Carole & Co.

A diary is normally considered the most private of places, one you keep items and notes in the strictest confidence. If it somehow comes into public view, it can cause all sorts of problems (as Mary Astor no doubt would have told you).



Did Carole Lombard keep a diary at any time in her too-brief adult life? If so, I've never heard of it...although if such a thing existed, it would be gold in the hands of any potential biographer.

However, we know of one actress who did keep a "diary" -- although she essentially used it as an autograph book. It's now up for auction through Profiles in History, and many thanks to the "Carole & Co." reader who let me know about this. The diary belonged to one Ruth Roland, an actress Lombard almost certainly grew up watching.



You can accurately say most film actresses of the teens have been forgotten, and that applies for Ruth Roland, born in San Francisco in 1892. She began her movie career in 1910, and by 1912 was a major star (she made 47 two-reelers that year, and 60 in 1913!). She made her mark in serials, just as Pearl White did (Kathlyn Williams, an actress often grouped in that category, made only one serial) and was especially adept at westerns and comedies. Like her contemporary Mary Pickford, she was also a smart businesswoman, creating her own production company and making a fortune in real estate.

Roland's star faded in the 1920s, as she decided to return to the stage and made fewer movies. She made a talkie in 1930, but appeared in only one more film before dying of cancer at age 45 in September 1937. She is buried at Forest Lawn.

In 1932, Roland decided to get autographs from many of her friends and associates in the film industry, and they're all in a diary:



If the dates on the diary are accurate, Carole Lombard signed this on Aug. 1, 1932 (as did her husband of the time, William Powell). "Wishing you always the greatest of happiness," Lombard wrote...and just imagine how she must have felt at the time of signing. Had little Jane Alice Peters somehow met Ruth Roland in 1915, she certainly would have asked for her autograph; now, many years later, this star was asking for hers.



"Admiral" Buster Keaton signed on Oct. 3 (at least one Keaton fan club calls themselves "the Damfinos")...



...and Jean Harlow, who Roland would outlive by three months, signed on Dec. 20. "A lovely human," Jean wrote.



Among the other greats who signed were Oliver Hardy, Jeanette MacDonald, William Demarest, Gilbert Roland, Paul Muni, Joe E. Brown, Bessie Love, Fay Wray, Amelia Earhart, George Raft, Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Ricardo Cortez, Bing Crosby, Ralph Bellamy, Tom Mix, Neil Hamilton, Dick Powell and Kate Smith. Many of them added personal inscriptions.

A fascinating artifact...and an expensive one, too. Bidding starts at $3,000 (one bid has already been placed) and continues through next Friday morning. To view it, go to http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52933&item=260257431944

More than eight months ago, we asked a question brought up by the appearance of some Carole Lombard memorabilia (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/51293.html). We apparently now have an answer.

In November, we noted a few Paramount stills of Carole referred to a film titled "You Belong To Me." The caption on the back of one noted that she would soon begin work on this movie with Gary Cooper. This led to several possibilities:

a) "You Belong To Me" was a preliminary title for "Now And Forever," a film she made with Cooper in 1934.

b) She and Cooper were going to star in an entirely different film with that title. Paramount did issue a film by that name in 1934, starring Lee Tracy and Helen Mack.

Wel, now we know, thanks to this publicity shot of Lombard and Cooper:



The print at the bottom gives it away:



Not only do Lombard and Cooper star in the film, so does Shirley Temple, with Sir Guy Standing in a supporting role and Henry Hathaway directing. All were involved in "Now And Forever," so we can be 99 and 44/100ths percent certain that the movie's title was changed. The answer is a).

Incidentally, you still have a few hours to bid on this original publicity still, being offered by Profiles in History (http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-publicity-photo-of-Carole-Lombard-Gary-Cooper_W0QQitemZ330254076915QQihZ014QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). Bidding starts at $24.99 and lasts through approximately 1:45 p.m.; Eastern, so you have about 12 hours to go. As of this writing, no one has yet placed a bid.

Rome holds a special place in movie lore, as the above photo of Anita Ekberg from Federico Fellini's 1960 masterpiece "La Dolce Vita" makes clear. But it's not the only Rome with a cinematic connection.



We're referring to Rome, New York, population 34,000; any movie stars in town were probably passing through on the train; it's a stop on Amtrak, along the Chicago-New York route that used to be known as the fabled "Twentieth Century" -- from which the play and eventual Carole Lombard movie got its name. (But a check of Amtrak's timetable shows that while several of its trains stop in Rome, the one between New York and Chicago, now called the Lake Shore Limited, doesn't.) In the middle of this small upstate city is a charming old movie palace called the Capitol Theatre.




The 1,700-seat Capitol opened in December 1928 and underwent some Art Deco renovation in 1939, but essentially is still its vintage self. And while like so many other classic film palaces, it's become a performing arts center, movies remain a major part of the Capitol's fare.

Every August for the past few years, the theater has hosted an event called Capitolfest, a weekend extravaganza of vintage films. (It's sort of a complement to another upstate event for film buffs, "Cinefest," held in nearby Syracuse every March.) Many of the Capitolfest movies are silents -- and the Capitol provides a fine setting for them, because it has the same organ that opened the place nearly 80 years ago. It's been lovingly restored to its full majestic quality:



And in less than three weeks, that organ will be used to provide accompaniment for a Lombard silent, one relatively few people have seen:



That's right -- "Show Folks," the 1928 Pathe feature in which Lombard, nearing the end of her teen years when this was filmed, has a supporting role (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/92965.html). It's very hard to come by, and truth be told, Capitol officials weren't initially intending to have it on the schedule. But when Library of Congress officials couldn't find a print of the film they wanted to run (something called "The Spieler"), the Library offered "Show Folks" as a substitute. And with 2008 being the centennial year of Lombard's birth, it turned out just as well. (But not perfect: while "Show Folks" was also filmed with a soundtrack and some talking sequences -- although I'm not sure whether Lombard herself had any dialogue -- this film is completely silent. The version with sound is reportedly lost.)



