Jeanette MacDonald truly was a great opera singer as well as a hollywood star. How many modern sopranos could hit a high note like that and hold it so effortlessly and flawlessly. A very great lady!
My Mother sounded just like Jeanette MacDonald. She so wanted me to sound like Nelson Eddy, but I went from a boys voice to a deep bass almost over night. She would sing Jerusalem around Easter and Oh Holy Night at Christmas at our Church and raise goose flesh on the congreation. I didn't sing any solo's for years because of her voice. She sings in God's choir now having passed last december 23. Thanks for posting Jeanette, I come here often to listen with my eyes closed.
Let no one say MacDonald was incapable of singing grand opera. This is a splendid rendition. She had an engaging voice quality that appealed to a wide audience.
What a heavenly beautiful voice! A coloratura soprano! Jeanette MacDonald's reminded me a little bit of the Miliza Korjus's voice. Heavenly beautiful. Kind regards, Victoria
@Artsettimavn San Francisco is my favorite movie and Jeanette MacDonald is my favorite star and you are 100% correct. Jeanette wore the gown FIRST. It was worn in The Wizard of Oz 3 years later!
Someone recently said to me that no one has better voice control than Barbra Streisand. Well, her initials apply to that statement! Babs is great, but she could not handle most of Mac's songs!
@RICHARDDAVISMCLEOD True it was an MGM movie, but San Francisco was actually filmed in Black and White, this is a colorisation done (I think) by TCM in the late 80s/early 90s when it was all the rage. I've actually never seen this colour version in full. Another point of interest is that the dress she wears here is actually pink - and it's the same dress worn by Glinda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz.
She always wanted to be an opera singer... but she started opera very late, in the 1940's. She did sing two operatic roles live, but she was older and time did not allow for an opera career. She trained under the best vocal coach of the time, Lotte Lehmann, who said “There couldn’t have been a more diligent, a more serious, a more pliable person than Jeanette... I am quite sure that Jeanette would have developed into a serious and successful lieder singer if time would have allowed it.”
Lovely to see this colorized print again. Did you record it from TCM? It has been many years since Turner Classic Movies showed the colorized San Francisco so I was curious where the video came from. Thanks for posting. Jeanette is awesome!
Fabulous voice; wretched Italian ("Semray Yibera!" The fuck?). She does have that typical tinpot soprano voice that was so popular 70 and 80 years ago, but this is still great.
