Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.31 at 08:48
Current mood: cheerful

If you could whisk yourself back in time some 74 years (or, since it’s Halloween, enlist the services of a friendly witch to make it happen), you’d find the above magazine cover on newsstands on Oct. 31, 1939. It’s Screen Book, showing Carole Lombard in her new “farm girl” domestic persona, complete with goat.

That motif was continued inside, alongside farmer husband Clark Gable:

Also in the magazine were photo features on the magical “Eternally Yours,” with Loretta Young and David Niven…

…and a two-page spread on the latest Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland vehicle, “Babes In Arms”:

The back cover has an ad for Lucky Strike…

…ironic, since this magazine apparently comes from “a smoke-free home.” At least that’s what the seller says, listing the issue in very good condition.

If you’d like to add it to your collection, note that as of this writing, one bid (for $13.99) already has been made; bidding is slated to end at 8:01 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday (after most of the U.S. reverts to Standard time). Bid, or find out more, by visiting http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCREEN-BOOK-MAGAZINE-NOVEMBER-1939-CAROLE-LOMBARD-JUDY-GARLAND-CLARK-GABLE-/310783123374?pt=Magazines&hash=item485c1e1fae.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.30 at 06:46
Current mood: accomplished

Getting a sense of deja vu about that photo of Carole Lombard holding perfume? Well, if you were here last Thursday, it’s understandable, because that image (in cropped form) was part of a page we ran from the January 1934 issue of Photoplay:

In fact, that pic was the very photo used in the magazine; we have proof from the markings on the back:

Note the “Hollywood Beauty Shop” reference. We also discover that sometime later, probably after Photoplay’s demise in 1980, it made its way to the library of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

The above photo is among several of Lombard, each on sale at eBay for $125 or best offer. Here’s another image Photoplay used and that we previously ran:

Don’t recall the context? We ran it last December; it was from the August 1931 issue:

Again, here’s proof:

Backless, and beautiful.

This next image doesn’t come from a magazine at all, but from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (was it taken by Clarence Sinclair Bull?), and the only thing on the back is a snipe:

Note no title had been given the production. It initially was to have been called “Repeal,” but MGM figured that had little appeal in post-Prohibition America, so it was changed to “The Gay Bride” (a title that would have a completely different meaning today).

The final pic available is one of Carole’s Paramount portraits, specifically p1202-1422. Its back isn’t shown, so it may well be blank:

The “perfume” photo is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-VINTAGE-1934-PUBLICITY-PRESS-PHOTO-/360778048785?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item54000c2511.

For the image of Lombard’s back, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-1931-PUBLICITY-PRESS-PHOTO-FROM-PHOTOPLAY-MAGAZINE-LIBRARY-/360778050535?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item54000c2be7.

To find the MGM photo, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-MGM-VINTAGE-PUBLICITY-PRESS-PHOTO-/360778049743?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item54000c28cf.

Finally, check out p1202-1422 at http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-VINTAGE-PUBLICITY-PRESS-PHOTO-/360778048360?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item54000c2368.

Tonight marks the 75th anniversary of arguably the most famous radio broadcast in history, as Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater adapted H.G. Wells’ “War Of The Worlds.” By 2013 standards, it’s hard to believe something such as this could provoke a panic among some people (my father, who had just turned 15, heard it and wasn’t fooled), but radio then was still a relatively new medium, and many had not yet developed the sense of discerning what was real and what wasn’t. (Before the broadcast, CBS altered the script to delete references to many actual organizations or groups; for example, the New Jersey National Guard was instead titled “the state militia.”) Welles’ broadcast still packs a punch as radio drama so many years later — in case you’re one of the few who hasn’t heard it, or want to hear it again, here it is:

 

 

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.29 at 08:12
Current mood: curious

Sometime near the end of her Paramount tenure, Carole Lombard posed for this fetching portrait, p1202-1501, where with trenchcoat and hat, she appears ready to engage in some espionage. At one point in the fall of 1935, that indeed seemed to be the case.

