Not all of what we call “classic Hollywood” was made in Hollywood; heck, a good deal of it didn’t come from southern California. Paramount had a flourishing New York presence for much of the ’20s and a little into the ’30s until tottering studio finances forced it to sell its complex in Astoria, Queens. The Marx Brothers, initially major Broadway stars, made their first few films in Astoria, as did Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert…

…Tallulah Bankhead…

…and Ginger Rogers.

Even some westerners headed east for temporary work, such as Carole Lombard, shown at top in a scene from 1930′s “Fast And Loose.”

We also sometimes forget that these satellite studios not only handled moviemaking on sound stages, but other parts of the film process. Portrait photography, for instance. Paramount’s Astoria branch had its own studio photographer, Herman Zerrenner, who took all those star portraits above, and among the other pictures he took for the company was this one of Lombard, with the back also shown for provenance:

This 7.25″ x 9.5″ borderless publicity portrait, deemed in “very good to excellent condition with a light crease over the top left-hand corner and slightly trimmed borders,” is being sold for $125 straight up, or make an offer. The seller believes the photo to be from 1932, as there is a “circa 1932″ marking on the back. However, “Fast And Loose” — the only film Lombard ever made in New York — is from 1930, and note the snipe refers to “Carol Lombard”; she reverted to “Carole” for good later in 1930, so any ’32 photo from the studio would have included that “e.” Finally, there’s an identical portrait in Lombard’s p1202 file — p1202-2, to be precise, obviously among the first she made after signing a contract with the studio and receiving a “p” code number:

Knowing Zerrenner took this probably means that several other of Lombard’s earliest p1202 images, such as p1202-1, 4 and 5 below, were taken not in Hollywood by Otto Dyar or Eugene Robert Richee, but by Zerrenner in New York — and these were issued not long after Lombard received a contract from Paramount:

To buy, bid or examine the photo on sale, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-1932-CAROLE-LOMBARD-Paramount-Portait-GORGEOUS-ZERRENNER-/270919689957?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item3f141266e5.

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It would mark the end of an era for Carole Lombard, at the ripe old age of 20. No more would she be a mere part of the program, but she’d either be top of the bill or a second feature. Her comedic training as part of the Mack Sennett troupe — which would pay off for her several years later — had reached its valedictory. And perhaps most important, from here on in, when you saw Lombard, you’d hear her, too (unless you were in a theater not yet wired for sound).

This was “Matchmaking Mamma,” Carole’s final all-silent (and note it is “Mamma,” not “Mamas” as incorrectly listed in Frederick W. Ott’s “The Films Of Carole Lombard” — that mamma is Daphne Pollard, shown above with Lombard). Released in late March 1929 but probably filmed near the close of 1928, it concluded Carole’s tenure with Sennett; she subsequently went to Pathe, which distributed Sennett product, and where she had already worked on several features.

“Matchmaking Mamma” is a pleasant diversion if hardly great silent comedy. Like the other girls, Lombard mostly serves as decoration, especially in a two-strip Technicolor sequence where she performs as part of a pageant:

The funniest sequence comes not from Carole but her old Fairfax High chum Sally Eilers, who has to use her dress as a makeshift potholder when an entree falls out of an oven:

Film Daily reviewed it on April 14, 1929, and note the word it used to describe the movie — a word becoming increasingly associated with Sennett, as rivals such as Hal Roach had adjusted to changing public tastes in comedy and he hadn’t:

You can watch “Matchmaking Mamma” online; it’s in the public domain. But if you’d like to experience it on a larger screen, with other folks around for company, you’ll have your chance next month, as it’s part of Cinefest 32 from March 15 to 18 in my hometown of Syracuse, N.Y., whose movie and theater history I have written about before (most recently in http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/480529.html). Cinefest is no stranger to Lombard, having run several of her films over the years.

