To celebrate Jeanette MacDonald's birthday -

Here are some clips.

Now, let's get one thing straight: I LOVE Jeanette MacDonald. A LOT of people malign her voice and her chirpy singing. But I'll tell you one thing. If you see Maytime, and you still are stone cold - then you need to seriously examine yourself. Sure, these movies are sentimental and kitschy, one might even say - CAMPY - (gasp!). But when you boil away all the stereotypes and let yourself be transported by Jeanette's silvery voice, you'll understand why she was the Queen of the Movies in the mid to late 30s.

She inspired a generation of singers and actors, Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Betty White, Carol Burnett, and numerous others.

Here are some clips from her most celebrated films:

New Moon (1940)





Naughty Marietta (1935)






Rose Marie (1936)





And the unforgettable Maytime (1937)





In this film MGM produced a "fake" opera based on Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. (It's sound a lot better than any modern opera churned out in the last 20 years!)