First, let’s look back a few months earlier, to the July 10, 1935 issue of Film Daily. Paramount issued its fall product display in a lengthy, colorful advertising section…

…and yes, it included a reference to Lombard’s upcoming film:

Incidentally, you’ll note no male lead is mentioned. According to the Internet Movie Database, “Gary Cooper was the first choice for the role of Theodore Drew III but was unable at the time.” So it went to Fred MacMurray, who had made an impression on moviegoers earlier that year opposite Claudette Colbert in “The Gilded Lily.”

As things turned out, “Hands Across The Table” didn’t make its premiere until later that month, and the Oct. 25 Film Daily gave it considerable praise…

Good news for the new regime at Paramount, which included Ernst Lubitsch as head of production — the only time a director held the reins at a major Hollywood studio. (Oh, and that “b.o.” refers to “box office,” not…)

As October led to November, Paramount was considering its next vehicle for Carole. On Nov. 21, Film Daily reported it apparently had found one:

Two days later, another blurb — same project, changed title:

Beyond that…nothing. IMDb lists no films entitled either “Fashion Spy” or “Imported From Paris.” The story’s writer, John Francis Larkin, has nine credits listed (including “Parachute Jumper” and the story that became the Ruth Chatterton film “Frisco Jenny”), but for 1936, he is shown as having written the story for a comedy called “Mind Your Own Business” with Charlie Ruggles, Alice Brady and Lyle Talbot. No synopsis is given, but with characters named Orville and Melba Shanks (Ruggles and Brady) plus Jon Hall (then listed as Lloyd Crane) portraying a scoutmaster, one doubts that film was set in Paris.

What happened to the project? Perhaps Lombard lost interest, or she or someone at the studio thought it too closely resembled “Fashions Of 1934,” in which William Powell played a designer who ripped off the latest styles and had Bette Davis as an assistant. Whatever, it went to the scrapheap (one wonders if a finished script was ever made), replaced by a film called “Concertina,” where Carole’s co-star would be George Raft. Ultimately, that movie would have both a new title and leading man (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/166158.html).

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.28 at 07:11 
Current mood: content

About 4 1/2 months ago, we ran some photos of Carole Lombard as she appeared in a Dutch magazine in 1936 (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/609113.html). That issue of the magazine Cinema & Theater is now available at eBay, as are three earlier issues with Lombard images…beginning with the one above, perhaps among the first pictures of her in a European publication. It ran on Jan. 20, 1928, and you can see her first name is listed as “Carolle,” the monicker she briefly employed in her early tenure at Mack Sennett.

More than 5 1/2 years later — specifically the Sept. 2, 1933 issue — Lombard was “Carole,” established at Paramount, and ready to set sail (and show off her legs in shorts, too):

By 1935, Lombard had graduated from photo op to story subject, warranting a two-page spread (in conjunction with her latest film, “Rumba”) in the May 4 issue:

And the issue of Cinema & Theater we ran in June? It’s from Oct. 17, 1936, and not only was Carole on the cover, but on the inside as well:

Each of these issues can be bought straight up for $19.99, or you can make an offer; all are in at least good condition and run between 20 and 32 pages, although there may be an occasional loose page.

For the 1928 magazine, go to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cinema-Theater-1928-Carmen-Boni-Eliza-Carole-Lombard-and-more/200980634488?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2300104371984696801%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D200980631991%26.

For the one from 1933, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cinema-Theater-1933-Karin-Hardt-Rose-Barsony-Carole-Lombard-ect/200980630058?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2300145507466407096%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D200980634488%26.

The 1935 issue can be found at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cinema-Theater-1935-Marika-Rokk-Carole-Lombard-Astrid-Allwyn-ect/200980631991?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2300184332428039144%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D200980630058%26.

And finally, information on the 1936 issue is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cinema-Theater-1936-Carole-Lombard-Marion-Davies-Myrna-Loy-and-more/200980630057?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2300208445144680098%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D200980631991%26.

