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desperately from one singing teacher to another and who, after fifteen years of plugging and discouragement, had only begun to realize any success. How for years he had been singing wrong, getting anything but the best out of his voice. How, time and again, he had been advised to "give it up."
Then, getting down to practicalities, Nelson told her ho'v he thought she could improve her singing. He said he wanted to give her some breathing and vocalizing exercises he had worked out for himself, and she led him in to the piano. In the light she stared at him, aghast, in recognition. It couldn't be true.
^H by
Katharine Hartley
But then, as he started to illustrate the exercises for her, and she heard his voice, she knew there could be no doubt. "Nelson Eddy ! It was you you were talking about . . . !" Holding a long note, Nelson said, on tune, "Yes, but don't let's waste time talking about that . . . have to go pretty soon !" Then he took a breath : "See, this is the way you do it, controlling the breath, so no one will even guess you are out of it. Now, come, you try it with me. No, don't open your mouth so far . . ." (her mouth had been agape in amazement) "Like this !" Startled and bewildered, the girl nevertheless mimicked him. Ten minutes later, as the family was driving up, Nelson was driving fl away, calling out over his shoul
der: "If you come out to Hollywood come and see me. I expect you to be famous someday!"
The girl is in Hollywood now, or I might never have heard her story. She is studying as she has never studied before, and hoping as she has never hoped before, and once every week or so she goes to Nelson's to report her progress. She is just one of many in whom Nelson has instilled the will to sing!
But, lest you think that Nelson's rescue mission is just a gesture, easily made by one who has arrived, and can afford to be generous, there is the time he helped Joan Marsh, two and a half years ago, before he became famous, and before Joan ever dreamed of becoming a professional singer on a radio program as she is today. They met at a dinner party one evening and Joan happened to mention that she was giving an audition the next day, her first, and that she was "scared to death." During the early part of the evening no further reference was made to the audition but when Joan ^B M started to leave with the other
^M guests, Nelson asked her to stay
^^^ and sing. "You don't want to hear
JH me sing," she said quickly. "I don't
B^Q I^^RfcS really have a voice ... I only sing
^^H W^M popular things. But maybe you
^i^^.^HDMB 9 could help me pick some numbers !
My audition's at three, and I still haven't decided on anything." That was eleven in the evening. At one in the morning they were still working at the piano. They went over Joan's entire repertoire, discarding this and then that, until they had selected the three songs which were the most showy, and the best suited to her voice. The next day Joan phoned him to say that, because of his help, the audition had gone over successfully. After that, for a while, she consulted him on many of the numbers that she sang. And when she later made an extensive personal appearance tour, all of her most successful number were those which Nelson Eddy had chosen for her. [Continued on page 74 J
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