Jeanette MacDonald, you'll find, if you Google that name, may not be particularly remembered today, perhaps because she led a happy life and appeared in light weight musicals in 1930's movies, has been much written about. In the 1940's she made a movie in color that was along the lines of Lassie Come Home; but in MacDonald's movie I think the animal of sentiment was a horse. She was spectacularly well made up and photographed to perfection, so that I can claim she outshone Garbo in beauty (I doubt Garbo ever made a movie in color) and in spite of J Mac's so-so acting, and light weight singing, she's easily the most beautiful woman in the history of the movies.
I noticed something most peculiar: her Hollywood makeup man didn't believe in black lines surrounding her eyes, a practice today that's all the rage. Every female face on magazines displayed in supermarkets today has been made ugly by ludicrous almond-shaped (if you insist) black lines around the eyes. Are women today trying to look like Cleopatra, or some other long dead supposed great beauty? Every (?) woman newscaster has those damn black circles. What gives? Hillary probably has them too. Might rethink my vote. Ha.
Usually, in my visceral response to women actors, my involuntary response depends almost exclusively on their acting, not their appearance. But in the Case of MacDonald her beauty floors me. In the movie I saw her character gave a singing recital which included an aria from Madame Butterfly, her character a young Japanese woman in love with an American sailor. She sang the music (Puccini) but didn't characterize at all. That fact didn't detract from her beauty one teensy bit! My guess is that by that time, the 1940's, she called the shots. Which, I bet, included, no black circles around her eyes!!
Barry
http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/
4 comments:
Didn't she perform with an actor named Nelson Eddy in quite a few films? If so, then I know the actress to whom you are referring and she was indeed quite a beauty. Funny thing about the black eyeliner, all the fashion magazines tell us (women) that we need the eyeliner to make our eyes the focal point of our faces. However it sounds as if perhaps we don't really need to go to all that trouble. :-)
Sheria
Barry I just love those old Jeanette MacDonald films ~ I think Nelson Eddy played with her in many of those films ~ and Yes I think she is beautiful and no need for those black circles round her eyes ~ would love to see some of her old films remade ~ but they probably wouldn't have much box office appeal in todays market ~ Ally x
h
I dont draw black lines around my eyes,I HAVE black lines around my eyes lol,well my life is such I never sleep,hence the hour that I am writing this,00.20am,ahh well whilst most are tucked up with a loved one at this hour,I go to a cold bed,so I wait until I cant stay awake much longer,poor me,dont you feel sorry for me? mwahhs give that baby a kiss from me hes a darlin zoe xx
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