"Show Folks," in which Lombard is shown above with Bessie Barriscale and Maurice Black, will run Sunday, Aug. 10 at 11:52 a.m., closing out the Sunday morning session.

Other notable features at this year's event, which begins Friday, Aug. 8 and lasts through Sunday, include Fox's 1928 "Romance Of The Underworld" with Mary Astor and John Boles; Paramount's 1930 "The Vagabond King" with Jeanette MacDonald, in a two-strip Technicolor print recently restored by UCLA; Universal's 1932 "Fast Companions," with Maureen O'Sullivan and an 8-year-old Mickey Rooney; and Clara Bow and Fredric March in the silent version of Paramount's 1930 "True To The Navy." All these films are in 35mm prints.

For the complete schedule, as well as information on registering, go to http://www.romecapitol.com/Capitolfest.html.

The Capitol has quite a few upcoming events scheduled, many of them movie-related. For example, tonight (July 24) it's having a "drive-in" night, showing "Gorgo" (1961) and "Face Of The Screaming Werewolf" (1964) -- at a '60s-style price of $1.50 for adults and 75 cents for children. In September, film fare includes:

* The famed Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra providing accompaniment for Harold Lloyd's noted 1927 silent "The Kid Brother" (Sept. 12).

* A "mystery night" with William Powell as Philo Vance in "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) and Werner Oland in the 1935 "Charlie Chan At The Opera" (Sept. 20).

* A recreation of a 1932 double bill at the Capitol, "Three On A Match" and "American Madness" (the latter directed by Frank Capra), at the original '32 admission prices of 40 cents for adults, a quarter for kids (Sept. 27, at both 2:30 and 7 p.m.).

The entire schedule can be found at http://www.romecapitol.com/events.html.

And if you do visit, and want to check out the sights around town, go to this Web site, appropriately titled http://www.when-in-rome.com/

Around College Park, Md., this is known as "the shot" -- the 3-point basket by University of Maryland freshman Kristi Toliver with only a few seconds to play that forced the 2006 NCAA championship game into overtime. The Terrapins would go on to defeat Duke in OT for the national title.

Yes, women's basketball is popular these days. The WNBA is in the midst of its 12th season, finding its niche among hoop fans, and in the winter college teams such as Maryland regularly draw five-figure crowds to campus arenas.

But women's basketball has a heritage dating back many decades. For several years during the 1920s, there was a national girls' high school invitational tournament. Many colleges fielded teams as well.

I've never read any account saying Carole Lombard played basketball, though she might have in her gym classes in junior high and high school. (We do know she participated in track and field as well as volleyball.) However, one of her contemporaries did -- at least on screen...and if you're in the Los Angeles area, you can watch her "play" tonight.

We're referring to Marion Davies, whose 1927 comedy, "The Fair Co-Ed," will be shown at 8 p.m. at the Silent Movie Theatre on North Fairfax Avenue. (Sorry for the short notice, but I just found out about this.)



The college campus was a frequent comedy setting during the 1920s (think of Harold Lloyd's "The Freshman" or Buster Keaton's "College"), but "The Fair Co-Ed" does sort of a gender-bending with the concept. Davies plays the athletic Marion Bright, who enrolls in order to pursue a student there (Johnny Mack Brown); he's also the women's basketball coach. (Sounds weird, but things were a lot looser in the 1920s.) However, even though Marion becomes the team's star, she quits because coach has chosen one of her teammates as his beau. Can things be patched up before the big game? (Of course they are.)



Released in October 1927 (note the "Lucky Lindy" on Marion's sweatshirt!), "The Fair Co-Ed" is sort of Davies' foray into William Haines territory. (We're referring to the type of characters he played, folks.) Marion Bright is rather full of herself, not quite as sympathetic as some of Davies' other comedic creations. Additionally, she was now 30 years old, not quite young enough to honestly portray a college student. However, she's always fun to watch, and that's actually her on the court playing basketball.

Incidentally, "The Fair Co-Ed" is an Academy Award winner...for intertitles, a category that would disappear with silents.

All in all, a lot of fun -- no matter what college or pro women's basketball team you root for. One wonders if the idea for Mack Sennett's "Run, Girl, Run" (released a few months later, in which Lombard plays a track star) came out of this.

In yesterday's entry, we reviewed some of the Carole Lombard portraits taken by Paramount's Otto Dyar for the latest Profiles in History auction of Hollywood memorabilia. But other photographers and other studios have Lombard-related photos in the mix, too, and you'll get to see a few of them today.

Ernest A. Bachrach was RKO's best-known portrait photographer; in fact, he headed its photographic department from its inception in 1929 through the 1950s, when the studio met its decline under Howard Hughes that ultimately led to its demise. He worked with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and others -- but he didn't have a chance to photograph Lombard until she signed with RKO in 1939. The result included these two portraits:



Both are exhibition prints (custom mounted onto 8-ply mount board), with Bachrach's signature in pencil below each photo. Bidding for the first one starts at $4,000, while the second kicks off at only $3,000.

For the first, go to http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/149-Vintage-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Ernest-A-Bachrach_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ014QQitemZ330248743132QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW; the second can be found at http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/150-Vintage-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Ernest-A-Bachrach_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ014QQitemZ330248743137QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW. As with yesterday's photos, bidding on all of these runs through July 31.

Next, we'll turn the clock back an additional decade to 1929, when Lombard hadn't yet permanently added the "e" to her first name and she was a contract player at Pathe. Her final film there was "The Racketeer," and here are three fashion portraits the studio issued -- three intriguing glimpses of Lombard at about the time she was turning 21.

