Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.30 at 07:19
Current mood: jealous

Well, at least that’s what I would have titled the following story. A lucky guy gets a chance to date Carole Lombard…something that for millions of American men in 1935 would have been akin to hitting the jackpot. Isn’t that the angle?

Not for the overwhelmingly feminine readership of The New Movie Magazine. It’s the “and spent only…” that resonates with them; after all, if a movie star can have a satisfactory night out on a minimal budget, shouldn’t a mere mortal lass be able to do likewise with her beau?

That explains why Lombard isn’t in the story’s title, which happens to be…

…the comparatively generic “$10 Is a Lot of Money.”

I don’t know much about the author, John Casey (other than that I envy him), but I’m guessing this date took place in early 1935, when Carole headed east for a little while:

So here was the itinerary: From Lombard’s home base at the Waldorf-Astoria, she and Casey took a crosstown bus to Radio City Music Hall…

…where they saw (or chatted through) George Arliss in “The Iron Duke,” which premiered at Radio City in late January 1935:

From there, it was downtown on the Sixth Avenue El, demolished in 1940 after the Sixth Avenue IND subway line had effectively taken its place…

…to Eighth Avenue and a Greenwich Village spot called The Barn. There, they danced, enjoyed the country-oriented floor show, and the proprietor had Carole paint a message on its wall; she wrote, “$10 Is a Lot of Money.” (So that explains the title!)

They strolled over to the Washington Square arch…

…and after counting their money, boarded an uptown Fifth Avenue bus (something you can’t do anymore, as Fifth Avenue soon was converted into a one-way street heading downtown). They got off near the Plaza Hotel at the southern edge of Central Park, where they hopped onto a hansom cab (what could be more romantic?), although the driver didn’t recognize Lombard, which was fine with her…

…and wound up at Tavern-On-The-Green, a Central Park landmark. (I took a date there many years ago, and it’s nice to think I have something in common with Carole.)

The cabbie, in a generous mood (and perhaps inspired by the ale Lombard provided, not to mention sugar cubes for the horse) gave them a free ride to Lexington Avenue and East 50th Street…right on the corner where the Waldorf-Astoria was located. That was a break, because all they had left of their $10 was a mere seven cents.

Carole told him, “Thanks for the most fun I’ve had since I don’t remember when.”

All in all, a delightful date, one Casey said proved average people can “have fun on $10 or even less.” You will, however, notice that nowhere in the story does he say anything about stealing a kiss from Carole or anything to that effect. Either Casey doesn’t kiss and tell, or he has an awfully low libido for someone squiring Lombard.

But it’s good that Carole enjoyed her inexpensive sojourn in Manhattan; perhaps part of it was in the back of her mind later that year when she rode a bus on a fictional Fifth Avenue with Fred MacMurray in “Hands Across The Table.”

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.29 at 12:21
Current mood: rushed

Two photos that appear to be from Carole Lombard’s first film for Paramount, 1930’s “Safety in Numbers,” are being sold for a discount price of $10 at eBay (each are regularly $13.50)…but the deadline is early Sunday. Both are 8″ x 10″ reprints. In addition to the one above, this image is available:

To purchase the one at the top, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carole-Lombard-B-W-8×10-Photo-02-/281128405926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41748f0ba6; for the one at the bottom, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carole-Lombard-B-W-8×10-Photo-/271230714157?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f269c412d.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.28 at 12:34
Current mood: thoughtful

“My Man Godfrey” did wonderful things for Carole Lombard. It provided her with an Academy Award nomination for best actress, it lifted her into the top tier of stars, and made her one of the industry’s most bankable actresses. But while Lombard no doubt appreciated “Godfrey’s” benefits, she was concerned about one of its potential drawbacks. (Such insecurity is typical of actors; you no doubt have heard the old story about one negative review drawing a stronger reaction than a hundred positive ones.)

Her fear: Being typecast.

Look at it from Lombard’s perspective. After several years of effectively wandering in the Hollywood wilderness as an all-purpose player with little distinctive qualities. Carole had drawn critical attention in the spring of 1934 for her turn opposite John Barrymore in “Twentieth Century.” That was done on loanout to Columbia, and at first it appeared her home studio of Paramount wasn’t paying attention; her next few films continued to meander. Upon becoming Paramount’s head of production in 1935, noted director Ernst Lubitsch recognized what Carole had to offer and put her in a first-class vehicle, the critically-lauded romantic comedy “Hands Across The Table.” (Lubitsch’s short-lived ascension to head of production marked the first and only time a director wielded such power.)