“Mamma” will run at 1 p.m. the opening day at Cinefest headquarters, the Holiday Inn in Liverpool, N.Y., just north of town. The program includes silent and sound, shorts and features. Among the latter are the comedy “Red Salute” with Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Young, at 4:25 p.m. Thursday; “Laughter” (1930), with Nancy Carroll, Frank Morgan, Fredric March and Lombard’s ill-fated Pathe pal Diane Ellis, shown being hugged by Carroll, at 10:40 a.m. Friday…

…the goofy “Gracie Allen Murder Case,” with Warren William trying to decipher Gracie’s zany logic, at 11 p.m. Friday, and two intriguing entries from 1929 on Saturday night — “His Captive Woman” with Dorothy Mackaill at 8:30 and, at 10:30, perhaps the first all-talking, all-color feature, “Mamba,” whose stars included Eleanor Boardman and Ralph Forbes:

Earlier on Saturday, everyone will go on a road trip for a day at the movies at the classic neighborhood house, the Palace, which turns 90 this year and retains its vintage feel:

Most of the day’s fare will be silents (including “Get Your Man” from 1927, with Clara Bow and Buddy Rogers), but sound will be heard in the 1933 comedy “Once In A Lifetime,” starring Jack Oakie.

Sunday will have a variety of film entries, along with an auction at 10:30 a.m. hosted by none other than Leonard Maltin, a Cinefest perennial.

Learn more about the event — you can save money if you register by Feb. 28 — at http://www.syracusecinefest.com.

I wanted to leave you with an ad for “Matchmaking Mamma” from a Syracuse newspaper, but alas, none could be found. In fact, here’s the only ad I’ve ever seen for it, from the Nov. 21, 1929 Frederick (Md.) News, and Lombard isn’t mentioned, even though by this time she had been a lead in several Pathe features:

Enjoy my hometown.

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Here’s an update on what used to be one of the holy grails of Carole Lombard memorabilia — the portrait of two Caroles, created not through mirrors or reflections, but via camera trickery. We’ve seen it here a few times, but have never come across it in particularly good condition.Until now.Ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to present the best-looking image of twin Lombards I have yet seen (with thanks to Tally Haugen for her work on this):

Not only is it far clearer than previous iterations of Carole x 2, but we’ve discovered it was a Paramount portrait with a p1202 number; in this case, it appears to be 736. That would make it from the spring or early summer of 1934, soon after photos showing off her new home on Hollywood Boulevard.

Why did Lombard agree to this? I’ve yet to see a snipe for this image, so we don’t have anything conclusive yet. It’s almost certainly an homage to Dorothy and Lillian Gish in “Orphans Of The Storm,” a D.W. Griffith film she may have seen during its first release in 1922. Perhaps someone suggested she should try some trick photography, or maybe this was her way of giving herself the sister she never had. Whatever, now that we have an idea of when it was issued, examining newspapers of the time (assuming a few of them ran this) could provide an answer.

Carole never played dual roles on screen, but quite a few of her contemporaries did. In honor of the concept, and since today is Feb. 22 (2/22), here are a few from classic Hollywood-era actresses. (We’re limiting ourselves to movies, so you won’t see Patty Duke here, nor will you see the evil or mischievous twins of fantasy females such as Samantha, Sabrina or Jeannie. Moreover, these are only adult roles, so I’ve also left out Hayley Mills and Lindsay Lohan in versions of “The Parent Trap.”) This isn’t meant to be a complete listing, mind you.

Bette Davis portrayed twin sisters on screen — in fact, she did it twice. Her debut as a multiple came in 1946, in “A Stolen Life”:

Some 18 years later, boosted by the recent Grand Guignol success she had with Crawford in “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?”, Bette again did the double trick in “Dead Ringer,” directed by her one-time co-star Paul Henreid:

Getting back to ’46, it turned out to be a good year for actress multiplicity. Olivia de Havilland did it in “The Dark Mirror” — heck, her selves even dress alike:

Did you know Loretta Young played a dual role, and at the tender age of 17, to boot? I didn’t, until the Warner Archive released 1930′s “Road To Paradise” as part of its recent pre-Code package of twofers (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/469215.html):

And finally, both an actor and actress that Lombard knew did the dual trick on screen...with each other? You probably know who (and what) I’m referring to:

It’s Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea…and Claudette Colbert and Rudy Vallee…and Joel McCrea and Mary Astor…in Preston Sturges’ “The Palm Beach Story.” (Note neither Claudette had to worry about the wrong side of her profile showing.)

If I’ve missed any multiples of note, please let me know.

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An intriguing image of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable at a Hollywood movie premiere in 1936, from the Life magazine gallery of photographs (and doesn’t Gable’s ‘I don’t care’ pose eerily predict Robert Mitchum a decade later?). Today’s topic is on the man who took that image, one of the top photographers of his time, Carl Mydans.

