Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.17 at 08:31

Current mood: nostalgic

I think it safe to say that many of us first saw this delightful image of Carole Lombard on the rear dust cover of this 1975 biography of her:

“Screwball” by Larry Swindell, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, was the first Lombard bio of note. Swindell, who’s written several other entertainmeent-related books, spoke with many people who knew her in accumulating a lively, readable portrait of this 1930s icon. Michelle Morgan’s “Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star,” slated for release next year, won’t have that at its disposal, but will have access to newspapers, magazines and other publications that have been uploaded online since “Screwball” was published.

So it’s interesting to note a copy of the book is up for auction at eBay. The author lists its condition as “acceptable,” and while it includes the dust cover (something my copy lacks), a tiny part of it is missing — not copy, but two pages of photos:

We can see “Twentieth Century” is one of the films whose images have been omitted, and since pages show hwer movies chronologival order (and I don’t have the book in front of me as I write this), other films that may have suffered the same fate range from “Bolero” to “The Princess Comes Across.”

The seller adds this:

“Hardback EX-LIBRARY book with dust jacket. Please note that one of the picture pages in the book has been torn out (see my photo). This is a hard-to-find title and I just couldn’t stand to destroy it…the text and the rest of the pictures are there…what a beauty!

“This is a well-used library book. The flaps of the dust jacket are glued inside the covers and there is a spine tag on the dust jacket. The book is sturdy. There is a spine lean and the expected library stamps, card pocket & withdrawn stamp.”

Perhaps because of the missing two pages of photos, the opening bid is a mere $9.99; I’ve seen this go at eBay auctions for close to $100, and since this one won’t close until 6:40 p.m. (Eastern) Sunday, it might reach similar heights. We shall see. You can learn more about this book by visiting http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCREWBALL-The-Life-of-Carole-Lombard-BIOGRAPHY-Larry-Swindell-HBDJ/331584070280?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D07f393a5d98b497491a91c188fd8eb7e%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D331584070280.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.16 at 20:40

Current mood: creative

This image of Carole Lombard and Pat O’Brien, from the 1932 film “Virtue” (Lombard’s first loan-out from Paramount, and a movie whose reputation has risen in recent years) now is available via eBay. It’s a scene where Carole’s character, former streetwalker Mae, starts wooing O’Brien’s cab driver Jimmy Doyle (who isn’t aware of her past) after taking a job as a waitress.

This is an original photo, in good condition, and one I’ve never seen before. It’s in good condition, according to the seller, who adds “there is a chip out of the left hand margin and a pinhole in the top margin.” (As I normally do with these pictures, I’ve trimmed the borders for display.)

Bidding begins at $8, with the auction ending at 5:39 p.m. (Eastern) Monday. To bid or find out more, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-STILL-1932-VIRTUE-CAROLE-LOMBARD-PAT-OBRIEN-/321783788408?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aebcef378.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.15 at 21:04

Current mood: cheerful

“Swing High, Swing Low” with Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray isn’t as remembered as it should be today, even though it was Paramount’s most profitable film for all of 1937. It’s probably because no complete 35 mm print exists, and what’s currently available includes 16 mm footage from director Mitchell Leisen’s personal print that’s in market contrast to the rest of the film. Nevertheless, there are fans of this musical — the only one where Lombard actually sings and isn’t dubbed — and a British version of the title song’s sheet music now is available.

Bidding begins at $8.99 (it’s listed in good+ condition), and the auction is set to close at 6:26 p.m. (Eastern) Sunday. If you’re interested or simply want to learn more, visithttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Swing-High-Swing-Low-Carole-Lombard-and-Fred-MacMurry-cover-/391172655336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b13b508e8.

Lombard didn’t sing the title song (a chorus did over the opening credits), but co-star Dorothy Lamour, already established as a big band singer, put it on record. I’ve been looking for this for a long time, and in April someone finally uploaded it to YouTube. Enjoy this, a reminder that Lamour deserves to be known for far more than sarongs and hitting the “Road to” with Bing and Bob.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.14 at 22:23

Current mood: pleased

As 1938 began, Carole Lombard was basking in her peak of success. She had not one, but two hits in theaters, Paramount’s “True Confession” (above) and Selznick International’s “Nothing Sacred,” both of which garnered critical acclaim. Carole shrewdly kept a low public profile regarding her romance with the married (in name only) Clark Gable, but it was Hollywood’s worst-kept secret. Such a situation might have destroed the career of a lesser star, but by now Lombard was so beloved in the film community that it really didn’t matter.