The first two are by Preston Duncan, one of the industry's best-known photographers in the late 1920s; among his other subjects were Myrna Loy and a rare portrait of sisters Constance and Joan Bennett together. Duncan's Lombard pix are straightforward, yet attractive:



The third portrait is by William E. Thomas, of whom relatively little is known other than that he was a contract photographer for Pathe in the late 1920s and he did still photography for movie companies through the 1950s. This is certainly far less demure than the Duncan portraits:



Find the first and second Duncan photos at http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/489-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Duncan-from-The-Racketeer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ014QQitemZ330248746320QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW and http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/490-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Duncan-from-The-Racketeer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ014QQitemZ330248746322QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW; bidding for each begins at $1,000.

In contrast, bidding for the Thomas portrait (http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/492-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Thomas-from-The-Racketeer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ016QQitemZ260257428059QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW) opens at only $400.

If, as the old proverb goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, then under this criteria words describing the following picture should be eight dollars apiece. We'll hold off on charges for now, though, in order to show you this photo, the highlight (from a Carole Lombard perspective) of the latest Profiles In History memorabilia auction through eBay:



Bidding on this portrait, taken by Paramount mainstay Otto Dyar (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/78273.html), begins at $8,000. I'll repeat that number...$8,000. And it could reach five figures.

Why the super-high price? It's not autographed by Lombard (or Dyar, for that matter), and while it's a beautiful photograph, is it any more exceptional than others he did of Carole?

Probably not. However, as the description reads, it's a "Gelatin silver glossy double-weight 10½ in. x 13½ in. print of Carole Lombard by Otto Dyar; with photographer blind embossed stamp on the recto lower right, photographer and Paramount Pictures rubber stamps on the verso. Very fine; with ¼ in. light handling at the lower right." It's next to pristine, and probably pretty rare, too (I hadn't come across this image before). Still, it's hard to believe that a portrait is worth more than the used car many of us drive.

Nevertheless, if you're interested in bidding on it, go to http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/487-Original-vintage-Carole-Lombard-photo-by-Otto-Dyar_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ016QQitemZ260257428045QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW. (Bidding for this and other items continues through July 31, a week from Thursday.) And if you can afford to purchase this without it making a major bite out of your budget, well, let's just say I'd like to know you better.

Heck, instead of buying one Dyar photo, how about getting two instead at roughly the same price (a bargain, I say!). Bidding on each of the following starts at a mere $4,000:



To learn more about the first, go to http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52933&item=260257428034; for the second, visit http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52933&item=330248746315

If all of the above are out of your price range, don't fret. My favorite Dyar photo auctioned here shows Carole in the backyard of her fabled Hollywood Boulevard home. (Profiles erroneously lists it as being in Beverly Hills, but Lombard didn't live there until later in the decade, long after Dyar had left Paramount. Also, the yard is similar to that of other photos taken of that house.) At 8" x 10", it's relatively small compared to some of the others:



You can find out more at http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/276-Carole-Lombard-photo-at-her-home-By-Otto-Dyar_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ52933QQihZ016QQitemZ260257426296QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW. Bidding starts at only $400.

We'll feature some other auction items tomorrow.

By today's standards, where a black man is only a few weeks away from being nominated as a major party's presidential candidate, the era Carole Lombard lived in was not particularly enlightened when it came to race relations. Few black characters appeared in her films, and those that did were invariably brutal, cringe-inducing stereotypes.

Several can be found in her Mack Sennett two-reelers; that's no surprise, as Sennett came from an era when ethnic humor -- not just regarding blacks, but Jews and other groups -- was regularly used. Perhaps the best-known racial stereotype in a Lombard film was in "Nothing Sacred," where Troy Brown plays Ernest Walker, a Harlem bootblack passing himself off as a foreign monarch. However, his ruse is exposed by his angry wife (portrayed by Hattie McDaniel), publicly embarrassing the newspaper sponsoring his banquet appearance.

A less-remembered example of racial stereotyping in a Lombard film came some six years before "Nothing Sacred," in the 1931 Paramount comedy "Up Pops The Devil." Rarely seen or revived in recent decades, Carole's co-stars include Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Norman Foster and fashion maven Lilyan Tashman. But in a small role ("Negro Laundryman") is a black actor, billed as "Sleep N. Eat":



The quote at the bottom of the picture reads, "I can't give it to you lady -- till you pay yo' bill."

"Sleep N. Eat," whose character was along the same buffoonish lines as the better-known Stepin Fetchit, was the unfortunate pseudonym used by one Willie Best. A Mississippi native born in 1913 (some records state 1916), he made his film debut in 1930 and found steady work for the next two decades, invariably as porters, servants or other subservient roles. And he was almost always used as comic relief.

Did he like such parts? Decidedly not. In a 1934 interview, he said, "I often think about these roles I have to play. Most of them are pretty broad. Sometimes I tell the director and he cuts out the real bad parts. ... But what's an actor going to do? Either you do it or get out." However, by 1936, he had successfully persuaded producers to bill him under his real name, rather than the demeaning Sleep N. Eat.

Perhaps his best-known movie role came in the 1940 Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard comedy, "The Ghost Breakers"; Best gets many of the best lines, a la Eddie "Rochester" Anderson with Jack Benny, and Hope later called him one of the most talented people he'd ever worked with. He also had a small role the following year in the Humphrey Bogart vehicle "High Sierra":



When television arrived, he had a recurring role as Charlie, the elevator operator, on "My Little Margie," before retiring from acting in the mid-fifties. By the time of his death in February 1962, many in the civil rights movement considered him a relic of more unfortunate times.