Mydans was the magazine’s first Hollywood photographer, but his background was altogether different from those who took stills for movie studios. He had just worked with the Department of the Interior’s Resettlement Administration, taking images of a world far removed from the film capital (the photo was taken in northeast Alabama)…

…and not that far from the U.S. Capitol (1935 pictures of Washington slums):

The naturalism of such images caused trepidation among many in the film industry when Mydans arrived, with fear the veneer of glamour that was so crucial to Hollywood might be diminished in the pages of this new, hugely popular magazine. As Mydans explained in a 1992 interview:

In those days when they finished shooting a scene, someone would shout, ‘Stills!’ and the studio still photographer would come with his 8 x 10 inch camera on a big wooden tripod, and he’d make a picture on a big negative and a very sharp contact print from it. I did not take pictures of these carefully produced, frozen scenes. I took pictures behind the production with my little 35-millimeter Contax, and that worried them. Word spread that this new man from Life has been sent out from New York to destroy the Hollywood illusions their papier-mâché scenes were creating.

There was a hostility to me on many of the lots. The word went out also that I was breaking the rules by making pictures without joining the union. I told New York about this, and they said, “Join the union.” Some friends on the Paramount lot took me aside and said, “Look, Carl, you can’t join the union until the books open.”

I said, “The law says that the books must open once a year, so sometime I will have the chance to apply to join.”

Another friend took me aside and said, “Let me tell you something. The books do open once a year, but they open in somebody’s basement, somewhere in Hollywood. Try to find out where.”

Finally this was ironed out with an understanding. The union agreed to let Life make pictures on studio lots, provided a union man was present. He might sit in the corner and smoke a cigar and read a newspaper, just so long as we paid for his presence. That rule began with me, and it’s still the same rule today.

Lombard understandably backed the studio photographers, whom she had forged close professional ties with:

The first time I went to photograph Carole Lombard, she said, “I hope you understand my rule here. If anybody photographs me, all pictures must be shown to me. I will decide what can be used, and those pictures that I do not want used, I will tear the corners off.”

I brought her my first batch of pictures. She received me rather coldly, and she sat with the pictures and looked at them. Then without raising her head to me, she tore the four corners off of each print. I went out of her studio office feeling awful. But some weeks later, I was invited to come back and photograph her again. I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but she received me very nicely. I photographed her, and I brought back to her all the prints that I made. And she okayed all of them.”

Here are a few of the prints she must have okayed — from the set of “Swing High, Swing Low,” taken in January 1937:

Why do I sense that seconds after that last one was taken, Carole gleefully said to the guys, “Made you look!”?

Some really nice photos of Lombard in the filmmaking process, courtesy of Mydans. You can find many of these images — and purchase framed, full-sized copies of them — at http://life.time.com.

Mydans continued with his excellent photo work for Life, traveling around the world. January 1942, the month Lombard died, Mydans and his wife were captured in Manila by Japanese troops, and were prisoners of war for two years until their release in a prisoner exchange program. Mydans returned to cover the fighting for Life, gaining renown for this photo of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in early 1945, making good on his promise to return…

…and later that year, an image Lombard would have savored to see, the Japanese surrender:

He continued working for Life after the war, and his most notable photos included Sen. John F. Kennedy and his wife campaigning in Boston in 1958…

…and of commuters on a train from Grand Central Station reading the news about Kennedy’s assassination five years later:

Mydans, born in 1907, continued working after Life expired in 1972, working for its sister publication, Time, into the 1980s. He considered himself as much a journalist as a photographer, regularly taking notes of his assignments in notebooks he kept for many years. He later had this to say about his craft:

“Most photographers remember very nearly every picture they have taken. Some, who like myself have made perhaps half a million, may remember all of them. And if a picture of theirs appears somewhere later, over the years, they will spot it immediately and, like a parent unexpectedly seeing the face of a son or daughter in a crowd, may hold it in view for a moment with the feeling that it is something profoundly theirs. In fact, they may even recognize some pictures as their own that they have never seen, because the photojournalists in the field often ship their film to their home offices unprocessed and do not have a chance to see those pictures that are not published. Their editors, always pressed for time, have creamed off what they think is the best of the take and sent the rest to the files where they may languish for years.

“Still during that instant of seeing the subject through the viewfinder there is a remarkable imprinting on his memory. Once a photographer sees and captures an image through his camera it becomes his for his lifetime.”

