March 2006 marks the first time in TCM's 12-year history that we've celebrated two Stars of the Month in a single 31-day period but - considering the duo we're honoring - how could it be otherwise? It would be virtually impossible to salute Jeanette MacDonald without her perennial singing partner Nelson Eddy, or stalwart Nelson without lyrical Jeanette. Their names became as inseparable to the public as cheese and crackers, champagne and bubbles, beer and pretzels; they're certainly one of the handful of great teams from Hollywood's golden age, right up there with Astaire & Rogers, Bogart & Bacall, Powell & Loy, Tracy & Hepburn, Tarzan & Jane, Groucho Marx & Margaret Dumont. Jeanette and Nelson made eight films together during an eight-year period, all but one or two of their musicals classic and classy in every sense of the word, and we'll be showing all eight of them on Mondays throughout the month.

We'll also be emphasizing that they weren't always a duo. Each worked separately, successfully and often with others-Jeanette, for instance, opposite Clark Gable in the spectacular San Francisco, Nelson with Eleanor Powell in Rosali, Jeanette with Maurice Chevalier in The Merry Widow, Nelson with Rise Stevens in The Chocolate Soldier, we'll be screening those films (and more) as well. No question, however, their most popular outings were the ones they did together, beginning with 1935's Naughty Marietta, which was nominated for that year's Best Picture Academy Award®, through 1942's I Married an Angel.

Together they served up a great smorgasbord of music delivered in a variety of settings which stretch from the old West to the Canadian Rockies to old New Orleans and a Technicolored Vienna, along with supporting casts that include such notables as Jimmy Stewart, John Barrymore, Walter Pidgeon and Buddy Ebsen. Before and after the films I'll also be talking about some of the stories that have always circulated about our Stars of the Month. It's been said Jeanette and Nelson were, at best, chilly friends in real life and, at worst, constantly feuding. Yet a recent book offers considerable proof they may have been secret lovers for years, only pretending to be happily married to others. To further cloud the picture, Jeanette's been described by many as a charming beauty with a delightful sense of humor; others say she was the original Iron Butterfly, larky on the surface but with ice cubes running through her veins. One thing, however, is unmistakably true: few have held the interest or the enthusiasm of fans longer than these two. For years, a large and enthusiastic Jeanette & Nelson Fan Club" has existed, with regular annual meetings held in Hollywood even though, as of this year, it's been 64 years since the team made their last film together and four decades since she died in 1965, he two years later in 1967.

If you're someone wholly devoted to Snoop Dogg, Beyonce or LL Cool J, you may wonder about the longevity and deep devotion of fans over the years aimed at the pair in our March spotlight. On the other hand, don't be surprised if, once you've seen and heard them, you feel the magic and catch the Jeanette & Nelson fever yourself. Millions have.

by Robert Osborne