So it’s no wonder that in its February 1938 issue, Screenland magazine showered mountains of hosannas on Carole…

…and elsewhere in the issue looked at the men she romanced on-screen:

And both of her new releases gained glowing reviews from Screenland editor Delight Evans, like Lombard a Fort Wayne native:

Let’s isolate and enlarge Evans’ reviews:

How about a bit of Gable-Lombard gossip?

There’s a lot more to this issue, but for now I’ll focus on a story whose title is salacious — “The Confessions of a Hollywood Secretary” — but instead gives us an inside look at the studio system in late 1937 and early ’38> There’s even a bit of info regarding a Lombard film:

Since I’m currently working on a few screenplays myself, reading this is incredibly fascinating, as if I’d been zapped back in time to work with writers, producers and stars — and note the story of how “Concertina” evolved into the Lombard vehicle “The Princess Comes Across.” Oh, and Joan Crawford graces the cover, painted by Marland Stone:

You can purchase this vintage magazine, said to be in “like new” condition, via eBay. Bidding begins at $39.99, with the auction closing at 3 p.m. (Eastern) June 24. Does this pique your interest? If so, learn more by visitinghttp://www.ebay.com/itm/SCREENLAND-1938-JOAN-CRAWFORD-GINGER-ROGERS-MACDONALD-CAROLE-LOMBARD-BOB-TAYLOR-/400925970629?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d590cd0c5.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.13 at 17:34

Current mood: happy

That’s Carole Lombard with her kid (that’s the term used to refer to baby goats). Like Carole, I’ve never had an actual child (although as a male, I’d merely sire the “kid” — you women do the difficult part of giving birth). However, I consider myself the parent, of sorts, of Carole & Co., which today celebrates its eighth anniversary — and its first as a full-fledged resident of Los Angeles. (While I spent much of June in town getting my move from Virginia in order, I technically didn’t move in for good until late July.)

Were this blog a sentient human, I believe it now would graduate from T-bill to Little League (baseball or softball, if blogs have genders). We’d probably spend a lot of time watching Turner Classic Movies together and attending many of the revival and repertory movie houses LA is renowned for. By now, it’s been infused with plenty of love for Lombard — after all, it’s been brought up as a blog with good taste — and trained to be kind to other blogs, many of which are its junior. (In addition to eight years, today marks its 3,066th entry, slightly more than one per day.)

As I’ve stated so many times here before, this site (and Carole Lombard) has changed my life in the past eight years, serving as a catalyst for film history research, guiding me to this town and leading me to pursue a side career in screenwriting. Time will tell whether that venture will bear fruit (in the Lombard/classic Hollywood tradition, I’m currently working on a pair of old-school romantic comedies), but I’m certainly having fun learning the game. It also makes me appreciate the work of screenwriters for Carole’s films such as Robert Riskin, Norman Krasna, Ben Hecht and Claude Binyon; this endeavor isn’t easy. (If it were, as Binyon once said, every cabdriver in LA would do it — and sometimes, I sense nearly everyone of them are currently trying.)

Rather than continue my end of this conversation, let’s turn the tables and hear from you. If you wish to offer congratulations on Carole & Co.’s anniversary, wonderful — but I’d also like to get some specific memories regarding the site. Do you have any particular favorite entries? How did you learn about the blog? What do you most like about it, and where can we show improvement? I honestly would like to know.

But to close out this entry, here are eight more Lombard photos I’ve either never run here before or haven’t shown in quite some time. Enjoy, and once again, thanks.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.12 at 17:36

Current mood: contemplative

A future biographer of Carole Lombard and a close Facebook friend who already has plenty on her plate is further adding to her media smorgasbord. Michelle Morgan, whose book “Carole Lombard: Twentieth Century Star” is scheduled to be published in September 2016, is branching out into screenwriting, having optioned a script on the star she’s perhaps most identified with…

…Marilyn Monroe, whom she’s written about in the 2012 best-seller “Marilyn Monroe: Private and Confidential” and more recently in co-writing “Before Marilyn,” examining Monroe’s modeling work in the mid-1940s. Unlike most Marilyn biographers, Morgan never inflates her to iconic scale, but always retains her human side. (That, and her authoritative research, are why Lombard fans are excited about her book, the first truly comprehensive biography of Carole in more than 40 years.)