Now, Lombard had struck gold again with “Godfrey”…but she again was digging from the comedy mine. She looked at some of her peers in the industry — Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow at MGM, Ginger Rogers at RKO, Claudette Colbert and Marlene Dietrich at her home base of Paramount — and while many were identified as primarily comedic actresses, none were strictly limited to that genre. Yes, Carole enjoyed doing comedy, and had since Mack Sennett days, but she didn’t want to be restricted by the cinematic border patrol.

So in May of 1937, which syndicated columnist Robbin Coons asked her to guest-write (or perhaps ghost-write) a column, Lombard had the ideal topic. This is how it ran in the May 30 Portsmouth (Ohio) Times:

It’s interesting that she mentions “True Confession,” but has nothing to say about the other Lombard movie released that fall, “Nothing Sacred.” (To be fair, by late May 1937 it had not yet gone into production.) Perhaps the ghost-writer, if there was one, hailed from Paramount’s publicity office. Carole’s comments about being “full of surprises” are indicative of her shrewd sense of public relations, and the note about knowing her limitations played to her distrust of putting on airs.

As things turned out, the critical brickbats she received for the weak “Fools For Scandal” in the spring of 1938 led her to go in a non-comedic direction, not returning to laughter until “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in early 1941.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.27 at 00:27
Current mood: accomplished

Following a day in which the U.S. Supreme Court solidified same-sex marriage, it seemed appropriate to have a “Carole & Co.” entry where the topic was “The Gay Bride,” Carole Lombard’s only film for MGM. (It’s not a very good movie, but nowhere as bad as Lombard claimed it was.) This deals with a portrait of Lombard and co-star Chester Morris…

…taken by MGM photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull, best known for his portraits of Greta Garbo:

Bull took several solo photos of Lombard for the film, but this is the first I’ve seen which pairs her with Morris.

It’s an 8″ x 10″ double-weight semi-gloss, slightly trimmed, in excellent condition. It’s being sold for $99.95; to purchase it or learn more, visithttp://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-CHESTER-MORRIS-VINTAGE-8×10-PHOTO-BY-CLARENCE-BULL-THE-GAY-BRIDE-/190862478000?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c704a4ab0.

To close, here’s something from actress/activist Marsha Hunt, a Paramount cohort of Carole’s in the mid-1930s:

It’s a song she wrote, “Here’s To All Who Love”:

Carol McArthur performed it earlier this year, and it’s followed by a conversation with Hunt about how she wrote the song:

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.26 at 12:25
Current mood: nostalgic

The year of 1936 solidified Carole Lombard’s ascent in the film firmament. She had unveiled her comedic chops in 1934 with “Twentieth Century,” then the following year proved it wasn’t an aberration by making “Hands Across The Table,” a first-class comedy at her home studio of Paramount. Suddenly, Lombard was big box office in a way she had never been before…and it’s indicated by the way her movies now were marketed by the studios making them.

Let’s examine The Film Daily, one of the industry’s leading trade papers, for proof. On May 14, it ran a two-page ad from Paramount promoting Lombard’s latest vehicle, “The Princess Comes Across”:

Universal, a smaller studio in a state of flux as founder Carl Laemmle was on the verge of selling his property, released two films from Carole that year. The first, “Love Before Breakfast,” received next to no promotion in Film Daily...but come Aug. 18, it was under new management and sought to push her second Universal movie, “My Man Godfrey”:

Trade publications regularly ran multi-page sections from studios promoting their upcoming season. Here are a few Lombard-related pages from Paramount’s 1936-37 season announcement on July 16:

Note that Carole was initially cast in “Spawn Of The North,” opposite Cary Grant and Randolph Scott in an outdoor Technicolor production; she fell ill and eventually withdrew from the movie, which would be released in 1938 with Henry Fonda, George Raft and Dorothy Lamour (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/137095.html). And “Panama Gal” is obviously an early version of what would become “Swing High, Swing Low” — though it appears more lighthearted than the finished product.

