VP19

The Raft-Lombard pic was taken on the set of her "Hands Across The Table," where Carole plays a manicurist (hence her outfit). They had made two films together, "Bolero" and "Rumba," and were scheduled to do a third, called "Concertina"; however, the success of "Hands Across The Table" in the fall of 1935 led Paramount to give Lombard top billing for this next film, and George wasn't happy about it. (The script may also have been altered to beef up Carole's role at his expense.) Raft walked off the production, and the male lead was taken over by Lombard's leading man in "Hands Across The Table," Fred MacMurray. The film's title was also changed to "The Princess Comes Across." BTW, George and Carole had a brief affair, and Lombard reportedly told friends that purely in a sexual sense, Raft -- whose Hollywood conquests were legion -- was the best lover she'd ever had.

Let me emphasize at the outset that all things being equal, Robert Osborne would be doing the hosting for this year's Summer Under The Stars, but since he isn't (and I wish him a speedy and full recovery), one wonders how TCM will approach the concept of guest hosts for SUTS 2011. The channel could continue the different guest host each week, as it's doing for the remainder of July -- but given the nature of SUTS, with its wide range of stars and styles, perhaps TCM might consider inviting a different guest for the prime-time segments...perhaps one who worked with the star in question or was influenced by them. (This is, of course, assuming the costs and logistics involved were reasonable --hey, I don't have to report to TimeWarner accountants.) Here's the SUTS schedule for 2011: 1. Marlon Brando 2. Paulette Goddard 3. Bette Davis 4. Ronald Colman 5. John Garfield 6. Lucille Ball 7. Ralph Bellamy 8. Orson Welles 9. Ann Dvorak 10. Shirley MacLaine 11. Ben Johnson 12. Claudette Colbert 13. James Stewart 14. Charles Laughton 15. Lon Chaney 16. Joanne Woodward 17. Humphrey Bogart 18. Jean Gabin 19. Debbie Reynolds 20. Montgomery Clift 21. Cary Grant 22. Joan Crawford 23. Conrad Veidt 24. Joan Blondell 25. Burt Lancaster 26. Peter Lawford 27. Linda Darnell 28. Carole Lombard 29. Anne Francis 30. Howard Keel 31. Marlene Dietrich I just did an entry on this topic (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/426204.html), where I suggested that for Lombard's night, Julie Newmar, Teri Garr or Leonard Maltin might make good guest hosts; Newmar and Garr have often cited Carole as an influence, while Maltin wrote a trade paperback about Lombard in the '70s. If you had your choice (and the budget to do so), whom would you get as hosts for each night? (Thankfully, MacLaine, Woodward and Reynolds are still with us, and could host their own films if they desired.)

Our thoughts are with you, Robert.

More legs! Even if they are attached to Joan Crawford... Even up to the close of her career, Crawford had good legs. It was the rest of her that grew more severe.

The URL is http://www.grolierclub.org. The club is located on 47 East 60th Street in Manhattan.

Postwar Joan Crawford always looks severe. The grace she exhibited in the '20s and '30s had largely abandoned her, and "Torch Song" proved returning to MGM was not the magical elixir of youth she had hoped for.

Postwar Joan Crawford always looks severe. The grace she exhibited in the '20s and '30s had largely abandoned her, and "Torch Song" proved returning to MGM was not the magical elixir of youth she had hoped for.

There's a reference to "Adventure" in the Blondell caption -- a film made in 1945 -- so Joan wasn't really that young when it was taken. (Certainly far older than the pre-Code Warners photos of her we're used to seeing.)

Some corrections and clarifications: Lombard's home on Hollywood Boulevard (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/344899.html) was actually the second star home to be decorated by Haines. The first was that of Joan Crawford, who worked with Haines at MGM in the '20s. Most of the Davies oceanfront mansion was torn down in 1960, many years after she had sold the property; successive owners found its upkeep too daunting. The servants' quarters and swimming pool remains, however, and the city of Santa Monica refurbished it into a public facility a few years ago (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/200912.html).