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable each were used to being photographed in public. Put them together, beginning in the late 1930s, and the effect was amplified to an incredible degree. Here are a few pics from the Gable-Lombard relationship that ran in one of William Randolph Hearst's top newspapers (in fact, the first one he owned), the San Francisco Examiner.

We'll start out in September 1936, when the two were spotted attending a tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. The picture was taken by Hearst's own International News Photos:



Note the caption refers to Lombard as Gable's "rumored love interest," indicative of how low-key the relationship was in those early days. Also, it points out that his estranged wife was in an opposite box with screenwriter Herschel Williams.

Fast forward nearly 21 months, to June 1938. Clark and Carole were at a horse show in the San Fernando Valley community of Northridge, and Lombard even shows off some leg to both please the photographers (readers, too!) and to show everyone just how she won Gable over. (But furs in June, Carole?)



What adds to the intrigue of this photo is the back, which features a 1938 caption from the Wide World syndicate and a marking indicating the Examiner retrieved this from its files and ran it in November 1941, presumably to accompany some column where Lombard discusses men's facial hair. The caption, "Carole says beards are not romantic," calls for further research to find out precisely what she said.

Finally, here's a photo in which Lombard doesn't appear, but one figures she's probably close by. It's April 1, 1939, only days after Clark and Carole were married, but instead of a honeymoon to Hawaii or some other romantic spot, the couple is getting their new Encino house ready. Gable's painting his barns and stables white with the help of a spray gun:



All three of these pictures are currently being auctioned at eBay, with bidding closing next Sunday night.

For the tennis match photo (6 1/2" x 8 1/2"), go to http://cgi.ebay.com/Org-36-Gable-Carole-Lombard-Tennis-Match-Press-Photo_W0QQitemZ180265955135QQihZ008QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For the horse show photo (6 1/2" x 8 1/2"), go to http://cgi.ebay.com/Orig-1938-Gable-Carole-Lombard-Horse-Show-Press-Photo_W0QQitemZ160262176636QQihZ006QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For the Gable photo (7" x 9"), go to http://cgi.ebay.com/Orig-1939-Gable-Carole-Lombard-Honeymoon-Ranch-Photo_W0QQitemZ160262177903QQihZ006QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you're bidding for one or more of these, good luck.

With the new Batman film, "The Dark Knight," doing huge business this weekend, and with the late Heath Ledger's dynamic portrayal of the caped hero's prime nemesis, the Joker, winning all sorts of valedictory plaudits, this seems as good a time as any to explore Carole Lombard's ties to the first actor identified with the role. We are, of course, referring to Cesar Romero, whose long and substantial career has to some extent been overshadowed by his work as the Joker on the campy 1960s "Batman" TV series.

To be fair about it, at that time comic books, and their characters, were deemed somewhat simplistic and juvenile. (It should be noted, however, that they didn't necessarily start that way. Just as the early version of Superman was the personification of the New Deal, fighting corruption, graft and economic injustice, the initial Batman was created as a vigilante figure, as Bruce Wayne sought vengeance on all criminals after he saw his parents brutally murdered during a robbery attempt.) The environment that led to Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in 1989, or Ledger's this year, wasn't around for Romero in 1966.

Romero made one film with Lombard, playing a supporting role in "Love Before Breakfast" in 1936:



Carole and Cesar were on good terms, and she occasionally socialized with him off-screen (Romero was gay, but quite discreet). He spoke fondly of Lombard at a Los Angeles event honoring her in 1987.

Of Cuban descent, although he grew up in New York, Romero once said of his career: "I was never stereotyped as just a Latin lover in any case because I played so many parts in so many pictures. I was more of a character actor than a straight leading man. I did many kinds of characters -- Hindus, Indians, Italians. There were very few pictures where I ended up with the girl."

Prior to "Love Before Breakfast," Romero worked with the likes of Marlene Dietrich in "The Devil Is A Woman" and with William Powell and Myrna Loy in "The Thin Man" (his second film). From 1939 to 1941, he played the Cisco Kid in six low-budget westerns. His best movie work is generally considered to be in the 1947 costume drama "Captain From Castile."

Romero acted through 1990, then more or less retired. He died on New Year's Day 1994 at age 86.

Here's another picture of Romero and Lombard, alongside Robert Taylor and Irene Hervey, probably from about 1936 or so:



As I write this, the photo is currently available for auction at eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ROBERT-TAYLOR-CAROLE-LOMBARD-CESAR-ROMERO-8x10-PHOTO_W0QQitemZ150270372151QQihZ005QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), but the auction will expire just before 7 p.m. Eastern. Moreover, it's a "buy it now" sale, for $24.99. And that's no joke.

So we know that come October, Turner Classic Movies in the U.S. will have Carole Lombard as its Star of the Month, and will show a total of 18 of her movies during the month's four Mondays (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/119463.html). And that, of course, is delightful news.

But, sadly, not all of them made the cut. So, let's have another poll. Here's the question: If TCM were to air a 19th Lombard film as part of its festival, which would you add? (For sake of argument, we'll assume TCM would have access to Lombard's entire library of talkie-era features, even though that may not actually be the case.)

For sake of argument, we'll let you choose three, but you have to rank them as first, second and third choices. They'll get 3, 2 and 1 point, respectively. Voting will continue through July 31, so you have two weeks to make up your mind.