Mydans died in August 2004 at age 97.

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Like many in Los Angeles in 1932, Carole Lombard had Olympic fever. We know she attended at least one day of the Games (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/437978.html), but apparently she helped raise funds for them, too. Or at least her image did.

As a fundraiser for the Olympics, the P.G. Wenger Co. issued a commemorative playing card deck. The cards from 2 through 10 were conventional in appearance, but the jacks through aces had a different look; the aces showed the Olympic stadium (the Coliseum), the swimming venue, the Olympic village and City Hall, while two film stars graced each of the other 12 cards.

And thanks to the work of http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com, we know who was on the queen of diamonds…

…Carole on one side, Paramount stablemate Tallulah Bankhead on the other.

Kings and jacks had male stars, queens the females; the only major studio not participating was MGM. The queen of spades card remains a mystery, but we do know “Night Nurse” cohorts Joan Blondell and Barbara Stanwyck were on the queen of clubs…

…while Kay Francis and Celia Ryland (who?) were on the queen of hearts:

Among the male stars were Warren William and George Bancroft:

Learn more about the cards at http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/movie-collectibles/1932-pg-wenger-olympiad-playing-cards.

Did the sale of the cards help raise funds for the Games? Maybe. But at least it’s a star-studded, Hollywood-flavored souvenir from those memorable few weeks.

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Carole Lombard posed for this snapshot sometime in 1935, and was generally known for having a good rapport with fans. But that might not have been so in at least one category.

In immersing myself through publications and fan magazines of the era, I noted that many a star of the time had a fan club, and some had chapters that extended nationwide or even worldwide. But nowhere, nowhere, could I find any reference to a Carole Lombard fan club. (A check of the Newspaper Archive with the phrase “Carole Lombard fan club” between 1931 and 1941 provided nothing.)

Figuring Carole Sampeck of The Lombard Archive would know about any Lombard fan clubs during that time, I emailed her, and got this response:

Strangely enough, I have never encountered info on Carole’s possible involvement with fan clubs devoted to her during her lifetime. I don’t think it’s for lack of interest in CL, of course, but in spite of the fact that Carole DID want to give the moviegoing public what they wanted, she didn’t seem to feel the need to court favor with the fans in the way that Joan Crawford did. It’s simply never surfaced within my awareness of her life’s work. Perhaps they did exist, but had lousy press agents! Should’ve hooked up with Russell Birdwell, huh?

(Birdwell was the publicity whiz at Selznick International Pictures and a good friend of Lombard’s.)

Photoplay had a regular feature in the mid-1930s called “The Fan Club Corner.” Here’s what ran in the July 1935 issue:

Note that in the first paragraph, it said “written permission must be secured from that star.” I’m guessing that Lombard was a little reluctant to sponsor something official, although it’s known she received more than her share of fan mail and gifts from the public.

This attitude may have been a reflection of the philosophy of her home studio. Here’s a segment from a story by John Scott that ran in the April 5, 1936 San Antonio Express, headlined “Fan Clubs For Stars Usually Prove Racket,” showing the contrasts between Warners and Paramount where fan clubs were concerned:

(Some Paramount players, such as Bing Crosby, did have fan clubs.)

In the March 5, 1937 Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram, syndicated columnist Jimmie Fidler cited Jean Harlow’s fan club as an example of one that was legit:

Of course, barely three months after that reached print, Harlow was gone, and the predicament facing her fan club was noted that Aug. 28 in the Hammond (Ind.) Times:

Did Harlow’s fan clubs continue? Yes. But the following June it was reported that 24 of her clubs had been converted into clubs for…

…Marie Wilson, as reported by syndicated columnist Harrison Carroll:

Wilson, who had appeared with Lombard in “Fools For Scandal” earlier that year and was now winning raves for her work in “Boy Meets Girl,” was a beautiful, funny woman, but it’s certainly no knock on her to say that she’s not the type you would link to Harlow. But later that summer, armed with her new fan club support, she met with New York columnist George Ross:

Wilson’s enhanced fan clubs did little to vault her from character actress to star; it wouldn’t be until the 1940s and her work on radio, notably “My Friend Irma,” that she became a household name.

Fan clubs of all sorts got together for conventions, often in Chicago during the summer. Many were involved in charitable activities, sometimes encouraged by their sponsoring star.