In that July 16 issue, Lombard briefly commented on the “Topics of Timely Interest” page about Hollywood’s revival as a party mecca compared to Broadway:

It’s fun to look back at publications of the time and examine their advertising campaigns, especially since they are now online and you can see things not only in spot color, but full color. How about this ad from the Jan. 7 Film Daily, a gorgeous rendering of Myrna Loy from MGM on behalf of her latest film, “Whipsaw”:

“Spawn Of The North” was planned to follow in the footsteps of “The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine,” whose status was colorfully promoted in the Feb. 3 issue:

MGM was excited about its upcoming “San Francisco,” and proved it on May 28:

20th Century-Fox went all out in the Sept. 16 issue on behalf of its color production “Ramona,” starring Loretta Young in the adaptation of Helen Hunt Jackson’s famed tale of old California:

Even the occasional re-release could warrant promotion, albeit on nowhere as lavish a scale. On May 26, Warners ran an ad noting a reissue of 1932’s “Taxi!”, starring James Cagney opposite Young (who took over when Carole refused a loanout in late 1931), had done well in a New York run and encouraged theaters in other markets to give it a try:

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.25 at 00:53
Current mood: weird

We rarely, if ever, repeat entries from the “Carole & Co.” archives, but today, we’re making an exception to honor the memory of one of the best writers of our time, Richard Matheson, who left us Sunday at age 87.

Matheson was a master of fiction, best known for his fantasy tales such as “Bid Time Return,” “I Am Legend,” “What Dreams May Come” and “The Shrinking Man.” You know the last one better as the 1957 sci-fi classic “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” as Matheson adapted his novel into a screenplay, one of many he would pen. He also wrote numerous “Twilight Zone” episodes.

What does this have to do with Carole Lombard, you ask? Read on and find out.
_________________________________________

Submitted for your approval…

Posted by vp19 on 2009.10.17 at 12:34

“The Twilight Zone” has re-entered the public consciousness of late, since it was 50 years ago this month that Rod Serling’s anthology of fantasy storytelling premiered on CBS, where it would last for five seasons. Serling, already renowned as one of TV’s best writers (and, like me, a native upstate New Yorker), gathered some of the entertainment industry’s best talent — writers, actors, directors — for a series that was invariably thought-provoking. It’s been revived on TV a few times (though neither version had the literate veneer that marked the original). The Serling episodes remain popular, and the Sci-Fi channel invariably gets good ratings when it conducts its occasional marathons of some of those episodes.

Some of those episodes featured people who had either worked with or knew Carole Lombard. One of the first episodes shown, “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” was directed by Mitchell Leisen and starred Ida Lupino. Burgess Meredith starred in several episodes, and character actor Ernest Truex guested in one. But did you know Lombard herself appeared in an episode?

No, I haven’t gone off the deep end, nor did Mr. Serling find a time machine to transport his crew to the 1930s (a concept that, come to think of it, might have made for a good “Twilight Zone” episode). The key word is “appeared”; we see an image of Carole, adding to the plot.

It came in episode 99, “Young Man’s Fancy,” which aired on May 11, 1962 starring Alex Nicol and Phyllis Thaxter.

The premise? We’ll let Serling explain it in his own words (as the show’s host, he introduced all the episodes):

“You’re looking at the house of the late Mrs. Henrietta Walker. This is Mrs. Walker herself, as she appeared twenty-five years ago. And this, except for isolated objects, is the living room of Mrs. Walker’s house, as it appeared in that same year. The other rooms upstairs and down are much the same. The time, however, is not twenty-five years ago but now. The house of the late Henrietta Walker is, you see, a house which belongs almost entirely to the past, a house which, like Mrs. Walker’s clock here, has ceased to recognize the passage of time. Only one element is missing now, one remaining item in the estate of the late Mrs. Walker: her son Alex (Nicol), thirty-four years of age and, up until twenty minutes ago, the so-called ‘perennial bachelor.’ With him is his bride, the former Miss Virginia Lane (Thaxter). They’re returning from the city hall in order to get Mr. Walker’s clothes packed, make final arrangements for the sale of the house, lock it up and depart on their honeymoon. Not a complicated set of tasks, it would appear, and yet the newlywed Mrs’ Walker is about to discover that the old adage ‘You can’t go home again’ has little meaning in the Twilight Zone.”

That’s right — apparently the house is exerting a strange power over Alex, who decides not to sell it. Virginia believes the spirit of his dead mother is causing this. Then the house itself begins to change, to revert to its past. Appliances develop a 1930s look…music from that era begins playing on a 78 rpm record…and items from a quarter-century ago begin materializing throughout the house — including this magazine:

I’m guessing that was not an actual magazine from the 1930s, but one created as a prop. Lombard, who had been gone for more than two decades when this episode aired, was probably viewed as a perfect symbol of the past. I’ve never seen the original script — written by famed writer and frequent “Zone” contributor Richard Matheson — so I don’t know whether it was his idea, or someone else’s, to put Lombard there.

Eventually Alex’s mother reappears on the stairs, and Alex himself re-emerges as a young boy:

Virginia is told to leave, and as she does, Serling closes the episode with this:

“Exit Miss Virginia Lane, formerly and most briefly Mrs. Alex Walker. She has just given up a battle and in a strange way retreated, but this has been a retreat back to reality. Her opponent, Alex Walker, will now and forever hold a line that exists in the past. He has put a claim on a moment in time and is not about to relinquish it. Such things do happen — in the Twilight Zone.”