Here are the candidates:

* "High Voltage" (Pathe, 1929)



* "Big News" (Pathe, 1929)



* "The Arizona Kid" (Fox, 1930)



* "Safety In Numbers" (Paramount, 1930)



* "Fast And Loose" (Paramount, 1930)



* "It Pays To Advertise" (Paramount, 1931)



* "Man Of The World" (Paramount, 1931)



* "Ladies' Man" (Paramount, 1931)



* "Up Pops The Devil" (Paramount, 1931)



* "I Take This Woman" (Paramount, 1931)



* "No One Man" (Paramount, 1932)



* "Sinners In The Sun" (Paramount, 1932)



* "From Hell To Heaven" (Paramount, 1933)



* "Supernatural" (Paramount, 1933)



* "White Woman" (Paramount, 1933)



* "Bolero" (Paramount, 1934)



* "We're Not Dressing" (Paramount, 1934)



* "Now And Forever" (Paramount, 1934)



* "Rumba" (Paramount, 1935)



* "Love Before Breakfast" (Universal, 1936)



* "The Princess Comes Across" (Paramount, 1936)



* "True Confession" (Paramount, 1937)



* "Made For Each Other" (Selznick-International, 1939)



* "They Knew What They Wanted" (RKO, 1940)



You have 24 films to choose from, all but seven of them pre-Codes. I look forward to your votes.

"Swing High, Swing Low," the title of Carole Lombard's third film with Fred MacMurray, was a reference to this new "swing" music that Benny Goodman's orchestra began popularizing in the summer of 1935. It wasn't referring to something children did in the local park or backyard.

Nevertheless, Paramount got Lombard and MacMurray to sit together on an oversized swing set, got it moving up and down, and took a photo of them enjoying the movement. They then ran it as part of a trade ad; this reportedly ran on March 17, 1937, although I don't know whether it's from the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Film Daily or the Motion Picture Herald. (I'm tempted to think it's the Reporter because that's where the quote comes from.) Wherever it ran, it was what people on the industry call a "double-truck" -- two facing pages creating one 12 1/2" x 18 1/2" ad, specifically this one:



Like it? Well, the ad, suitable for framing, is up for auction at eBay, with a beginning price of $9.99. Bidding continues through next Wednesday, although to date no bids have come in yet. If interested, go to http://cgi.ebay.com/37-RARE-CAROLE-LOMBARD-SWING-HIGH-SWING-LOW-AD_W0QQitemZ190237526409QQihZ009QQcategoryZ60278QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.

Here are two more items from that film which aren't currently up for auction, but are fascinating artifacts just the same. First, an ad from Paramount promoting "Swing High, Swing Low" in Life magazine (and cleverly designed to resemble one of its news items), with comments from leads Lombard and MacMurray, director Mitchell Leisen and supporting player Charles Butterworth.



Second, sheet music from one of the two songs Lombard performed in the film, "I Hear A Call To Arms":

Monday's Bastille Day entry on Carole Lombard being featured in French (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/119847.html) led to this intriguing and offbeat discovery -- a program for a Lombard film set in Paris, but in the German language!

It's for her 1934 Paramount movie "Now And Forever," much of which is set in Paris. In fact, the German title, "Treffpunkt Paris!", is a loose translation of "Meet Me In Paris!"

Here's what the program looks like -- and a double-click on any page will enlarge it to a scale where, if your German skills are good, you can read the movie's storyline:





The phrase "in deutscher sprague" is translated into "in German conversed," so I'm pretty certain this version was dubbed and did not use subtitles.

According to the Internet Movie Database, this film did not premiere in Germany until 1937 -- at least 2 1/2 years after it was first shown in the U.S. (In contrast, it opened in Finland in December 1934, and in Austria and Denmark in 1935.) By '37, of course, Shirley Temple was at the peak of her worldwide fame -- although this drama was atypical of the cheery fare she was doing over at Twentieth Century-Fox.

And yes, the Nazis were firmly in control of Germany in 1937, but most American studios were doing all they could not to offend the regime so they could continue to have access to one of Europe's larger and more sophisticated movie markets. One that didn't was Warner Brothers, according to film historian Thomas Doherty:

"During the late 1930s, Warner Bros. Pictures was the most fiercely anti-Nazi of all the major Hollywood studios. It banned Nazi newsreels from its theatres, inserted coded anti-Nazi signals into its shorts and features, and produced Hollywood's first wholeheartedly anti-Nazi film, 'Confessions of a Nazi Spy' (1939), with Edward G. Robinson and George Sanders. Made in an era when movies were more liable to skirt political controversy than court it, Warners' brash message-mongering was distinctive and even a little risky. At a meeting of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in 1938, Groucho Marx raised his glass, and for once not his eyebrows, to praise a front office he usually trashed: 'I want to propose a toast to Warners -- the only studio with any guts.'

"According to studio chief Jack L. Warner (1892-1978), the reason for the anti-Nazi activism was as much personal as political. In his memoir 'My First Hundred Years in Hollywood' (1964), Warner recalls how, in 1936, he learned 'the sickening news that Joe Kauffman, our Warner Brothers man in Germany, had been murdered by Nazi killers in Berlin.' ..."

In addition, many American film stars were popular in Germany, thanks to items such as Ross Verlag cards, where Lombard was featured as late as 1941 (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/52279.html).

All in all, the above program -- with many stills from the film that have been relatively unseen over the years -- is a fascinating document, from a time before the world was at war.

For nearly 30 years, the Grateful Dead were one of America's great bands. Their concerts were justifiably legendary, because musically they could improvise and go just about anywhere -- rock, blues, even a little country. (And since the Dead had a relatively free policy on recording of their shows, examples of their work can be found all over the place.)

Fine and dandy, you're wondering, but this site is dedicated to Carole Lombard. What possible connection could she have with the Grateful Dead?

Well...how about this?



It's an unused, 2 1/2" x 3 7/8" cloth backstage pass from a Dead show in March of 1994 at the Rosemont Horizon, just west of Chicago. I found it at an eBay site (http://cgi.ebay.com/GRATEFUL-DEAD-CAROLE-LOMBARD-Unused-Backstage-Pass_W0QQitemZ350074057664QQihZ022QQcategoryZ29920QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247); if you want the pass, it sells for $75.

