![\"carole](\"http:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1942ALettertpHeaven.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nBy Romayne<\/em><\/p>\n Screenland<\/strong> magazine, April 1942<\/em><\/p>\n From the heart comes this tribute to Carole Lombard, by one of the many studio workers who counted her as a true and unfailing friend<\/em><\/p>\n Carole Dear:<\/p>\n You said you were coming to our set to visit us next week. You said we\u2019d have fun like we had before. So I looked forward to a lot of laughter. You said that Clark, Ruggles, you and I would have our pictures taken together and that we\u2019d call that \u2018little number our anniversary.\u2019 That was last week. You said we\u2019d celebrate too! We\u2019d talk our heads off. I betcha money, this is what we\u2019d have talked about—<\/p>\n Ten years ago a picture started and went brilliantly along all that first morning. Then the company \u201ccalled lunch.\u201d Now, there\u2019s nothing startling about going to lunch. And we all returned from lunch. All except the leading lady. In a roundabout way we found that she thought the leading man was too much competition for her. While everybody was tearing their hair and saying they\u2019d have to rewrite the story for somebody else, a girl was getting ready to come to the studio. She had just finished a picture and was fixing to go away on a little trip.<\/p>\n Everything was quaintly mournful as we proceeded to \u201cshoot around the girl,\u201d which means we did the scenes with all the other players. Then the producer arrived on the set with the girl who was going on her vacation. Listen, my friends, you should have been there! But you would probably have been knocked down, as I was, in the rush. I never saw people fall over each other faster. Arms waved and dialogue flew and the lights hung aimlessly from rafters. The boys were hailing Miss Carole Lombard. And believe me, Miss Carole Lombard was hailing them!<\/p>\n By three o\u2019clock the lady wasn\u2019t going on vacation anymore. It was suggested that she take the following day to get new clothes. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with trying on the dress \u2018Whosis\u2019 was going to wear, for the starter, so you won\u2019t be held up?\u201d she wanted to know. With a pin here and a stitch there, she turned around and said, \u201cHow do you like it?\u201d At four that afternoon she was rehearsing and at four-thirty we got the first shot. I forgot to mention that somebody introduced her to the leading man\u2014Mr. Clark Gable. Is it any wonder Carole has had a place in our hearts that NOBODY can replace?<\/p>\n And then we started to have fun. With a whirl of merry gags for which only Carole had the genius of creation. We called her \u201cBernhardt,\u201d and with knowing amusement, she gave Clark a nickname, too. She had the prop man get the biggest ham she could find. On it we pasted a big picture of Clark. She presented it to him. \u201cHere, Ham,\u201d she said. \u201cLady, you mean, here\u2019s a ham\u2014don\u2019t you?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo. I mean\u2014here\u2014HAM!\u201d He took it. That same day a large package was delivered to Miss Lombard on the set. She looked at Clark and said: \u201cNOW\u2014I REALLY smell HAM!\u201d When she opened it, there was an old circus-size pair of shoes. He grinned. All the rest of the day Carole hobbled around the set in those shoes. There came a happy friendship that all of us were part of. That picture was the first establishment in her niche for comedy. She went up, up, up from them on.<\/p>\n Things were good and dull after we finished. She became a law of comparison to our group. Whenever we were getting ready to start another \u201copera\u201d we\u2019d say to each other of the feminine angle, \u201cDo you think she\u2019ll be anything like Lombard?\u201d The question still goes.<\/p>\n Whenever I felt blue or down in the dumps, I\u2019d make for Carole\u2019s dressing room across the lot. And inside that door I found a willing ear and lots of laughter. Her buoyancy of spirit always refreshed whoever came near her. Indeterminate somethings became simple nothings, and I\u2019d feel thankful that there was one so close who possessed what few of us are rich enough to have\u2014a wise and understanding heart. I don\u2019t suppose that I ever stopped to wonder that maybe she <\/em>had troubles, too. She was the one who fixed everything.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t shoot a fella for thinking and I thought it would be a wonderful thing if some day two swell people I knew might get together. I hoped they would. And they did. Their steadfastness in friendship grew into a greater comradeship. Only now and then are we privileged to witness such a union.