When I turned about 11 or 12 years old (this is about 1962 or 1963) can’t quite remember the age, Nelson Eddy had a singing partner, Gale Sherwood, and she was absolutely beautiful. They had a nightclub act and toured around the country. Maybe one of you were fortunate enough to see this act but it was here where I met him. It was the Colonial Inn, a dinner theater on St. Petersburg Beach and he was “booked” and I mean booked each year. They did two shows a night, early and then about 10 PM. Of course, we had to stay for each show because my dad was camped out there for the evening.

My dad, mom and I were there for dinner and the first show. During the intermission, my father flagged down the MC of the show, (forget his name now, but he used to sing a song or two in the middle of the shows.) He had a great voice as well. Anyway, dad got the guy’s attention and he came over to the table. Dad got up and asked him, “...is there any chance my daughter could meet Nelson Eddy tonight?” Well, you know, what he meant, was, “...is there any chance (he) could meet him too.” In any event, the MC told him he would see what he could do. Well, we sort of forgot it and figured it wasn’t going to happen when, about 15 minutes later he tapped my dad on the shoulder and said, “If you come with me, sir, I happen to know that Mr. Eddy is in the hallway over here, he just came down the stairs.” {I remember it word for word, believe it or not.}

My dad got up, grabbed me by the arm and away I went through the room to the back exit. This was near where the rooms are so Nelson must have had a room there while he performed and he would have had to come down the stairs to get to the main ballroom.

We went back into the hallway and stood there for a moment and down the stairs he came, all six feet of him and unbelievably handsome. He must have been in his early sixties at that time but he looked the same to me and my dad as he did in his movies.

He walked right up to us, shook my father’s hand and he said, “How are you, tell me, what is the little girl’s name?” He actually SPOKE! I turned to my dad and waited for what it seemed like hours for him to say my name but all I saw was my father’s mouth open, staring at Nelson. (I realize now that I am an adult, he was so stunned, he couldn’t talk!)

Nelson, amused, said it again, “What is the little girl’s name?” Still watching my poor father, he still couldn’t talk. He could only stare at him!

Finally, the MC grabbed my dad’s arm and with that my father finally said, “Kathy...Kathleen.” Nelson grabbed one of the dinner theater’s brochures that advertised his coming to town and had his picture on it with Ms. Sherwood’s photo on the side of his. Then Nelson said, “Does anyone have a pen?” Again, dad behaving like a robot and never taking his eyes off Nelson, (are you visualizing this?) Slowly raised his hand and handed him the pen he brought. Nelson wrote, “To Kathleen, Best Wishes from Nelson Eddy.” Nelson then asked dad if he was going to stay for the second show and he could only nod, yes. Now, I am sure Nelson Eddy must have known that he struck fans in this fashion and I am sure thousands were also awed at the site, but he didn’t say anything about it. (What a gentleman). The MC then ushered us back to our table. The second show began about 10 PM. Nelson and Gale sang most of his songs from his movies, plus other beautiful music and about a half an hour into the show, he stopped at the end of a song. All the stage lights went out except one which was on Nelson and one was put only on our table. No one knew what was going on because this obviously wasn’t in the scheme of things. I almost died right there - never mind my dad! “I am now going to sing “Sweethearts” for Kathleen.” (From Maytime).

Well, if you can imagine Nelson Eddy singing that song to a young girl just the way he sang it to Jeanette, I was never the same afterward. I think about that time dad went into shock! When he finished the song, the audience went bezerk springing up from their chairs, clapping in a frenzy and wouldn’t stop for a long time. Then they took the lights off the table and the people still couldn’t stop clapping. I will never forget the look on Nelson’s face that he was very pleased with what he did and he smiled at me.

To this day, I have never seen an audience react the way the people did when Nelson Eddy was on stage. That night, the grand finale song that Nelson Eddy sang was Ol’ Man River. Now - what I am about to say is also the truth, every bit of it!

Remember that I said the house was PACKED? There was no seating left which was the way it always was when he came to town. I am sure that you have heard the song, Ol’ Man River, sung by the best of the baritones and especially in Showboat - its enough to raise goose bumps. But when Nelson Eddy sang that song, there wasn’t a sound or a dry eye in the place. The kitchen people stopped, the waitresses stopped, everything stopped until he sang the last phrase, “...he keeps on rolling...along!” People that hadn’t even paid for the show, standing in the street, on the sidewalks, strained and pushed to get in the doors to hear him sing that song. Ushers had to clear a path of people out into the street! This is the truth, may God strike me dead right here. People were shaking in their boots and as I said, that was his last song for the night and then they wouldn’t let him get off stage! He just kept coming back up and saying, “Thank you, thank you so much.” He just loved that he was appreciated like that! I haven’t since that time seen an entertainer so happy to be singing - you could see it in his face. As the people were so crazy clapping and yelling, “more”, Gale Sherwood just took several steps behind him and let him have the glory and I never forgot that gesture on her part.

My father carried the pen in his pocket for days and said no one was allowed to even touch it again and we didn’t. He had it put inside the frame with the brochure and the autograph and he still has it to this day. He also said he would never shake anyone’s hand again. All the way home in the acar, he kept saying, “HE TOUCHED ME!” Now that’s the truest fan in the world. Life in my house wasn’t the same for a long time!

The next morning, the St. Petersburg Times splashed on the FRONT page, “Nelson Eddy Wows Them at the Colonial Inn” and the story was HUGE in the paper.

I can only assume that he must have struck people this way wherever he and his entourage performed, all over the world. I wish there was a way I could tell him now what a nice thing he did for that little girl.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this story with probably the only people who would understand what meeting him meant and to relive this great story was good for me as well. I’m going to give a copy to my mother and dad so they will know I never forgot the fact that they took the time to bring me there to see and hear someone who will probably only come along this way once in a lifetime.

Kathy Fortier, (FL)