Incidentally, today marks the 116th anniversary of Edith Head’s birth, and the Oscar-winning designer is receiving the top current cultural salute — she’s being honored by Google:

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.27 at 09:08
Current mood: amused

“We’re Not Dressing” is a fun Bing Crosby musical vehicle, but as a Carole Lombard film it shows just how interchangeable an actress Paramount perceived her to be in early 1934. Nothing in the role of haughty heiress Doris Worthington specifically calls for Carole’s on-screen talents; no one really knew what those were, least of all Lombard. Crosby could have had Miriam Hopkins or Mary Carlisle or Claudette Colbert as a leading lady (I don’t think Bing ever worked with Claudette), and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

By mid-1934, talk around Hollywood was that, through her latest film, “Twentieth Century” (made on loanout to Columbia), Lombard had finally found her niche as an actress. But had word reached the heartland? “We’re Not Dressing” was released in late April, a few weeks prior to “Twentieth Century,” and by the start of July it had made its way to South Dakota, specifically a city in the south-central part of the state, near the Nebraska line, named Winner:

The theater, named the Ritz, seated 350 and had been open for several years by 1934. Here’s how it looked in 1939:

The Ritz closed in 1990 and was converted into a community church, but don’t feel bad for Winner moviegoers. A nearby theater, the Pix, remains open (it’s currently showing the mega-hit “Gravity”)…

…as does the Winner Drive-In, which is closed for the season but will reopen in May:

Let’s get back to that window card for “We’re Not Dressing” — it’s gorgeous, on heavy cardboard stock and in immaculate condition. The card itself measures 14″ x 22″; with frame, it’s 19″ x 27″.

As you might guess, this has plenty of value. The minimum bid is a lofty $450 (but for something as rare as this, it’s worth it), and bidding is set to end at 11:03 a.m. (Eastern) Friday. To place a bid, or simply learn more, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/WERE-NOT-DRESSING-WINDOW-CARD-MATTED-AND-FRAMED-BING-CROSBY-CAROLE-LOMBARD/321235509466?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2277771216723478454%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D281194942540%26.

And yes, anyone who purchases this window card will feel…like a Winner. (Couldn’t resist.)

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.26 at 05:43
Current mood: productive

If you’re a fan of Carole Lombard’s final Paramount film “True Confession” (which probably means you’re not named Leonard Maltin; while he’s a fan of Carole’s and even wrote a paperback book about her nearly 40 years ago, he doesn’t think much of this movie), several items of memorabilia are now available.

First up, a 5″ x 7″ booklet, in very good condition, resembling a copy of the magazine True Confessions, with a Lombard image on its cover, used to promote both the film and the mag:

Inside, Lombard “confesses” that she will not let herself be typecast:

Carole is shown reading the magazine (one with her image on the cover!)…

…and is shown with Eleanor Fisher, who won a contest for a trip to Hollywood and a walk-on role in the film (playing a reporter, she actually speaks a line to Lombard). It would be her lone screen credit (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/466517.html):

When this was issued late in 1937, you could “take one free,” but now it will cost you at least $20, as that is the minimum bid; the auction is slated to end at 11 a.m. (Eastern) Friday. Find out additional information or place a bid by going to http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRUE-CONFESSIONS-1937-PROMOTIONAL-BOOKLET-CAROLE-LOMBARD-/321235507941?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4acb20dae5.

The seller has another item of “True” memorabilia, this from the other side of the pond. Two British movie publications, The Cinema and Kinematograph Weekly, published full-page pictorials on the film in mid-December, about the time it made its “trade debut” in London (the UK public wouldn’t see the movie until early 1938):

Each sheet measures 11″ x 17″ and is “suitable for framing.” Bids here start at $12, and bidding ends one minute before the program does. Learn more athttp://www.ebay.com/itm/2-OVERSIZE-PHOTO-FEATURES-ON-TRUE-CONFESSION-1937-MOVIE-WITH-CAROLE-LOMBARD-/281194942540?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417886504c.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.25 at 18:27
Current mood: determined

Carole Lombard and Eddie Quillan of “Show Folks” are here to remind you that a week from today, “Carole & Co.” will be host for another blogathon. Hard to believe it’s not that far away.