<\/p>\n Of course, if you weren\u2019t a Lombard fan you wouldn\u2019t have read this far. And if by chance you don\u2019t know it—here\u2019s a little look into that which made her world the more perfect place to live\u2026Carole didn\u2019t know a darn thing about guns and fishing poles. But she learned. And with the vital determination that was hers, she learned RIGHT! She was the glamour girl who liked comfort\u2014dim lights, warm places, and a clean face. So, she put her hair in pigtails\u2014her legs in trousers, a gun on her shoulder and went places with her man in their station wagon. That was her big time. You\u2019ve probably heard about their home in the valley. It was designed by the Gables and \u201cBrownie,\u201d the art director at the studio who has done most of the sets for Clark\u2019s pictures. Clark and Carole knew every flower that was planted and together they watched them grow. When their trees were in bloom we made jam from the fruit of their garden. Carole laughed when I told her we marked it \u201cPlum-Jam-Gable.\u201d One day they went out and found a little calf running around. \u201cI refuse to have anything to do with you,\u201d Carole said to him, \u201cso when we stew you I won\u2019t feel guilty.\u201d But one look into her face made you know that he\u2019d never make stew for the Gables. Maybe you don\u2019t know that Mrs. Gable knew how to run her house. And the recipes she used to give were no good for a girl who was trying to reduce.<\/p>\n Everything they did was a special occasion. The nights they took themselves away from their fire and went to the local movie house she\u2019d sparkle and say: \u201cPappy and I are going to the movies!\u201d They\u2019d go on picnics and there\u2019d always be little surprises for each other. And we\u2019d scream when she\u2019d tell the combinations they ate. \u201cIt would poison ordinary people\u2014but we\u2019re crazy\u2014so nothing hurts us!\u201d<\/p>\n And such a disposition. That\u2019s what made her so beautiful. Her thoughtfulness was ever talked about. Months before Christmas she\u2019d start making lists to buy presents for those she loved. She always shopped herself\u2014always knew what everybody needed. Her room would be piled high to the ceiling. She remembered the things that should be remembered. She wrote every note herself\u2014answered every letter. There was never anything half-way about Carole.<\/p>\n I know many of the people with whom she had business dealings. They worshipped her. Nothing was ever wrong\u2014everything was just right.<\/p>\n She was friend to the little fellow. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who make pictures,\u201d she\u2019d often say.<\/p>\n When an airplane crash carried some of our studio people to their death and some to incurable injuries, it was Carole who attended the funerals\u2014Carole who visited the hospitals\u2014Carole who knew what to say when she was the ones who had legs cut off and backs broken. Carole who brought them their favorite flowers\u2014their favorite candies, their favorite books, and their favorite stories. She visited them when they went home\u2014not just the first few days. For she never wearied in well-doing. When they would have been forgotten or classified as \u201cunable to work\u201d it was Carole who saw to it that they were put back to work. \u201cNo difference now\u201d is what she said. Her generosity seemed to open the way for a bigger flow of goodness.<\/p>\n If a bunch of us were talking or laughing on the set and she was in her room or in another corner, she\u2019d yell: \u201cBring it over here\u2014or wait till I get there\u2014don\u2019t you know you can\u2019t leave me<\/em> out of ANYTHING???\u201d And we could always let her in on what we did or said.<\/p>\n An almost fatal accident had left scars on her face, above her eyebrow, on her cheek and on her lip. She\u2019d joke with the cameraman and say, \u201cHow about my \u2018operations\u2019—do they show?\u201d But never once did she tell the camera man that she preferred the other side of her face; never once did she wonder if he\u2019d make her look pretty enough. Strangely, these scars seemed only to enhance her great beauty. I remember her telling how she was strapped to the table while these scars were sewn; they were unable to use ether. \u201cDid it hurt?\u201d I was brainless enough to ask. Her big blue eyes popped. She should have fed me soap! \u201cSister,\u201d I thought, \u201cYou\u2019ve got guts<\/em>!\u201d I\u2019ll never forget what one of the boys said when we realized how she must have suffered. He said: \u201cShe\u2019s a SOLDIER!\u201d<\/p>\n Her love for her family, for whom she always had time, was great. Her mother said, the day before they left, \u201cI don\u2019t approve of flying\u2014but what my baby wants is tops with me. And whatever happens\u2014I\u2019ll be with her\u2026\u201d These are the things we would have talked about\u2026<\/p>\n And now, before I close\u2014<\/p>\n Clark called a day after you left and asked: \u201cWhat time do we start our picture in the morning?