Were Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and company fans of Lombard's, perhaps watching many of her films on the late late show after performing? We don't know; Garcia, of course, passed away in August 1995. But a further examination of Dead backstage passes shows that entertainment nostalgia was the theme of the passes for the 1993-94 tour, and Carole's in pretty good company.

On Dec. 10, 1993, the backstage pass, for a show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, featured the Marx Brothers:



A week after the Rosemont show, on March 23, 1994, the Dead played the Nassau Coliseum, and the backstage pass honored the Three Stooges:



The April 1 backstage pass for the show at the Omni in Atlanta saluted Charlie Chaplin:



Fascinating. Keep on "Truckin'," Jerry -- and tell Carole we said hello.

Since today is Bastille Day, we thought we'd celebrate by showing some French-language items picturing Carole Lombard, complementing those we presented last year (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/49256.html).

First, here's Carole on the cover of Confidences, a French-based publication, specifically its October 28, 1938 issue:



The movie magazine Le Film Complet ran Lombard on its cover at least twice:



Note the respective publication dates -- March 4, 1937 and Sept. 13, 1938 -- for "Love Before Breakfast" and "Nothing Sacred" (the latter's French title altered to "The Joyous Suicide"!). There was about a 10- to 12-month gap between premieres of Hollywood films in the U.S. and in Europe.

Finally, French-language posters of the two dance films Carole made with George Raft, "Bolero" and "Rumba":



Magnifique? Certainment! (Although the only way Lombard's hair would ever get that red would be due to some sort of cosmetology mishap.)

The Los Angeles Times, the city's dominant daily which has had its ups and downs over the years, constructed this building near City Hall in the mid-1930s, and it still houses the newspaper today. Then as now, entertainment, specifically the film industry, was a major part of its coverage -- and perhaps its best-known figure in that field was one Hedda Hopper, the Times gossip columnist.

And 70 years ago this week, Carole Lombard figured prominently in her column:



Please note that the column didn't have a gray background -- it was only added recently for highlight purposes on the Times blog, "The Daily Mirror," which uses the paper's files and archive to glance back at L.A. history (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/07/july-12-1938.html) and is always worth checking out.

Lombard was spending a week working publicity at Selznick-International Studios (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/17287.html), so Hopper decided to trek on over to Culver City to see what was going on. Here's what she found out:

"Carole Lombard, our spontaneous comedienne, took over press department at Selznick studio and put on a swell show. Carole dressed in black tailored suit, wearing orchid, sat beside bowl of American beauties, and was in her usual form -- tops. Talked to Gov. Merriam, made lunch date with Mayor Shaw, handled nosey writer who wanted to read letters of protest on casting 'Gone With the Wind.' Tried to locate Mahatma Gandhi and King of Ethiopia for their opinions.

"Told about going into the dress business. You'll soon be able to buy Carole Lombard over the counter. If dresses come in her size, you'll have to diet on juices before you can squeeze into 'em. Fieldsie, her secretary, will run dress business. Another side line is a seventy-acre lemon grove.

"She's rounding up more Titanic survivors. Only forty located thus far. Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 'Thirty-nine Steps,' will direct picture of that name for Boss Selznick.

"Told me English market matched ours for American pictures.

Good Old Jack

"Her most frightening experience was being thrown from a horse, having horse roll on her, while riding with Buddy Rogers. Her nicest, interview John Barrymore gave about her when they played together in 'Twentieth Century.'

"Still lives in rented house, on front door of which hangs the brass knocker, which belonged to the late H.D. Lombard, whose name she took. His wife Etta gave it to her after Harry died.

"On leaving studio, discovered street had been renamed Scarlett Way. Sign had been there six months. No one noticed it."

Some intriguing tidbits there:

* Had never heard about the dress business before, but at the time there was a cottage industry of sorts of making dresses that resembled those that the stars wore on screen, and numerous department stores carried such apparel. And while I'm no expert on the history of women's wear, I don't know of any actress at the time who lent her name to a clothing line (well, maybe Shirley Temple did), and one wonders why it never came to fruition. It also made me think of this 1986 Max Factor ad:



Jaclyn Smith's name has graced apparel at Kmart since 1985, and the line has since been extended to home furnishings.

* Finding the Titanic survivors was a publicity by-product of David O. Selznick's planned "Titanic" film, which never came off, but I had not been aware that Alfred Hitchcock was slated to direct it.

* Had never heard about the horse story, and with Christopher Reeve still in our collective memory, one shudders to think what might have happened. (I met Reeve at a press conference in Princeton, N.J., in January 1997 -- about 1 1/2 years after his horrible accident -- and he displayed the warmth, dignity and courage that made him such a special and beloved person.)

* The brass knocker anecdote is interesting -- did she take it with her from house to house?

Hopper told us a lot of things, but what she didn't mention is that she and Lombard were no strangers to each other. In 1929, when Hopper was a 44-year-old actress in the twilight of her film career, she had a supporting role in the Lombard Pathe film "The Racketeer":



Hopper left full-time acting a few years later, but every now and then appeared on screen; according to the Internet Movie Database, she had a small, unbilled role as a dowager in "Nothing Sacred," and she portrayed herself in Billy Wilder's 1950 classic "Sunset Boulevard." She and Hearst gossip columnist Louella Parsons had an intense rivalry for many years, and Hollywood personalities had to tread lightly with both.

Hopper continued working into the 1960s, although her influence had waned drastically. She died on Feb. 1, 1966, not long after voicing the character "Hedda, the Mad Hatter" (Hopper was famous for her flamboyant headwear) in the animated TV special "Alice in Wonderland, or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?"

