Carole Lombard Writes Walter Winchell A Letter

Lombard was a guest columnist for Winchell on August 2, 1938. Here’s what she had to say:

Dear Walter,

I tried to get you on the telephone the other day, but they told me you were on a 30-day vacation. Pretty soft! You see, I went into the press agenting business for a week, and I had a lot to tell you.

Before you make any cracks– it wasn’t a gag. I took a desk, four telephones and two secretaries in Selznick International’s news bureau. The doors were open wide for six days. Any and all movie writers, radio gossipers, reporters and columnists–you too–were welcome to enter and hear the news.

You would have loved to have been here, Walter, when I called in Gene Fowler to be my rewrite man, and he interviewed John Hay (Jock) Whitney and David O. Selznick. Here’s how it went, according to Gene’s report:

Gene: Mr. Whitney, meet Mr. Selznick. He is president in charge of production.
Whitney: This is news to me. I thought he was part of the Roosevelt spending program.
Gene: How long will the partnership last?
Whitney: Forever. You see we are producing “Gone With The Wind.”
Gene: I hear that you have changed your racing colors since entering the movie business.
Whitney: Yes? To what?
Gene: Black and blue!

When I called you, Walter, I wanted to toss a couple of stories in your direction.

One was about plans to have the first transatlantic air clipper drop a wreath over the spot where the SS. Titanic sank in 1912. The flowers would bear the legend, “To Those Who Showed The Way To Safety On The High Seas.” It is a dignified and newsworthy idea. Furthermore, Selznick is going to make a picture called “Titanic.”

Called the Duke of Windsor, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, H.G. Wells, Maude Adams, George Bernard Shaw and a few others on another idea- a round-the-world telephone poll on what noted people think on the casting of Norma Shearer and Clark Gable in “Gone With The Wind.” I couldn’t get a single answer. I defy even you to get past the Duke’s third secretary. As for the others, they weren’t in.

Governor Frank M. Merriam of California, I found out, is giving earnest consideration to “Career Insurance” for Hollywood stars. Nine extras, former stars themselves, who recently worked together on “The Young At Heart,” petitioned the governor for a law forcing present stars to save 10 per cent of their salaries for the future. The idea aroused widespread favorable comment.

By the time my week was over, Walter, I had handled 70 news stories, including one or two, I must admit, on my next picture “Made For Each Other.” On the final day, they threw a party for me, and sent me out of the office with a three-foot gold loving cup, inscribed, “To Carole Lombard, who gave publicity legs upon which to stand–Russell Birdwell.” The man Birdwell is Selnick’s nominal publicity and advertising head.

For stars who feel ego creeping up on them, I recommend a week’s trick in a studio news bureau. They’ll find that city editors don’t swoon at the sight or sound of so-called Hollywood names.

Time to sign off now. Here’s one you can have with no credits attached:

Did you hear about the producer who ordered a certain makeup man fired? The man, he said, made a star’s wig look too phoney.
Well, the fellow told to execute the order slipped the bad news to the makeup man.
“But why?” said the man. “That was no wig. It was the star’s natural hair.”
“In that case,” said the lieutenant bouncer, “you’re canned anyway. Do you think I can tell the chief he was mistaken?”

Carole Lombard.