by Allan Fish
When a TWA Flight crashed into Table Rock Mountain in Nevada on 16th January 1942 Hollywood lost an irreplaceable star and it sent their self-proclaimed king, Clark Gable, into mourning. He threw himself into fighting in World War II, with the attitude of a guy who didn’t seem to care if he came back alive to reclaim his career and throne in the palace of public affection, such was his loss. Lombard was unique, a figure both before her time and very much of it, and the very epitome of the screwball princess who could switch from deadly serious to absolute wacky in the time it takes to click one’s fingers.
She had worked with Gable before they married, in comedy No Man of Her Own, for which Gable was loaned out to Paramount like a naughty boy by MGM. The film was only really remembered for the very fact it was their only film together – and for Carole’s appearances in her scanty pre-Code underwear – but around the same time as Gable was loaned out again by MGM – this time to Colombia for It Happened One Night – at the same studio Lombard was given her first green light to insanity, the role of actress Lily Garland in the genre defining screwball comedy Twentieth Century. A quintessential Hawks heroine, she also gave John Barrymore, in his richest lead performance, a run for his money, with Barrymore having nothing but praise for his 25 year old co-star. Pre-code musical comedies with George Raft followed, another star who warmed to her sincerity. She was known for her somewhat less than lady-like vocabulary, “swearing like a trucker” as several friends warmly remembered, while Raft himself told a tale of how he’d once knocked on her dressing room door, been invited in to find her stark naked touching up her holiest of holies with milk and nonchalantly telling him to sit down, that she was just “making sure the cuffs and collar matched.” (more…)
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