Oh, and one more thing: One wonders if Carole ever kept that lunch date with Mayor Frank L. Shaw. About two months after Hopper's column, Shaw was recalled from office due to extensive municipal corruption -- the first mayor in the U.S. to receive such a fate:



To some extent, Shaw -- who had been re-elected in 1937 -- may have sown the seeds of his own demise. In late February and early March of 1938, massive floods overflowed the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers; more than 110 people died. Appearing on nationwide radio, Shaw said "the sun is shining in southern California and all is well," a rather callous comment that didn't endear him to the public -- especially the many who lost homes or loved ones -- and sparked the recall effort.

With the centennial of Carole Lombard's birth coming in October, you figured Turner Classic Movies in the U.S. was going to find some way to celebrate; the question was, how?

Now we know, since the October 2008 TCM schedule is out, and the answer is -- in a big way.

Carole is TCM's "Star Of The Month" for October, and the channel will run 18 of her films...four or five of them every Monday during the month. And, of course, this year the first Monday in October (to borrow a Supreme Court turn of phrase) falls on the 6th -- 100 years to the day that Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Ind.

TCM hasn't shown this kind of affection for Carole since she was honored with 24 hours of her films in the "Summer Under The Stars" festival on Aug. 17, 2006 -- and about six of the movies on TCM's upcoming schedule weren't shown that day, if my memory is accurate. In addition, several of these are TCM premieres.

Now that I've piqued your interest, the schedule (all times Eastern):

Oct. 6:

8 p.m. – “Twentieth Century” (1934)


9:45 p.m. – “Hands Across The Table” (1935)


11:15 p.m. – “Nothing Sacred” (1937)


12:45 a.m. – “Lady By Choice” (1934)


2:15 a.m. – “The Gay Bride” (1934)


Oct. 13:

8 p.m. – “My Man Godfrey” (1936)


10 p.m. – “No Man Of Her Own” (1932)


11:30 p.m. – “Fools For Scandal” (1938)


1 a.m. – “Swing High, Swing Low” (1937)


Oct. 20:

8 p.m. – “The Eagle And The Hawk” (1933)


9:15 p.m. – “Brief Moment” (1933)


10:30 p.m. – “Virtue” (1932)


11:45 p.m. – “No More Orchids” (1932)


1 a.m. – “The Racketeer” (1929)


Oct. 27:

8 p.m. – “To Be Or Not To Be” (1942)


10 p.m. – “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (1941)


midnight – “Vigil In The Night” (1940)


1:45 a.m. – “In Name Only” (1939)


"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" will also air at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

It's intriguing to note how TCM packaged this. Obviously, Oct. 20 spotlights pre-Code Carole (I'm certain that "Brief Moment" and "No More Orchids," both Columbia films, are airing on TCM for the first time) and Oct. 27 the later films; with "My Man Godfrey" and "No Man Of Her Own" on the 13th, that's a bit of a tribute to Lombard's work with her two husbands -- although, of course, she never made a film with either while she was their wife. (For you pre-Code buffs, TCM will kick off October with pre-Codes all day and night on the 1st.) Let's also hope TCM shows both the U.S. and international endings to "Vigil In The Night," as it has in the past (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/79206.html).

It's also fascinating to see what didn't make the cut, either through TCM's choosing or inability to secure rights: "The Princess Comes Across," "True Confession," "They Knew What They Wanted," "Made For Each Other," and some of the earlier stuff such as "Bolero," "Rumba," "White Woman" and "Supernatural" (just to name a few). One wishes TCM had also been able to procure some of Lombard's silent shorts for Mack Sennett. And a documentary on Carole would have been nice, too.

But we're quibbling. The important thing is that Carole Lombard will receive four weeks of tender loving care and prime-time exposure from TCM...exposure that will win her new generations of fans, most of whom hadn't been born yet when she left us much too soon. We eagerly await what TCM maven Robert Osborne has to say about Carole.

We might as well put in a plug for this, too: TCM will air "To Be Or Not To Be" at 2 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.

This might be not 100% perfect but  in think she looks great


Carole in "20th_century"

Original

San Francisco ranks among most people's favorite American travel destinations; I had the good fortune to spend a few days there in October 1999. And while most California filming takes place down the coast in metro Los Angeles, the Bay Area is nevertheless a prime region for movie buffs, home to a sophisticated film community.

We've previously noted the Stanford Theater, a splendid revival house in nearby Palo Alto (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/29489.html), but San Francisco's Castro Theatre also has a great repertory heritage. This weekend, beginning tonight, it's home to the 13th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

This is the largest silent festival in the U.S.; last year, attendance was nearly 11,000. Films aren't just shown, but analyzed from a cultural and educational perspective. Moreover, the festival doesn't limit itself to big hits from Hollywood -- films shown include documentaries, early animation, foreign titles and more.

The cost isn't cheap -- this year's festival charges tickets at $14 to $20 per film -- but for such rare and wide-ranging product, many find it's a price worth paying.

Carole Lombard isn't featured in any of this year's titles, but you can be sure she saw a few of these films in her youth. For me, the highlight of the program -- and the film I'd probably make my first priority to see if I were in San Francisco this weekend -- comes on Sunday afternoon, with the showing of the 1927 comedy "Her Wild Oat" (and it is indeed singular, not plural). It's a rare chance to watch Colleen Moore, a big star in her time, as many of her comedic vehicles are lost.

For many years, it appeared this, too, was lost -- but in the fall of 2001, a print of it was found at the Czech National Film Archive, and it's since been fully restored. "Her Wild Oat," with re-translated English titles, has been screened on a few college campuses and film societies -- but it's safe to say most people under age 90 have never seen it, or even heard of it. Apparently, that news comes as a shock to Colleen:



Colleen Moore, as stated earlier, was extremely popular; only Clara Bow rivaled her among comedic actresses of the late 1920s, and she -- not Louise Brooks -- was the best-known wearer of the "Dutch bob" hairdo. She managed to have some success in talking films, too. But most of the silents she made in the middle and late '20s, when she was the quintessential "flapper," are no longer available.

