>
Jeanette MacDonald
A gifted, vivacious Broadway soprano, the red-haired Jeanette MacDonald entered films in 1929 under the auspices of Ernst Lubitsch at Paramount and showed a flair for sophisticated comedy in a number of his spicy Continental musicals, especially opposite Maurice Chevalier. In such films as "The Love Parade" (1929), "Oh, For a Man" (1930) and "One Hour With You" (1932), MacDonald was typically cast as girlish but aristocratic types who display a surprising aptitude for risque banter when the occasion demands. Her best film from this early period was Rouben Mamoulian's superb "Love Me Tonight" (1932), opposite Chevalier.