Memorabilia from movie star fan clubs in the classic era are scarce, but here’s one — a photo of the Irene Dunne fan club:

If any of you have authoritative proof of a Lombard fan club formed during her lifetime, please get back to me — I’d love to learn about it.

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If you find yourself a bit bored this Presidents’ Day weekend — and, unlike Carole Lombard, you have no photographer around to take portraits of you looking fabulous — here’s something to help pass the time away if you’re a classic movie fan.

Every now and then, one of the many blogs that celebrates Hollywood in its golden age puts together a list of questions and asks its readers for responses. This time around, the blog in question is “Frankly, My Dear”:

Clicking on that won’t lead you to the survey; you can find that at http://franklymydear-blog.blogspot.com/2012/02/im-doing-classic-film-survey.html. As stated, it has 15 questions, and specifically here they are (one of which is on our favorite lady):

1. Favorite classic Disney?
2. Favorite film from the year 1939?
3. Favorite Carole Lombard screwball role?
4. Favorite off screen couple? (It’s OK if it ended in divorce.)
5. Favorite pair of best friends? (i.e: Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford)
6. Favorite actor with a mustache?
7. Favorite blonde actress?
8. Favorite pre-code?
9. Which studio would you have liked to join?
10. Favorite common on screen pairing that SHOULD have gotten married?
11. Favorite “I Love Lucy” episode?
12. Out of these actresses which one do you like best: Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Greer Garson, Grace Kelly or Katharine Hepburn?
13. Shadowy film noir from the 1940s or splashy colorful musicals from the 1950s?
14. Actor or actress with the best autograph (photo preferred).
15. A baby (or childhood, or teenage) photo of either your favorite actress or actor (or both, if you’d like.)

How did I answer?

1. Favorite classic Disney?
Probably “Alice In Wonderland”; it’s so delightfully surreal.

2. Favorite film from the year 1939?
So many good movies that year, but think I’ll go with “Stagecoach,” if not the greatest western ever made, certainly among the most pivotal.

3. Favorite Carole Lombard screwball role?
Carole’s my all-time favorite actress, and choosing one is like selecting your favorite child. But I think I’ll throw a bit of a curve here and select Ann Smith from “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” for not only is it a fun role, but Hitchcock photographs Lombard with incredible luminosity.

4. Favorite off-screen couple? (It’s OK if it ended in divorce.)
Lombard and William Powell. It may have ended in divorce, but their relationship remained strong. They apparently had the maturity to realize they made better friends than lovers.

5. Favorite pair of best friends? (i.e: Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford)
Lombard had so many friends in the film community, but I’ll make this a tie between two pals of hers: Jean Harlow (they only knew each other for about two years before Jean’s death, but they were quite simpatico) and Lucille Ball (who came to know Carole at RKO and always credited her as a comedic influence).

6. Favorite actor with a mustache?
It’s got to be Bill Powell.

7. Favorite blonde actress?
Carole Lombard. Surprised?

8. Favorite pre-code?
There are so many I love, but I think I’ll go with “The Smiling Lieutenant” (1931), some saucy Lubitsch. Jazz up your lingerie!

9. Which studio would you have liked to join?
Paramount, circa 1930. Perhaps the most sophisticated of studios.

10. Favorite common on-screen pairing that SHOULD have gotten married?
How about Powell and Kay Francis, who were so good together in “Jewel Robbery” and “One Way Passage”? (Someone order a paradise cocktail, please.)

11. Favorite “I Love Lucy” episode?
The one at the Brown Derby, as Lucy goes Hollywood.

12. Out of these actresses which one do you like best: Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Greer Garson or Katharine Hepburn?
Purely as actress, Ball. If the criteria is strictly film work (where Lucy had some success, but certainly not comparable to what she did in TV), I’d probably go with A. Hepburn.

13. Shadowy film noir from the 1940s or splashy colorful musicals from the 1950s?
On the whole, the latter, although in the wrong hands (e.g., MGM aside from the Freed unit), such musicals could look too overgrown for their own good.

14. Actor or actress with the best autograph (photo preferred).
I’ll leave this to the calligraphers.

15. A baby (or childhood, or teenage) photo of either your favorite actress or actor (or both, if you’d like.)
Here’s Carole Lombard as Jane Alice Peters in July 1918, three months away from her 10th birthday, aiding the war effort:

As for your responses…?

