Sweethearts in real life?
QUESTION What was the personal relationship between Hollywood stars Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, and did Nelson Eddy ever marry?
NELSON Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were among the biggest movie stars of the 1930s and so inextricably linked were the pair that they became known as ‘America’s Singing Sweethearts’.
They starred in eight blockbusters together, from the operetta Naughty Marietta in 1935 to 1942’s flop I Married An Angel.
The official story behind the two was that their romance was strictly for the cameras – but the truth was apparently far murkier than that.
Indeed both were married: MacDonald to actor and Eddy lookalike Gene Raymond in 1937, while Eddy wed Ann Denitz Franklin, who had previously been married to Hollywood director Sidney Franklin, in 1939.
Both MacDonald and Eddy remained married to their respective spouses until their deaths.
Neither of them had children, though Eddy became stepfather to his wife’s son from her first marriage. Due to their undeniable chemistry on the screen, it had long been rumoured that Eddy and MacDonald were more than just acting partners, but this was strongly denied by the movie companies, who feared that MacDonald’s innocent image would be tarnished by such a relationship.
One story which circulated was that the pair in fact hated each other, but this was refuted by many who worked closely with them. It was not until 1994, decades after their deaths, that many of the rumours were claimed to be totally true.
That was the year the book Sweethearts, named after Eddy and MacDonald’s 1938 movie, first came out and made numerous lurid claims about the co-stars. Its subtitle was The Timeless Love Affair – On-Screen And Off – Between Jeanette MacDonald And Nelson Eddy.
Written by US film historian and Eddy/MacDonald obsessive Sharon Rich, and updated in 2014, it claimed that they secretly got engaged in 1935, while filming the movie Rose Marie, and were involved in a tumultuous affair for many years.
The book, citing a wide range of sources, also claims that MacDon- ald became pregnant with Eddy four times – three of which were while she was married to Gene Raymond – but she never gave birth.
It also states that her marriage to Raymond was one of convenience, as Raymond was bisexual.
MacDonald passed away in 1965 at the age of 61, and in film footage, a grieving Eddy can be seen as the last person to leave the chapel her funeral was held in.
He would die just over two years later, aged 65, of a brain haemorrhage. Polly Graham, Dublin 7.
QUESTION Why is the Jerusalem artichoke so-called as it’s not native to that city?
JERUSALEM artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are neither artichokes nor anything to do with Jerusalem. They are native to North America and are a close relative of the sunflower (Helianthus
annuus). They are unrelated to the artichoke (Cynara scolymus).
Jerusalem is a corruption of the Italian girasole (turns with the sun), which shows its connection to the sunflower. Many gardeners avoid growing Jerusalem artichokes partly because they are invasive and difficult to deal with, but also because when eaten, like beans, they can cause unfortunate digestive effects. John Harfield, Bedfordshire.
QUESTION Was the word robot coined by a science-fiction writer? What other words have been introduced via sci-fi?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, the name California is derived from science fiction and fantasy.
It comes from the 16th-century novel The Exploits Of The Very Powerful Cavalier Esplandian, Son Of The Excellent King Amadis of Gaul, written by Spanish author Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo.
He writes: ‘Know that, on the right hand of the Indies was an island called California, very near to the region of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was populated by black women, without there being any men among them, that almost like the Amazons was their style of living... On this island, called California, there were many griffins... and in the time that they had young these women would... take them to their caves and there raise them. And... they fattened them on those men and the boys that they had born...’
When Francisco de Ulloa was exploring the western coast of North America, his surveys of the Baja California peninsula led him to believe it was an island, so he dubbed it California after the mythical one in Montalvo’s writing.
California was drawn on maps as an island until as late as the 18th century. Jerry Marsh, Sheffield.