"Her Wild Oat," in which she portrays a lunch counter owner who meets a rich lad, then uses a disguise (as seen below) to pursue him one weekend, isn't considered a particularly outstanding movie, but it at least gives modern viewers an idea of why Moore had so many fans.



There's another interesting angle to this film. Just as Lombard had a brief, uncredited part in the Mary Pickford comedy "My Best Girl," also issued in 1927 (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/33953.html), "Her Wild Oat" provides an unbilled glimpse of a future star -- one nearly half a decade younger than Carole. We are referring to 14-year-old Loretta Young, seen second from left in this still from the film:



This was Young's seventh appearance before the camera, all in bit or uncredited parts, dating back to 1917. (She can be seen as an Arab girl in Rudolph Valentino's 1921 hit "The Sheik.") Her beauty is already evident, but it wouldn't be until 1928, when she co-starred opposite Lon Chaney in "Laugh, Clown, Laugh," that she would gain recognition among most moviegoers.

For Moore, er, more on this film, go to http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/colleen-moore-and-her-wild-oat/.

The festival has some other fascinating films, too, including the 1928 Marion Davies hit "The Patsy" (featuring Marie Dressler as her mother), which she made for director King Vidor before they collaborated on the now better-known "Show People":



The schedule:

Friday
"The Kid Brother" (1927): 7 p.m. Starring Harold Lloyd. With the short "Broncho Billy's Adventure" (1911).

Opening-night party: 9:15 p.m. Harold Lloyd-themed party with food, drinks and music.

Saturday
"Amazing Tales From the Archives": 10 a.m. Free program on film preservation.

"The Soul of Youth" (1920): 11:40 a.m. A portrait of society's unwanted babies, unloved orphans and unlawful urchins. Directed by William Desmond Taylor, later victim of one of Hollywood's most mysterious murders. With the short "The Old Family Toothbrush" (1925).

"Les Deux Timides" (1928): 2:15 p.m. Rene Clair's farce about a shy lawyer courting a woman whose father is arranging a marriage for her to a convicted wife abuser. With the short "Les Fromages Automobiles" (1907).

"Mikael" (1924): 4:15 p.m. A landmark in the history of gay cinema. With the short "L'Historie d'une rose" (1911).

"The Man Who Laughs" (1928): 7:45 p.m. "Batman" creator Bob Kane credited the title character, whose face was disfigured into a gruesome grin, as the inspiration for the Joker (who, of course, will be portrayed by the late Heath Ledger when the new Batman film premieres later this month). With the short "The Voice Invisible: Making a Record" (1919).

"The Unknown" (1927): 10:45 p.m. Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford star in this horror tale. With the short "The Last Call" (1922).

Sunday
"The Adventures of Prince Achmed" (1926): 10:30 a.m. Earliest surviving feature-length animated film, and the first made by a woman. With the short "The Bottom of the Sea" (1914).

"The Silent Enemy" (1930): 1:10 p.m. Documentary about the Ojibway Indians fighting hunger.

"Her Wild Oat" (1927): 3:50 p.m. Romantic comedy about a lunch-wagon owner who tries to be a lady of wealth for a weekend. With Mary Pickford Technicolor test for "The Black Pirate."

"Jujiro" (1928): 6:10 p.m. A film filled with symbolism and distorted architecture. With the short "Kaleidoscope" (1925).

"The Patsy" (1928): 8:45 p.m. Marion Davies stars in King Vidor's comedy. With the short "Lost: A Yodel" (1920).

For more on the festival, go to http://www.silentfilm.org/

Carole Lombard's magic as a photographer's subject was her ability to easily create a "wow" reaction...and she could do it in several ways: through her incredible sex appeal, employing her iconoclastic sense of humor or merely displaying her sheer beauty.

The last of these qualities is definitely her calling card in this stunning photo, taken in the second half of 1933 by Columbia Pictures to promote her upcoming film there, "Brief Moment."

Take a look at this below -- then click twice on it to savor it at roughly the photo's original size, 11" x 14":



Fortunately, the back of the photo is available for us to see, providing all sorts of wonderful information. We learn it was taken by Whitey Schafer, probably a staff photographer at Columbia (who thus would photograph all sorts of stars when they were loaned out from larger studios to Harry Cohn's domain). And there's a caption that tells us more:

"Carole Lombard, caught by the cameraman in a slightly pensive mood, presents a picture that is exquisite. Carole is the photgrapher's delight, for her exquisitely modelled face, her sweeping forehead, and the effective frame of blonde hair, make a perfect combination for the portrait artist. Carole goes from one picture to another, always looking stunning and invariably turning in a fine characterization. She is now playing the leading role in Columbia's 'Brief Moment,' the part of Abby Fane, a night-club singer who marries into society and is forced with the delightful problem of turning a playboy into a worthwhile person. Gene Raymond, whom you'll remember in Columbia's 'Ann Carver's Profession,' is the lucky gentleman, David Burton is directing."



From the back, we also learn that this had once been in Photoplay's image library. It's marked "December 1933," but I'm not sure whether that refers to the month it was received or the month of the magazine it ran in.



Like the photo? You can buy it, but it'll cost you and you'll face some eager competition. The picture is being auctioned on eBay; at the time I wrote this, eight bids had already been placed, with the top going at $81.

If interested, go to http://cgi.ebay.com/CAROLE-LOMBARD-1933-Vintage-11x14-Portrait-by-SCHAFER_W0QQitemZ300239408144QQihZ020QQcategoryZ18824QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem. Bidding continues through Sa