The feature film is to be titled…

“M…” (and don’t forget the ellipses, folks, otherwise you have a different movie entirely!). Prospect House Entertainment of Burbank is eyeing a 2017 release for this biopic.

Many movies have been made about Monroe’s brief (36 years and two months, less than three years longer than Lombard), tumultuous life. What should make this one special is that it has Morgan — a stickler for fairness and accuracy — in its corner. In the release, she promises we well see Marilyn “as an actress, wife, daughter, businesswoman, acting student, animal lover, friend and most of all, a human being.” Bravo.

Morgan had kept this project under wraps the past two years, and I had no idea she had any screenwriting background to begin with. (Since my move to Los Angeles, I’ve been learning the craft, and am working on a pair of romantic comedy scripts inspired in part by Lombard, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Cary Grant and other old-school legends.) Says Morgan,

“I have written several screenplays in the past, but never tried to get them produced until now. I have also co-written a play which was published a few years back, called ‘Wife Five.’ I watch a lot of movies, read a lot of screenplays and books about writing them too. Tegan Summer [of Prospect House] gave me some good advice about pace etc, and I just went for it. I enjoyed the nuts and bolts of putting it together and I am definitely going to do more in the future.”

Great to hear, and down the road perhaps we might pursue a long-distance online collaboration. (OK, I’m getting ahead of myself.) With this and the Lombard book as future projects, Morgan certainly will be kept busy.

Sad news today regarding another longtime Facebook friend of mine. Monica Lewis, a singer, actress and voice of a fabled advertising character, died in her sleep overnight at age 93.

Lewis sang with Benny Goodman’s orchestra and worked on radio with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s, made a number of films for MGM and Warners in the 1950s (and later married producer Jennings Lang) and appeared in ads for items such as Burlington stockings (which, as you can tell from her legs, was something she was perfectly qualified for). But for 14 years, she was the voice of Chiquita Banana on radio and television — and thanks to her, nearly all of us now know not to refrigerate bananas.

Lewis had a remarkable life, meeting all sorts of fascinating people (she wrote a fine biography, “Hollywood Through My Eyes”), and I met her several times at memorabilia shows since moving west last year. She was a frequent visitor to Facebook, and in fact was there as recently as Wednesday, engaging to the end with a self-deprecating sense of humor. This was the pic she showed on Wednesday, from 1950, and many of the responses were good-natured jokes about that era’s famed “bullet bras”:

Facebook won’t be quite as much fun without you, Monica. Thanks. (By the way, your obituary made CBS radio’s World News Roundup, Late Edition, much to my pleasure — how wonderful that you were remembered!) And as my tribute, here’s her version of the standard, “I’m In the Mood for Love”:

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.11 at 20:44

Current mood: contemplative

Carole Lombard has received tributes in many different ways. Now comes one more method of honoring her.

New York-based singer/songwriter Peter Nolan, also known as Peter Chance, has been part of the city’s indie music scene since the 1990s. With his former band, the Novellas, he wrote and recorded a song on their CD “Magnets in Intimate Places” called “Carole Lombard,” which reflects on her fatal crash in January 1942, her smile and how people so loved her. It’s your typical indie sound, and whether or not you’re a fan of that style, the feeling from the heart is genuine.

You can download the track for 99 cents by visiting http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thenovellas. It’s available for the MP3, MP3 320, and FLAC file formats. I understand iTunes also carries it via http://itunes.com/thenovellas.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.10 at 15:27

Current mood: pleased

“Fireball,” Robert Matzen’s definitive book on the January 1942 airplane crash that killed Carole Lombard and 21 others, again will be available at a deep discount this month. At his Facebook site, Matzen noted that last June, amazon.com made it part of that month’s Big Deal. It was a win-win for both sides:

“As a result, ‘Fireball’ shot to #2 on the bestseller list and became the highest performer in the entire promotion. Amazon knows a good thing when they see it — ‘Fireball’ has been chosen once again by Amazon for June Big Deal 2015 (June 12-28)! Here’s another chance for Carole Lombard to be discovered by a new legion of summer readers.”

So beginning Friday, visit amazon.com, search for “Fireball” and “Matzen,” and you’ll be able to pick up the book at a lower price.

Since last June, “Fireball” has continued to garner praise…and awards. In April, it won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Biography by the Independent Book Publishers Association (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/779384.html).