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It’s the early months of 1935, and the career of Carole Lombard — redefining herself for her comedic skills, thanks largely to “Twentieth Century,” after years of being viewed as an all-purpose star by both fans and her home studio of Paramount — is in the ascendant. For some time now, she had been renowned for both her sleek figure and her fashion sense, regularly ranking among the top of the film community’s best-dressed women.

Furs, as seen above in Paramount’s p1202-1000, might be good for chilly weather (at least in those unenlightened times before the animal rights movement), but how does a woman stay stylish once things warm up? Photoplay magazine decided to find out, and provided its readers with an answer in the April 1935 issue:

In a story written by Carolyn Van Wyck, Lombard said:

“The charm of the blonde lies in her coloring — or lack of it. Make-up should accent her pastels, not disguise them. I use little make-up off the screen, but what I use is in the gentler tones. With the exception of black and white, off-tones are her clothes colors, pale pinks, blues, greens — indeed, fairly any muted color.

“My one exception in make-up, as you can see, is my nails.”

(Van Wyck had noted Carole was wearing “mahogany-red” polish on her fingers and toes.)

Lombard continued:

“I consider this whole business of personal enhancement rather futile unless women will augment it with personal development. I believe that any woman who does things is interesting, that she can be interesting only by doing things. A full, busy life seems unconsciously to develop us, to bring out our best points and to subdue the worst ones. My sincerest advice to any girl or woman is to develop herself through activities and interests. Then she need never fear her personal attraction or interest for others.”

Many of these thoughts would be extrapolated into a Photoplay piece some two years later where Carole described how she lived by a man’s code (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/111181.html).

Some good ideas for spring, the time when one can then make plans for summer, as seen in p1202-1070…

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The inventory of Carole Lombard’s publicity portraits with Paramount’s p1202 imprint continues to grow, as three more such images have been discovered. We’ll kick things off with p1202-933:

This shot, showing Carole, wearing bangs, reclining on either a hammock or a rug converted into one, is from sometime in 1934. Fast forward to late 1936, and an image that likely ties in to Lombard’s upcoming film, “Swing High, Swing Low.” It’s p1202-1310:

She wore that outfit for other portraits taken about that time, such as p1202-1309 (left) and 1314:

Finally, there’s p1202-1431, the antithesis of the fancy photos we’ve just seen. This is Carole the casual (but nonetheless exquisite), wearing a simple blouse (likely without a bra beneath it, if the hint of bustline is indicative) that complements a face of serene beauty:

This session apparently also produced p1202-1437, as Lombard’s wearing the same blouse, though this time she adds a scarf:

All three of the highlighted photos, all struck from original negatives, are now available for $14.99 apiece. For p1202-933, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carole-Lombard-8×10-Photo-D1707-/120861088282?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c23e1da1a; for p1202-1310, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carole-Lombard-8×10-Photo-D1709-/110826341346?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cdc3c3e2; and for p1202-1431, check out http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carole-Lombard-8×10-Photo-D1710-/120861089333?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c23e1de35.

The seller has several other Lombard portraits from her Paramount era available at the same price.

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“True Confession,” Carole Lombard’s final film for Paramount, inspires plenty of heated debate among her fans. Many of them, and a few critics to boot, consider it one of her finest comedies; others, notably Leonard Maltin, consider it a fairly weak vehicle. But among the few things both camps might agree on is that it may have the goofiest advertising campaign of any Lombard film.

The photo above is proof — Lombard pointing out something to a similarly crazed-appearing Fred MacMurray, while a relatively subdued Una Merkel also looks on. Carole, Fred, Una and John Barrymore all approached their press stills for this movie with a slightly unhinged approach.

This insane image was converted into a colorized original lobby card that’s now available at eBay:

Another lobby card from the film, featuring Lombard next to MacMurray in a hat, robe and swim trunks, is also available:

Each are being sold for $125. The pointing pic, listed in “excellent +” condition, is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/HU34-True-Confessions-CAROLE-LOMBARD-Fred-MacMURRAY-Lobby-Card-/390390968136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae51d6f48. The swimsuit image, merely in “excellent” shape, is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/HU33-True-Confessions-CAROLE-LOMBARD-Fred-MacMURRAY-Lobby-Card-/400276792391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d325b2447.

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