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cEight o\u2019clock.\u201d \u201cHoly cats,\u201d he yelled, \u201cthat\u2019s the middle of the night\u2014I haven\u2019t worked for four months\u2014maybe I won\u2019t be able to make it!\u201d That tickled me. At seven-thirty your Clark was there. And he started the picture\u2014was in the very first shot\u2014with twenty-one kids from nine years down. They pulled at his coat and yelled \u201cBang, bang\u201d in his ears and they interrupted his dialogue. He worked. He was swell. You know he would be! The next day, Friday, all day long we talked about you, Clark, Ruggles and I. I asked him how all your pets were. He laughed, \u201cWait till \u2018Maw\u2019 finds out that the two dogs and the cat slept with me last night.\u201d I knew you\u2019d get a bang out of that. He called the air office every hour to see if you\u2019d be on time. He was planning such funny jokes for your homecoming.<\/p>\n Friday afternoon, just before we stopped shooting, the boys pulled a gag on Clark. He was to enter the scene carrying a Gladstone bag. The boys loaded it with five dozen books. Ruggles said: \u201cOkay, Clark, just come in and throw the bag across the room.\u201d Clark put his hand down to grab the case. We were all watching. \u201cHoly smokes!\u201d he shouted, \u201cI\u2019m nailed to the floor!\u201d I knew you\u2019d get a kick out of that, too.<\/p>\n You know, Clark is a sweetheart, Carole, dear. After ten years of great success, he\u2019s just like he was\u2014only nicer. That\u2019s because he knows you.<\/p>\n Outside they\u2019re yelling something about a beautiful girl killed in a crash. She was coming home from a mission of mercy. Her mother too.<\/p>\n You were coming to visit us next week\u2026<\/p>\n Now, about Clark. He couldn\u2019t be with people who loved you both more. Besides that, he\u2019s with all the boys who have been around him since he first started here at MGM. They will dog his tracks to help him through.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll cry. We\u2019ll cry lots. None of will want the other to know how much. And then we\u2019ll be laughing again because we\u2019ll be talking about those crazy, dear moments you let us share with you. You are blessed with all the fullness of a complete life, for to know you is to love you. There is no one in all this world who can ever take your place. So, you\u2019ll be with us, I betcha money.<\/p>\n Wherever you are at this moment, darling, the place is good. And those therein are made brighter with your laughter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A\u00a0 Letter to Heaven By Romayne Screenland magazine, April 1942 From the heart comes this tribute to Carole Lombard, by one of the many studio workers who counted her as a true and unfailing friend Carole Dear: You said you were coming to our set to visit us next week. You said we\u2019d have fun like we had before. So I looked forward to a lot of laughter. You said that Clark, Ruggles, you and I would have our pictures taken together and that we\u2019d call that \u2018little number our anniversary.\u2019 That was last week. You said we\u2019d celebrate too! We\u2019d talk our heads off. I betcha money, this is what we\u2019d have talked about— Ten years ago a picture started and went brilliantly along all that first morning. Then the company \u201ccalled lunch.\u201d Now, there\u2019s nothing startling about going to lunch. And we all returned from lunch. All except the leading lady. In a roundabout way we found that she thought the leading man was too much competition for her. While everybody was tearing their hair and saying they\u2019d have to rewrite the story for somebody else, a girl was getting ready to come to the studio. She had just finished a picture and was fixing to go away on a little trip. Everything was quaintly mournful as we proceeded to \u201cshoot around the girl,\u201d which means we did the scenes with all the other players. Then the producer arrived on the set with the girl who was going on her vacation. Listen, my friends, you should have been there! But you would probably have been knocked down, as I was, in the rush. I never saw people fall over each other faster. Arms waved and dialogue flew and the lights hung aimlessly from rafters. The boys were hailing Miss Carole Lombard. And believe me, Miss Carole Lombard was hailing them! By three o\u2019clock the lady wasn\u2019t going on vacation anymore. It was suggested that she take the following day to get new clothes. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with trying on the dress \u2018Whosis\u2019 was going to wear, for the starter, so you won\u2019t be held up?\u201d she wanted to know. With a pin here and a stitch there, she turned around and said, \u201cHow do you like it?