"Hands Across The Table" will be shown in primetime Aug. 28, the day Lombard is featured on "Summer Under The Stars." It will follow "My Man Godfrey," the last in this summer's "Essentials Jr." series. "Hands Across The Table" is probably Carole's best film at Paramount; the studio never really knew how to use her, and thus her best movies were made elsewhere. Fred MacMurray and Ralph Bellamy co-star.

Lombard indeed used profanity to protect her against unwanted advances -- but from everything I've read about her, she was careful about her language depending upon the company she was in. Were children or strangers around, she employed a rather normal vocabulary. Film crews loved her lack of pretense, and for that reason Lombard pictures were generally among the most sought-after assignments in the industry.

Hughes didn't do Jane's career justice by essentially keeping her under wraps for several years until "The Paleface" in 1949. Russell could have gained a lot more experience as an actress; by the end of the '40s, she had plenty of catching up to do -- and, to her credit, she did it, becoming one of the industry's top stars of the early '50s. I love her toughness and sense of humor that complements her undeniable sex appeal (and she also was a talented singer).

So, you're saying that Nancy, the 50' woman, is still alive, and a TCM viewer? Hey, big-screen TVs were invented with her in mind!

Another special effects goof: In "Village Of The Giants," the teens are supposedly enlarged six times their size, but Joy Harmon and one of the male giants are shown reading magazines at the same scale they are...and the "goo" only enlarges living things, not inanimate objects. (And not only should the mags have been proportionally small, but the print would have been way too small for giant eyes to view. This angle was handled in the 1993 Daryl Hannah remake of "Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman," when her giant Nancy character ordered some legal papers to be reprinted at a scale she could see.)

I agree with PrinceSaliano--may Mothra lay an egg on you. Nah, give him more enjoyable torture -- let him dance with Merrie from "Village Of The Giants."

Actually, part one of the auction, featuring expensive costumes and related memorabilia. (A second auction, with many non-clothing items, will be held this fall.) To no one's surprise, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia was the most sought-after, including a high of more than $5.65 million (including a buyer's premium of more than $1 million alone) for the ivory "subway" dress from "The Seven-Year Itch." To see what each of the 587 items sold for, go to http://www.icollector.com/Debbie-Reynolds-The-Auction_as20092. I wrote an entry on the auction, focusing on Carole Lombard's beige gown from "No Man Of Her Own" that sold for more than $13,000, at http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/419604.html.

It's at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, Calif. (in the East Bay; it's the town where the Oakland Athletics briefly planned to build a stadium a few years ago before things fell through). This year's theme is "Keystone Laughter 101 & Action Women In Film." Among the highlights are features from Gloria Swanson ("Manhandled") and Mabel Normand ("The Extra Girl"); the rarely viewed Sennett four-reeler "The Girl From Everywhere," among the earliest surviving works of Carole Lombard; action star Helen Holmes in 1925's "Webs Of Steel"; and a Baby Peggy film, 1924's "The Family Secret," introduced by Diana Serra Cary herself. I've written more about it at http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/419433.html; for info on the festival, go to http://www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/bbsff2011-april.htm.

1. "Nothing Sacred" (now in the public domain) was restored by UCLA some years back, though I don't know whether that print has been issued on DVD. Would love to see Criterion do with this what it did with "My Man Godfrey" in 2001 -- give it a full-fledged packaging, with a first-rate print, the trailer (often shown on TCM), advertising and promotional goodies and other extras. 2. Thanks for all the Lombard love; the lady was indeed special. 3. I feel obliged to do a little self-promotion for my site, "Carole & Co.", which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary and has more than 1,600 entries since its inception. Many of you have probably seen it already, but in case you haven't, check it out at http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com.

They should have made it a triple play with "The 30-Foot Bride Of Candy Rock."