Oh, you say you hadn’t heard about the event? Well, it’s called…

…and it works like this: Choose a film made after 1965 (the unofficial end of the “classic era”) and rework it as a silent-era movie, with a cast (stars and principal supporting players), director, studio and year (no later than 1929) — and all personnel involved in the production have to be alive and working in the industry at the time of its “release.”

(Above is Douglas Fairbanks from “The Black Pirate” in 1926.)

It promises to be plenty of fun, and as you see above, it’s slated to run from Friday, Nov. 1 to Monday, Nov. 4. If you’d like to choose a movie and give a date for publication, leave a comment at the end of this entry. (I’ll be creating one — Lombard-related, of course — but you’ll have to wait till next weekend to find out more.)

Meanwhile, let’s get you in the mood with some “reimagined” posters from Fritzi Kramer at http://moviessilently.com (rest assured, a poster is not a prerequisite for participation). Remember “The Fugitive,” with Harrison Ford? This version has Harrison Ford, too — but it’s the original actor by that name (and a considerable star in his own right in silent days), and it takes place in 1923, with Lon Chaney as Ford’s pursuer:

And some 35 years before Barry Nelson became the first actor to play James Bond (albeit an Americanized version, on television), Clive Brook gets to portray 007 in a 1919 version of “Casino Royale” (I assume this is adapted from the Ian Fleming novel, not the 1967 spoof):

Trying to imagine “Shaken…not stirred” as a title card. (Prohibition wouldn’t take effect nationally until mid-January 1920, but this still might incur the wrath of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.)

We eagerly await your participation.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.24 at 19:21
Current mood: confused

Carole Lombard didn’t grace the cover of Photoplay until June 1934, but the magazine hardly ignored her before then. For an example, let’s go back five months, to January 1934, as Carole teamed with Gloria Stuart on the one-page feature, “Hollywood Beauty Shop”:

Let’s focus on the inset…and Lombard’s hands, holding a box of perfume:

More instances of Carole were scattered throughout the issue. There’s a story about “pinch-hitters who made good,” and no, it’s not a baseball story (if you wanted “hot stove league” info regarding the off-season, other magazines on the newsstand served that purpose) — we’re talking actors who weren’t the first choice for roles, but wound up with the part and a career advancement:

If you didn’t catch the paragraphs referring to Lombard, here they are:

Nine years after filming “No Man Of Her Own,” Carole again would replace Miriam Hopkins — this time for what would be her final film, “To Be Or Not To Be.”

The stars’ dining habits were discussed by a longtime maitre d’, Joe Mann of the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Blossom Room. No real surprises here — if he has any resentments towards his high-class clientele, he certainly won’t let on — but Mann gives one an idea of what makes film celebs tick:

From what we know about Joan Crawford’s opinion of MGM cohort Jean Harlow, we doubt they’d be sharing a table.

There’s a brief reference to Lombard and ex-husband William Powell, who occasionally dined together:

In addition, there’s a fanciful fiction, “Merry Ex-Wives Of Hollywood” (a la “The Merry Wives Of Windsor”), though our eyes may view it along the lines of “The First Wives Club.” (Imagine Carole, Joan Crawford and Lilyan Tashman singing “You Don’t Own Me”!):

Run, Gary, run!

Finally, the Cal York gossip column (there was no “Cal York”; the name was an amalgam of California and New York, representing Photoplay’s two main editorial offices) includes a brief about Carole’s new home:

Incidentally, isn’t that an amazing photo of a Claudette Colbert sans glamour for the overlooked DeMille film “Four Frightened People”?)

The issue’s cover was of Crawford, an actress who exuded plenty of glamour at this time (both this and the Carole cover were drawn by Earl Christy):

And inside was an ad for an item I had never heard of — movie star lamps (this gets me thinking of “A Christmas Story”):

There’s no Lombard lamp, but ones for Crawford, Harlow, Clark Gable, Maurice Chevalier and Mae West, among others. Two questions: Do any of these still exist, and did the company manufacturing them get permission from the studios to use the stars’ images? If not, the resulting lawsuits would make these lamps all the rarer.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.23 at 20:45
Current mood: sympathetic

That’s an interesting image of Carole Lombard, leaning back against the top of a chair. It’s one of the rare photos of her with her hair pulled back, revealing far more forehead than we’re used to seeing from Carole. (There’s sort of a Nicole Kidman-ish vibe to this photo.)