\u201d At four that afternoon she was rehearsing and at four-thirty we got the first shot. I forgot to mention that somebody introduced her to the leading man\u2014Mr. Clark Gable. Is it any wonder Carole has had a place in our hearts that NOBODY can replace? And then we started to have fun. With a whirl of merry gags for which only Carole had the genius of creation. We called her \u201cBernhardt,\u201d and with knowing amusement, she gave Clark a nickname, too. She had the prop man get the biggest ham she could find. On it we pasted a big picture of Clark. She presented it to him. \u201cHere, Ham,\u201d she said. \u201cLady, you mean, here\u2019s a ham\u2014don\u2019t you?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo. I mean\u2014here\u2014HAM!\u201d He took it. That same day a large package was delivered to Miss Lombard on the set. She looked at Clark and said: \u201cNOW\u2014I REALLY smell HAM!\u201d When she opened it, there was an old circus-size pair of shoes. He grinned. All the rest of the day Carole hobbled around the set in those shoes. There came a happy friendship that all of us were part of. That picture was the first establishment in her niche for comedy. She went up, up, up from them on. Things were good and dull after we finished. She became a law of comparison to our group. Whenever we were getting ready to start another \u201copera\u201d we\u2019d say to each other of the feminine angle, \u201cDo you think she\u2019ll be anything like Lombard?\u201d The question still goes. Whenever I felt blue or down in the dumps, I\u2019d make for Carole\u2019s dressing room across the lot. And inside that door I found a willing ear and lots of laughter. Her buoyancy of spirit always refreshed whoever came near her. Indeterminate somethings became simple nothings, and I\u2019d feel thankful that there was one so close who possessed what few of us are rich enough to have\u2014a wise and understanding heart. I don\u2019t suppose that I ever stopped to wonder that maybe she had troubles, too. She was the one who fixed everything. You can\u2019t shoot a fella for thinking and I thought it would be a wonderful thing if some day two swell people I knew might get together. I hoped they would. And they did. Their steadfastness in friendship grew into a greater comradeship. Only now and then are we privileged to witness such a union. Of course, if you weren\u2019t a Lombard fan you wouldn\u2019t have read this far. And if by chance you don\u2019t know it—here\u2019s a little look into that which made her world the more perfect place to live\u2026Carole didn\u2019t know a darn thing about guns and fishing poles. But she learned. And with the vital determination that was hers, she learned RIGHT! She was the glamour girl who liked comfort\u2014dim lights, warm places, and a clean face. So, she put her hair in pigtails\u2014her legs in trousers, a gun on her shoulder and went places with her man in their station wagon. That was her big time. You\u2019ve probably heard about their home in the valley. It was designed by the Gables and \u201cBrownie,\u201d the art director at the studio who has done most of the sets for Clark\u2019s pictures. Clark and Carole knew every flower that was planted and together they watched them grow. When their trees were in bloom we made jam from the fruit of their garden. Carole laughed when I told her we marked it \u201cPlum-Jam-Gable.\u201d One day they went out and found a little calf running around. \u201cI refuse to have anything to do with you,\u201d Carole said to him, \u201cso when we stew you I won\u2019t feel guilty.\u201d But one look into her face made you know that he\u2019d never make stew for the Gables. Maybe you don\u2019t know that Mrs. Gable knew how to run her house. And the recipes she used to give were no good for a girl who was trying to reduce. Everything they did was a special occasion. The nights they took themselves away from their fire and went to the local movie house she\u2019d sparkle and say: \u201cPappy and I are going to the movies!\u201d They\u2019d go on picnics and there\u2019d always be little surprises for each other. And we\u2019d scream when she\u2019d tell the combinations they ate. \u201cIt would poison ordinary people\u2014but we\u2019re crazy\u2014so nothing hurts us!\u201d And such a disposition. That\u2019s what made her so beautiful. Her thoughtfulness was ever talked about. Months before Christmas she\u2019d start making lists to buy presents for those she loved. She always shopped herself\u2014always knew what everybody needed. Her room would be piled high to the ceiling. She remembered the things that should be remembered. She wrote every note herself\u2014answered every letter. There was never anything half-way about Carole. I know many of the people with whom she had business dealings. They worshipped her. Nothing was ever wrong\u2014everything was just right. She was friend to the little fellow. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who make pictures,\u201d she\u2019d often say. When an airplane crash carried some of our studio people to their death and some to incurable injuries, it was Carole who attended the funerals\u2014Carole who visited the hospitals\u2014Carole who knew what to say when she was the ones who had legs cut off and backs broken. Carole who brought them their favorite flowers\u2014their favorite candies, their favorite books, and their favorite stories. She visited them when they went home\u2014not just the first few days. For she never wearied in well-doing. When they would have been forgotten or classified as \u201cunable to work\u201d it was Carole who saw to it that they were put back to work. \u201cNo difference now\u201d is what she said. Her generosity seemed to open the way for a bigger flow of goodness. If a bunch of us were talking or laughing on the set and she was in her room or in another corner, she\u2019d yell: \u201cBring it over here\u2014or wait till I get there\u2014don\u2019t you know you can\u2019t leave me out of ANYTHING???\u201d And we could always let her in on what we did or said. An almost fatal accident had left scars on her face, above her eyebrow, on her cheek and on her lip. She\u2019d joke with the cameraman and say, \u201cHow about my \u2018operations\u2019—do they show?\u201d But never once did she tell the camera man that she preferred the other side of her face; never once did she wonder if he\u2019d make her look pretty enough. Strangely, these scars seemed only to enhance her great beauty. I remember her telling how she was strapped to the table while these scars were sewn; they were unable to use ether. \u201cDid it hurt?\u201d I was brainless enough to ask. Her big blue eyes popped. She should have fed me soap! \u201cSister,\u201d I thought, \u201cYou\u2019ve got guts!\u201d I\u2019ll never forget what one of the boys said when we realized how she must have suffered. He said: \u201cShe\u2019s a SOLDIER!\u201d Her love for her family, for whom she always had time, was great. Her mother said, the day before they left, \u201cI don\u2019t approve of flying\u2014but what my baby wants is tops with me. And whatever happens\u2014I\u2019ll be with her\u2026\u201d These are the things we would have talked about\u2026 And now, before I close\u2014 Clark called a day after you left and asked: \u201cWhat time do we start our picture in the morning?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cEight o\u2019clock.\u201d \u201cHoly cats,\u201d he yelled, \u201cthat\u2019s the middle of the night\u2014I haven\u2019t worked for four months\u2014maybe I won\u2019t be able to make it!\u201d That tickled me. At seven-thirty your Clark was there. And he started the picture\u2014was in the very first shot\u2014with twenty-one kids from nine years down. They pulled at his coat and yelled \u201cBang, bang\u201d in his ears and they interrupted his dialogue. He worked. He was swell. You know he would be! The next day, Friday, all day long we talked about you, Clark, Ruggles and I. I asked him how all your pets were. He laughed, \u201cWait till \u2018Maw\u2019 finds out that the two dogs and the cat slept with me last night.\u201d I knew you\u2019d get a bang out of that. He called the air office every hour to see if you\u2019d be on time. He was planning such funny jokes for your homecoming. Friday afternoon, just before we stopped shooting, the boys pulled a gag on Clark. He was to enter the scene carrying a Gladstone bag. The boys loaded it with five dozen books. Ruggles said: \u201cOkay, Clark, just come in and throw the bag across the room.\u201d Clark put his hand down to grab the case. We were all watching. \u201cHoly smokes!\u201d he shouted, \u201cI\u2019m nailed to the floor!\u201d I knew you\u2019d get a kick out of that, too. You know, Clark is a sweetheart, Carole, dear. After ten years of great success, he\u2019s just like he was\u2014only nicer. That\u2019s because he knows you. Outside they\u2019re yelling something about a beautiful girl killed in a crash. She was coming home from a mission of mercy. Her mother too. You were coming to visit us next week\u2026 Now, about Clark. He couldn\u2019t be with people who loved you both more. Besides that, he\u2019s with all the boys who have been around him since he first started here at MGM. They will dog his tracks to help him through. We\u2019ll cry. We\u2019ll cry lots. None of will want the other to know how much. And then we\u2019ll be laughing again because we\u2019ll be talking about those crazy, dear moments you let us share with you. You are blessed with all the fullness of a complete life, for to know you is to love you. There is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3003,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9376","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9378,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9376\/revisions\/9378"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dearmrgable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}