“Young Man’s Fancy,” which ran near the end of the show’s third season, isn’t one of its better-remembered episodes; in fact, some fans of the series don’t like it, arguing the concept is either too Oedipal or too reminiscent of “Psycho” (I concur with the former, but I don’t see the latter). Many wish the mother had been more menacing, making it more of a battle of wills.
_________________________________________

Thanks to Richard Matheson, Carole Lombard returned to public consciousness, however briefly, in a forum other than “The Late, Late Show.” And again, thanks to a writer who inspired future generations.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.24 at 09:38
Current mood: artistic

Two original photos from Carole Lombard’s early years at Paramount are being sold at eBay. Above is this still from 1932’s “Sinners In The Sun” — we know it’s from that film because there’s a studio stamp on the back:

It’s 8″ x 10″, in very good condition and can be yours for $30. To purchase or learn more, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spectacular-Original-Carole-LOMBARD-in-SINNERS-IN-THE-SUN-1932-/190861182153?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c703684c9.

The other is from her Paramount debut, in the spring of 1930 where she played a Follies girl in the Buddy Rogers romp “Safety In Numbers”:

It’s playing at the Paramount “Thursday. May 29” (a check of a 1930 calendar reveals that date is accurate), though it didn’t receive a stamp from the “Examiner” library until June. But which Examiner (most likely a Hearst paper)? Probably the one in Los Angeles, as that city’s downtown Paramount was one of the studio’s flagship venues. Here’s how its interior looked…

…and its exterior in 1933, when the Claudette Colbert film “Three-Cornered Moon” was playing:

As in the case of the RKO Hillstreet mentioned a few days ago, the Paramount — which began life as a Sid Grauman theater, the Metropolitan — met an early demise, razed in the early ’60s.

The photo on sale, taken by Eugene Robert Richee, measures 8 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ (though it has been trimmed). Like its “Sinners” counterpart, it’s being sold straight up for $30. Want it, or curious? Visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Orig-Carole-LOMBARD-Buddy-ROGERS-SAFETY-IN-NUMBERS-1930-/190861181498?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c7036823a.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.23 at 13:27
Current mood: annoyed

Carole Lombard’s marriage to Clark Gable in late March 1939 marked the beginning of a new era for her…but for many in the film community, it marked the end of another one. As Carole and Clark’s relationship had developed since 1936, so had Lombard gradually abandoned her extrovert personality that made her so popular in Hollywood.

While most of those who knew the couple well cheered their wedding, others feared the Lombard they knew and loved was on the verge of disappearing. That sense sort of permeates the following story, written by Don Worth for the July 1939 issue of Motion Picture and deemed significant enough to promote on a cover featuring 20th Century-Fox favorites Tyrone Power and Alice Faye:

I discovered this story at the dearmrgable.com site (http://dearmrgable.com/?p=6417), and some of its observations about it are interesting. It called the piece “very sexist,” though it conceded it may not have been by 1939 standards. The site has some other things to say, and I’ll address them after you read the story:

No, I don’t think there’s such a word as “clowness,” either.

The dearmrgable.com people criticized this piece for calling Carole a phony, saying that was “her least favorite kind of person” (“She was not fake!”), and I fully concur. Lombard had both plenty of energy and a phenomenal sense of public relations, and yes, she was an excellent self-promoter…but she managed to do it with a minimum of artiface. If she hadn’t, chances are Lombard wouldn’t have been anywhere as popular as she was.

However, Carole had turned 30 the previous October, and had come to the conclusion that for her, at least, the screwball cycle had run its course. So it was goodbye to comedy, leg art and parties; hello to drama, a more elegant look and an insular approach to life. As was written at dearmrgable.com: “Just because she found a man she loved and wanted to marry him and stay home and have his babies does not mean that the person she was before that was fake.” (Remember, the reason she and screenwriter Robert Riskin didn’t marry in 1935 was that she wanted children; he didn’t. While Riskin eventually fathered children, it was via his new wife, Fay Wray.)

The very idea of Lombard abandoning her career to become a full-time wife and mother had to unnerve some in the Hollywood press corps, as she invariably provided good copy. That’s an underlying theme of this piece.

