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In Memory of Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard died 78 years ago today, at age 33. The plane carrying Carole, her mother and MGM publicity man Otto Winkler, among others, slammed into Mount Potosi near Las Vegas on a cold snowy night, January 16, 1942. All died instantly. The death of Carole forever changed Clark Gable and despite whatever happiness he found later, he undoubtedly never fully recovered from it. As the news spread across the nation, the newspapers apparently called up everyone in fandom to give a comment on the tragedy: All Hollywood Mourns Popular Actress’ Death High and Low of Film Colony Shocked by Air Disaster Killing Warmhearted Actress Sorrow hushed the sound stages…
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{New Article} 1935: A New Log of The Bounty
This is a short article from 1935 about the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty on Catalina Island. It really doesn’t give much detail except to rehash the history of the events depicted in the picture. A new tale, of another Bounty, could be written around the adventures of that sore-beset crew, filming this grand tale for Metro, for all of them, from Director Frank Lloyd on, have stories to tell of trials and tribulations. But it all is well worth it, for without question here, in “Mutiny on the Bounty,” will be one of the greatest pictures ever contrived. I have lately returned from a cruise on this new…
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Movie of the Week: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
This week, Clark Gable is legendary mutineer Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty. In this adaption of the famous tale of mutiny on the high seas in 1787, Clark is first mate to the tyrannical Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) on a two year voyage from England to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit plants. Bligh beats and starves the sailors, all while Christian and fellow officer Bynum (Franchot Tone) stand and watch. Christian finally can’t stand it anymore and rallies the men to overthrow Bligh and take over the ship. They send Bligh and his supporters adrift at sea in a small boat and take the Bounty back to Tahiti. They…
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Rare Carole Lombard Photos
Want to see some rare Carole Lombard photos? Happy to oblige. Here are some I uncovered in vintage scrapbooks. If you follow the site on Facebook, you may have seen some of these already, but who wouldn’t want a second look at the divine Miss Lombard? And sorry about the watermarks, but don’t blame me, blame the people who steal photos that cost me money from my website and don’t give me any credit! How about this amazing color shot? Having some fun on the set of her film “Vigil in the Night.” Hey, she even got a goofy look out of Charles Laughton while filming “They Knew What…
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Gossip Friday: Praise from Laughton
A reporter discusses actors and actresses with Charles Laughton, April 1935: “One thing certainly prejudices me [against stars], and that’s personality. If I meet a star and dislike him very much indeed, I always try to say the best I can about his pictures, just in case I;m tempted to be unfair.” “Yes, I can understand that,” said Laughton. “And who do you dislike?” I told him. He nodded.”Yes, he’s pretty nasty, I agree. I hope you don’t feel that way about Clark Gable?” I gasped. Clark Gable is one of my secret weaknesses. that made me cautious. “I like him,” I said mildly,”but I don’t admire him as an…
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{New Article} 1935: The Only Girl on a Gable Location
This piece from 1935 was written by a reporter sent to the Catalina Island set of Mutiny on the Bounty. Oh, to be the lone female reporter hunting down the scoop to the location shoot of the latest Clark Gable picture! Sounds glamorous, right? Apparently not… If you’re going from Hollywood, you ride the film boat from San Pedro wharf direct to the Isthmus, some ten miles across Channel. The boat makes it once a day carrying passengers and supplies. And so, surrounded by eight twenty-gallon gasoline tanks, four cartons of strawberries, two dead sharks, (to be used for Bounty atmosphere), and six milk cans, I started my great expedition.…
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{Hollywood} Forest Lawn: Hollywood Hills
Our trip to Forest Lawn: Hollywood Hills was a quick one. Founded in 1906, it is younger and smaller than its big Glendale cousin (blog on Glendale this week!) but is still gorgeous in its own right. The best part of the cemetery is the view; you could see for miles from the top of the hill. Our main objective here was the legendary Bette Davis, who was not at all hard to find. I left her a bouquet (dedicated from some dear friends of mine); she had already been given several flowers and also a big lipstick print. She’s entombed with her mother Ruth and sister Barbara. Right around the…
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Gossip Friday: Something’s Missing
From December 1940: I knew something had been wrong with Hollywood these past few months. But I couldn’t put my finger on it. There didn’t seem to be any snap and pep in the place. Why there were days when everythings was as silent as the tomb. And just about as cheery. Now I know what was the matter and I am delighted to report that everything is inder control again. It was Missy Lombard–that charming screwball who has more humor in her little finger than an executive has in his entire writing department. Carole, the dope, went serious on us. No squeals and screams, no “simply out of this…
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Carole as Her Own Critic
A brief photo-essay from Life Magazine, September 1940: This episode in the making of a movie is a dramatic moment rarely, if ever, photographed before. The movie is RKO’s version of They Knew What They Wanted, from the play that won Sidney Howard a Pulitzer Prize in 1925. The characters are director Garson Kanin, Actors Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton. For two months they have worked like beavers on what they beleive is to be a great movie script. They have had the usual quarrels. On location at Napa, Calif., 550 miles from home, they have run into the usual location troubles: bad weather, delays, throngs of bothersome autograph hounds.…
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Where were Clark and Carole 70 years ago today?
All dolled up and out on the town for a worthy cause! There’s Clark and Carole looking quite dashing, posing in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The occaison? An all-star radio broadcast for Greek War Relief that was held seventy years ago today–January 8, 1941. I love all-star events like this because the pictures answer the questions of “Did so- and-so ever meet so-and-so?” For instance, the event was only one of two instances that I know of that Carole is pictured with Myrna Loy (and that’s Melvyn Douglas and Tyrone Power with them too): Carole, Myrna and Tyrone share a secret:The dashing duo with Dick Powell, Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford and Shirley…
