The Mystery of the Pink Lady

Henrique Medina (1901-1988) was a Portuguese portrait artist who spent World War II in the Americas: first Brazil, then Argentina, and finally the US. While in the US, he befriended Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, and Mary Pickford among others. It was at this time that he painted the portraits of Dorian Grey for the film of the same name and one of Greer Garson for the film "Mrs. Parkington." He returned to Portugal in 1946.  During his time in Hollywood, in addition to painting portraits for the movies, he painted those of some of the famous actresses of the time. One of these was Jeanette MacDonald. The portrait pictured her in a pale pink gown which was her favorite color. It was placed over the davenport of her home, Twin Gables.

Jeanette and her husband, Gene Raymond, sold Twin Gables in 1963 and moved into the Comstock Apartments on Wilshire due to her declining health.  She died of a heart attack in the hospital in Houston, Texas on January 14, 1965. What happened to the painting?

It was not heard of again until 1979. It was donated to the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California where her sister Blossom Rock had been a resident until her death on January 14, 1978. During a Ceremony on June 23, 1979, an anonymous donation was made in Jeanette's name to rebuild the kitchen facilities of the Louis B. Mayer dining room. An invitation-only reception was held for about 300 people and a brass plaque was unveiled over the archway leading to the dining room which read, "Give Us This Day-Jeanette MacDonald." The portrait was unveiled in the dining room and remained there until it was damaged and put into storage.

In the early 1990's, her husband, Gene, began exploring ways to celebrate her musical legacy. He turned to his attorney, Bernard Newman, for advice.

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> "Mr. Raymond and I were looking for an institution that would promote Jeanette MacDonald's kind of music — operetta and light opera," said Newman. "I did some scouting and found out that USC — at that time, as it is now— was considered the `Juilliard of the West.'"
> Newman and Raymond visited the USC Thornton School of Music and discussed the possibility of not only making a contribution to the school, but also sponsoring performances in Jeannette MacDonald's memory. Although Raymond passed away in 1998 before final arrangements for a gift had been made, Newman remembered their discussions with the USC Thornton School and, together with Robert Thom, trustee of the Gene Raymond Trust, made a grant of $1 million to establish the performance fund.
> The endowed fund will provide five or more scholarships to vocal arts performance majors selected on the basis of need as well as superior achievement or professional potential in the area of light opera/operetta. In addition, on a three-year rotating basis, the spendable earnings from the fund will sponsor the Jeanette MacDonald Operetta Recital, Workshop and Production.
> "I am profoundly grateful to Bernard Newman and Robert Thom for making the USC Thornton School of Music the beneficiary of the Gene Raymond Trust and for establishing the Jeanette MacDonald Operetta Scholarship and Performance Fund at USC," said dean Larry Livingston.

In 2003, this became a reality and the portrait, affectionately called "The Pink Lady," hangs proudly on the wall of the Jeanette MacDonald Recital Hall at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in downtown Los Angeles.