Elsewhere in that issue, there’s some insight into autograph collecting, including anecdotes involving Ralph Bellamy, Loretta Young and Henry Fonda…

…and an invitation to go on yet another Motion Picture Hollywood tour. (I’m not sure when these ended, but I’m guessing it probably was in 1941):

Looks as if Allan Jones had traded in his “donkey serenade” for a horsey version.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.22 at 11:21
Current mood: nostalgic

Two vintage images of Carole Lombard with her leading men are up for auction at eBay. We begin with Lombard and James Stewart, from “Made For Each Other”…along with a snipe on the back from Russell Birdwell and Selznick-International Pictures:

It’s an 8″ x 10″ single-weight glossy in near mint condition (minor edge wear). The minimum bid is $99.99, and bidding closes at 8:16 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday. If this strikes your fancy, you can bid or get additional information by visiting http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-AND-JAMES-STEWART-VINTAGE-8X10-PHOTO-MADE-FOR-EACH-OTHER-W-SNIPE-/200936570527?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec8c0be9f.

Lombard’s leading man in the other pic isn’t as well remembered today…

…but he’s been getting more attention of late, thanks to his daughter. He’s Lyle Talbot, whose daughter Margaret Talbot has written a terrific book about him called “The Entertainer” — not a strict biography per se, but a book that examines his life in the entertainment industry, from traveling carnivals and theater to films and TV (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/554537.html). Lyle’s identified on the back of the photo…

…but what’s “RKO” doing there? “No More Orchids” was a Columbia production. A look at the following word — “Hillstreet” — provides the answer.

The RKO Hillstreet was a theater in downtown Los Angeles, located on 801 South Hill Street, a few blocks south of Pershing Square. (The picture was probably used in a local newspaper or other publication, though there’s no hint as to which it might have been.) The Hillstreet opened in 1922 on the RKO vaudeville circuit, then switched to movies (with occasional stage shows) a few years later. Designed in the Gothic style, it seated 2,890 and had the same luxuries as most downtown palaces of the era:

We know at least two other Lombard movies played at the Hillstreet — “Ned McCobb’s Daughter” (this looks to be from early 1929, as there’s a reference to a Mack Sennett talkie)…

…and “The Racketeer,” shown in an ad from February 1930:

After World War II, the Hillstreet was redesigned in a Moderne style, including a new marquee, as shown by these images from 1947 (top) and 1953:

Imagine — 3-D, one of the best sci-fi films of the ’50s (directed by Jack Arnold) and a stage show with Nat “King” Cole? Good times.

But they wouldn’t last. While many Los Angeles film palaces went untouched by urban renewal as developers went into the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, the Hillstreet wasn’t so fortunate. It temporarily closed in April 1963, opened again for a while, and then was demolished in early 1965 to make way for a parking garage.

The “No More Orchids” pic is in similar condition to the one for “Made For Each Other” and also opens at $99.99, though its bid deadline is at 7:26 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday. Interested? Then go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-LYLE-TALBOT-VINTAGE-8X10-PHOTO-NO-MORE-ORCHIDS-/200936559130?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec8c0921a.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.06.21 at 08:55
Current mood: enthralled

It’s Carole Lombard in glorious (for the time) two-strip Technicolor, in a scene from her final short for Mack Sennett (not to mention her final film without sound), “Matchmaking Mamma,” released in March 1929 but likely filmed near the end of 1928. The above is a screengrab, as in those days publicity stills weren’t issued in color. But they were made in black and white, and a stunning (and rare) example from that film has surfaced on eBay:

The “sheik” who tried to steal a kiss from Carole has been unmasked, as Lombard and Daphne Pollard stand over him. Here’s a better view of Lombard at age 20, when she was known as “Carole of the curves”:

And in this closeup of the lower left-hand corner, get a glimpse of part of Lombard’s shapely leg at extreme right:

On the back of the image is a stamp, where the movie is incorrectly titled “Matchmaking Mama” (elsewhere, it’s been wrongly labeled “Matchmaking Mamas“):

There are more than a few stills from Carole’s Sennett movies on auction sites, but this is the first time I’ve come across this image. Making this 8″ x 10″ all the more attractive is that it’s in very fine condition — not bad for a pic that’s 84 years old.

The good news is that the opening bid on this is a mere $4.95, surprisingly low for something of this rarity. The bad news is that it almost certainly won’t sell so cheaply, as bidding won’t conclude until 9:59 p.m. (Eastern) June 30 — so if you’re going to bid on this, prepare to re-bid, possibly multiple times. Bid, or learn more, by going to http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1929-EARLY-CAROLE-LOMBARD-RARE-PIN-UP-PHOTOGRAPH-MATCHMAKING-MAMA-SILENT-/231002785900?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item35c8d6c86c.

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