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote} > Maven - > > your description of the Alexander McQueen exhibit was wonderful! Don't mind if I gush over the mood you created, or maybe re-created in your post. It's thrilling to read about, the way you write it. > > GlamAmor- > > I am a big fan of the thirties, and many of my favorite actresses are from that time. I don't want to overdo it, but the women whose style I like best are *Myrna Loy, Carole Lombard, Maureen O'Sullivan, Claudette Colbert,* and *Loretta Young.* I can only dream of wearing some of the gowns these beautiful women wore. > > *Marlene* should have a thread all her own....lol. > > And high up on a pedestal for me would be *Constance Bennett,* the epitome of thirties elegance. > > My best friend in high school later worked on a showing of *Jean Louis* gowns, and he had the opportunity to go and meet the gracious Loretta Young, and dig through her closets, which were the most fabulously designed that he had ever seen. It was a dream come true for him, since we were both classic film fans. We actually met over a movie at a New Year's Eve party - The Great Ziegfeld. Seeing the sentence, "I can only dream of wearing some of the gowns these beautiful women wore" with someone ID'd as JackFavell, I was momentarily confused...until I checked and found this was written by someone named Wendy. Glad you're a fan of folks such as Bennett, Young, Loy and especially Lombard, my all-time favorite actress. If you haven't seen my site "Carole & Co." yet, please give it a try http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com -- we celebrated our fourth anniversary on Monday, and among the topics we cover are designs worn by Carole and her contemporaries.

Good writing. Fine acting. Excellent direction. Superb storytelling. The human element remains primary, not CGI. Films were usually designed for general audiences, which meant they had to appeal to larger segments of the population (not necessarily everyone -- no film can do that). Old movies can be sexy (two words: pre-Code!), funny, vulgar (without being raunchy), thoughtful, intelligent. If you see current films that meet at least four of the five descriptions above, they are usually playing at an art house, not the multiplex where teens and adolescents congregate.

Let's not forget "Night Of The Lepus," shown again last night on TCM. (It is to "Underground" what "Casablanca" is to TCM's prime-time schedule -- a perennial.) Seeing those colossal jackrabbits terrorize a town through miniatures, slow motion, and red ink on the bunnies' faces to represent blood is perverse genius. When Bert I. Gordon saw this, he must have wished he had done something similar for "Village Of The Giants"; it would have given those supersized teens something to feast on. (Incidentally, who is the sexier giantess -- Joy Harmon at 30 feet or Allison Hayes at 50 feet? Any write-in votes for Dorothy Provine?)

> {quote:title=Rokkor wrote:}{quote} > Thanks for the welcome! It's great that many of the classic films are restored, both black and white and color. I seen "Nothing Sacred" 1937 with Carol Lombard and Fredrick March. It was a 3 strip Technicolor film BUT not restored. It was on DVD but looked like a video to DVD transfer. I wonder if that is because of the ownership rights of the film are in question? It was originally released by Selznick International Pictures and so that makes me wonder if that could be the reason it didn't get the full restoration treatment. > > Still I enjoyed it. "Nothing Sacred" is now in the public domain, and DVD prints of the film vary widely. (Fortunately, most only cost a buck or two.) I believe UCLA restored "Nothing Sacred" a few years ago, but I'm not sure if a commercial DVD has been struck from that print.

My "Carole & Co." entry today was on the item at the bottom of Dorothy Manners' column concerning Carole Lombard and the "Flashing Stream" movie she was to make for David O. Selznick: http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/415029.html

> {quote:title=filmlover wrote:}{quote} > I know you will do a great job when you cover it for your site. > > To anyone visiting the L.A. area, you need to break away from Hollywood Blvd. and head to downtown L.A. to visit the Biltmore. You will see pics from Academy Award ceremonies in the 1930s, plus one large (I mean, HUGE!) one of the 1937 ceremony. Here's a link to it: > > Fantastic. The March '37 Oscars would be the one place where we might find a photo of friends Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow together (they were seated at the same table); no picture of both Jean and Carole has ever been found. No luck finding them there, though I did note De Mille, Disney and some others.