from Maxwell written to Callas, who was less than receptive.^[19]

Maxwell told interviewer Mike Wallace in 1957:

I did not feel fit, to be only married. I belong to the world. I knew it instinctively when I was quite young. I belong to the world. Certainly I am the most shall we say immodestly, [among] the best-known people in the entire world today. Why, because I did not marry and I felt that I was not for marriage. It wasn't my ... thing to do.^[20]

In the late 1950s, Loretta Swit worked as Maxwell's personal secretary.^[21]

She died of heart failure in a Manhattan hospital.^[3] Maxwell's last public appearance came a week before her death. She attended the annual April in Paris Ball, which she had helped found, in a wheelchair.^[22] Fellowes-Gordon was Maxwell's sole heir.^[23] She is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.   Wikipedia