If you haven’t read this compelling book yet, now’s your chance to buy it while saving a few bucks in the process.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.09 at 20:30

Current mood: curious

“Rumba” entered theaters early in 1935, hoping to capitalize on the success of “Bolero,” its Carole Lombard-George Raft older sibling dance film from the year before. It didn’t quite turn out that way, as it drew a tepid response from both critics and the box office.

Nevertheless, “Rumba” was promoted by Paramount in Brazil (where the samba was more its speed), as this Portuguese-language ad makes evident:

“Rumba” is near the upper left-hand corner, just below an ad for the 1934 Claudette Colbert “Cleopatra”…but look what else is on that page — “So Proudly We Hail,” “To Each His Own,” “The Lady Eve,” “Calcutta” — all films from the 1940s. It turns out this is an in-house ad from 1950 promoting Paramount product, at least as reissues. Here’s another page along those lines, albeit without a Lombard film:

Films on this one includes “Geronimo,” “Hold That Blonde” (with Eddie Bracken and Veronica Lake, which I saw at Cinecon last August and found mildly amusing) and “Welcome Stranger.”

Another page is similar to the first, although it’s tinted blue rather than purple:

Finally, a green-tinted page with different product, notably “The Plainsman,” “Arise My Love” and “The Road To Morocco”:

These pages are in excellent condition. The first two are sold as a unit for $22; to purchase or find out more, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAZIL-MOVIE-ADS-HOLYWOOD-CLAUDETTE-COLBERT-CAROLE-LOMBARD-STANWICK-VERONICA/251986924982?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D77a25e3a10ed42579870736919c03e11%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D371345999226&rt=nc.

The last two go for $24, and they’re to be found at http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAZIL-MOVIE-ADS-HOLYWOOD-CLAUDETTE-COLBERT-CAROLE-LOMBARD-STANWICK-VERONICA/371345999226?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D095d60e954404e6f9f5ab1d13f0a0f53%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D251986924982&rt=nc.

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Posted by vp19 on 2015.06.08 at 08:28

Current mood: contemplative

One of Carole Lombard’s proudest possessions was this photo John Barrymore autographed and gave to her following the filming of “Twentieth Century” in the first few months of 1934. Little did she know that both she and Barrymore would be dead about eight years later, or that both would be part of an autograph page alongside at least three other stars who themselves would pass on within two years of Barrymore’s inscription.

Below is — assuming all the signatures are authentic — an extraordinary autograph page, given how fate intervened for more than half of those who signed:

Lombard’s signature is enhanced by how carefully it was cut, something I never would dream of doing:

And here’s Barrymore’s:

Now for the others, led by the trio who left us in the mid-1930s. First is probably the rarest autograph from this group, someone projected for stardom but a victim of an auto accident in June 1934 at age 19 — Dorothy Dell:

Three months earlier, Lilyan Tashman — who had worked with Lombard in 1931’s “Up Pops the Devil” — died following cancer surgery at age 37:

The best-known of the ill-fated three is someone Facebook friend Michelle Morgan recently completed a book about, so I’m certain she could verify the authenticity of this autograph — Thelma Todd’s:

Others with signatures include the first Academy Award winner for best actor, Emil Jannings…

…Werner Oland, who was of Swedish descent yet gained his greatest fame as Charlie Chan before his death in 1938…

…vaudeville and radio star Joe Penner of “Wanna buy a duck?” fame…

…blackface comics Moran & Mack, known as the “Two Black Crows” (not sure which of them signed this)…

…and finally, a celebrity whose inscription the seller couldn’t make out, and neither could I. Anyone have an idea?

The page is 11 1/4″ x 8 3/4″, according to the seller, who adds the page is fragile and there is light brown discoloration on the page (presumably age-related).

Bidding starts at $500, although for a few of these celebs (Lombard, Barrymore, Dell, Todd), an authentic autograph of many of these alone would go for about that much. And since the auction isn’t scheduled to close until 9:22 p.m. (Eastern) Sunday, I would be amazed if the winning bid for this isn’t in four figures. (Just my thought.)

To bid or learn more about this remarkable page, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/1930S-AUTOGRAPHS-CAROLE-LOMBARD-LILYAN-TASHMAN-TWO-BLACK-CROWS-THELMA-TODD/201367618065?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3Da3b6c3027df844df86ee19c5a7577a03%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D201367618065.

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