I have an inborn love of music. When I say that, I mean music of all kinds. I have my favourites, of course, but I can sit and listen to Dvorak or Dorsey, Gilbert & Sullivan or Gershwin, Mahler or Miller and be transported by them all. I'll be sent into rapture by Grieg then, half an hour later, wallow in Elvis. I hum to myself when doing the housework and it may be The Beach Boys or Verdi.
Well, tonight I've been trawling Youtube, which I frequently do. I'll let you into a secret, I have dozens of Youtube clips in my Favourites so that's where I was. I played a couple of early Elvis tracks, then Tommy Dorsey's "Song of India" then I went to an old favourite, Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy in "Rose Marie".
Jeanette and Nelson had a, later confirmed, "affair" that lasted for many years. They were both married to other people but, if you look at their scenes together, there is a lot more than acting in the way they interact.
I've only seen this film once, and that was over 40 years ago, on TV. It was made in the 1930s, in black and white, with lots of cardboard scenery or the principles filmed in front of screens of the Canadian landscape. The music, though, was superb. Jeanette was a beautiful woman with a wonderful soprano voice and Nelson was a great baritone, if a little "wooden" in his acting. The great hit song from the film (and the stage musical that preceded it) was "The Indian Love Call" and I have loved it since I was a very small child.
I think I was 12 when Slim Whitman had a hit with his Country version of this song. I still love it, I'm a great fan of Slim, but the McDonald/Eddy operatic version is superlative. The song is melodic, romantic and evocative and their voices are harmonious and superbly matched.
As with so much music, the Indian Love Call is nostalgic for me. It doesn't pinpoint any particular episode but it takes me back to the warmth and happiness of childhood.
Well, tonight I've been trawling Youtube, which I frequently do. I'll let you into a secret, I have dozens of Youtube clips in my Favourites so that's where I was. I played a couple of early Elvis tracks, then Tommy Dorsey's "Song of India" then I went to an old favourite, Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy in "Rose Marie".
Jeanette and Nelson had a, later confirmed, "affair" that lasted for many years. They were both married to other people but, if you look at their scenes together, there is a lot more than acting in the way they interact.
I've only seen this film once, and that was over 40 years ago, on TV. It was made in the 1930s, in black and white, with lots of cardboard scenery or the principles filmed in front of screens of the Canadian landscape. The music, though, was superb. Jeanette was a beautiful woman with a wonderful soprano voice and Nelson was a great baritone, if a little "wooden" in his acting. The great hit song from the film (and the stage musical that preceded it) was "The Indian Love Call" and I have loved it since I was a very small child.
I think I was 12 when Slim Whitman had a hit with his Country version of this song. I still love it, I'm a great fan of Slim, but the McDonald/Eddy operatic version is superlative. The song is melodic, romantic and evocative and their voices are harmonious and superbly matched.
As with so much music, the Indian Love Call is nostalgic for me. It doesn't pinpoint any particular episode but it takes me back to the warmth and happiness of childhood.