What more do we know about it? Thankfully, a snipe and other information is on the back; for one thing, it was taken for Paramount by Eugene Robert Richee (we can barely make out his stamp)…

…for another, it was received at Photoplay magazine in December 1933, though it wasn’t used in that month’s issue or in ones dated January and February 1934. There’s no p1202 number shown, so it apparently didn’t make the grade for that series.

Whatever the story is behind it, this is definitely a rarity. No wonder the seller has listed a minimum bid of $100. It’s in good condition for being nearly eight decades old (there is a small crease in the bottom left corner), and bidding on this 8″ x 10″ still ends at 12:37 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday. Curious about this one? You’ll find the answers at http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-ORIGINAL-RICHIEE-PHOTO-/321234211013?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4acb0d10c5.

The same seller also has this charming headshot of Carole up for auction:

The back of the photo is blank, and I’m guessing this to be from 1932 or ’33; there’s a p1202 number in the lower left corner, but I can’t discern what it is. It’s the same predicament I have with Carole’s famed swimsuit portrait, where it’s impossible to see the number:

The headshot is 8″ x 10″, linen-backed, and also has a minimum bid of $100; its bidding deadline is nearly an hour later than its counterpart, at 1:36 p.m. (Eastern) Wednesday. Get additional information by visiting http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-ORIGINAL-PHOTO-/321234247427?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4acb0d9f03.

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Posted by vp19 on 2013.10.22 at 08:50
Current mood: morose

“Vigil In The Night” arguably is the most challenging of Carole Lombard moviegoing experiences. The joyous, fun-loving Carole who effortlessly charmed audiences is nowhere to be found here, replaced by a no-nonsense woman whose intensity to service as a nurse is admirable, if nothing else. A well-made film, to be sure, but its heaviness led to lackluster box-office in the first few months of 1940. This wasn’t the Lombard people wanted to see.

With all that working against it, you wouldn’t think “Vigil” would have much of a shelf life in theaters. But that’s not the case, at least for one theater in Manhattan in 1941, by which time Lombard had re-established herself as a comedy queen with “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and newspapers reported she was working on another comedy, this one with Ernst Lubitsch:

Note “Vigil” was buried in the Tuesday and Wednesday slots, as more popular fare was scheduled for weekend business.

If the unrelenting gloom proved too much for theatergoers, they could play bingo and win cash (talk about a study in contrasts), a promotion along the lines of movie “bank nights” from a few years before. The theater where all this took placed was called the Arcade, on Broadway a few blocks north of Columbus Circle. Here are the front and back pages of this herald, with another George Stevens-directed film on front:

Those who dropped by the Arcade that Sunday afternoon to watch “Broadway Melody Of 1940” left the theater learning about a Japanese attack on the U.S. naval compound at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thrusting America into the global conflict already known as World War II. Lombard herself would be an indirect casualty of the war the following month.

The Arcade opened in 1919. Seating about 550, it was a second-run house for much of the 1920s and ’30s. (The photo below probably dates to 1937 or so, as the three films on the marquee opened between 1934 and 1936.)

Fire destroyed the Arcade a few years after “Vigil” was shown there, and a new theater, the Studio, was built on the site, labeling itself New York’s first postwar cinema, with a more modernistic motif:

Later renamed the Cinema Studio and twinned, it became a familiar haunt for Manhattan moviegoers in the 1970s and ’80s; you can catch a glimpse of it in Woody Allen’s 1979 “Manhattan.” But soaring real estate values made its land more valuable for other uses and it closed in 1990, appropriately showing the elegiac “Cinema Paradiso” as its final feature. A Barnes and Noble bookstore was built on the block, later succeeded by a branch of the Century 21 department store.

The herald is listed in good condition; you can buy it for $7.50 or make an offer. Learn more at http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOVIE-HERALD-1941-ELLERY-QUEEN-FRED-ASTAIR-CAROLE-LOMBARD-STANWYCK-/300996204046?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4614c5960e.

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