As many of you know, in her early pre-fame years Carole Lombard was a frequent contestant in the popular Charleston contests held at the Cocanut Grove. Some of her competitors included Joan Crawford, Bessie Love, and Polly Ann Young. For the girls in America who didn’t know how to do the Charleston Photoplay soon solved their problem with its October 1925 issue. In an article entitled Everybody’s Doing It Now – Bessie Loves Shows You How, readers got a step-by-step guide on how to dance the Charleston. And you can too! Behold:
In case you are unable to read the steps in my scans I will retype them below. But be sure to refer to the pictures because they do help.
STEPS Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
No.1. Place arms on hips, bend forward and step forward with the knees stiff. Then give a double dip on each knee before taking the next step and then on to number two.
No.2. Swinging arms in opposite directions, body bent forward, point right foot forward. Then heel-toe to side and back. Next heel-toe to front, changing to left foot and repeat.
No.3. Bend body forward, knees slightly bent, and place hands on knees while moving knees inward and outward, alternate crossing arms with hands on knees in scissors fashion.
STEPS Nos. 4, 5 and 6. With arms swung to opposite side, skip to right, pointing the toe. Swing slightly back, raising the hands upward. Point right foot forward and point heel, bending the body far back with the hands extended, palms outward, above the head.
STEP No.7. Start by repeating Step No.2 and duplicate, with the exception of kicking forward from the knee only, instead of pointing forward with the toe.
STEPS Nos. 8 and 9. This is a twist from front to back by placing the right foot point forward over the left and swinging the body in complete half circle. Repeat with the left foot over the right and swing back to front position again for finish of the Charleston. A good finish to the dance is to point the right foot forward, extending the right arm to the side and raising the left hand over the head with the palm outward.
While we are on the subject here is a photo of Lombard showing off some dance moves herself:
The Photo has five panels of Carole Lombard and George Raft, depicting dance steps in 1935. Cartoon drawings show the steps below. The original 8×10 photo above is up for auction on Ebay until March 18th. Click here to bid now >>
So now you know the Charleston . . .
For inspiration.
Come on.
I’m waiting . . .
We’ve covered Carole’s week as a press agent on this site before but here is another article she wrote describing the wacky week to Picturegoer Magazine for their August 20, 1938 issue:
FOR the life of me, I can’t see why my week as a press agent should have stirred up any unusual comment.
Motion picture star turns press agent! Lombard dishes out publicity! Actress bites press!
That gives you an idea of the reaction. It is all a trifle deflating. I got more attention as a press agent than I did in a year as an actress.
Yet, who ever heard of a headline, “Star attends story conference!” or “Actress sold on pink party-dress, wardrobe conference discloses!” or “Lombard make-up conference brings demand for new face cream!” Well, then why “Star turns press agent!”?
The answer, I suppose, is that it hadn’t ever been done before, or so I’m told. No reason why it shouldn’t have been. Publicity and exploitation are just as important to a star as any other department, and, having always believed that, I took the time to do a little bit of press work myself.
I had a desk, four telephones, two secretaries, a fire-bell and a siren there in my office at the Selznick International news bureau. The fire-bell was for the secretaries- they’re such sound sleepers. The siren was for Selznick- draw your own conclusions.
All kidding aside, however, it was a full week’s work, not a gag. On my first day I did my best to locate by telephone the Duke of Windsor, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, Margaret Mitchell, Maude Adams, and H.G. Wells. I wanted to ask them what they thought of the casting of Norma Shearer and Clark Gable for Gone With The Wind.
Their reactions would have made a swell feature story- if I could have found them.
I got calls from London newspapers, and fortunately had a story for them. I slaved all week on my own picture, Made For Each Other, and on the Janet Gaynor-Douglas Faribanks, Paulette Goddard picture The Young At Heart.
Gene Fowler, as a re-write man, came up with a couple good ideas, and James Stewart, whom I drafted into the position of “leg man” did as well as could be expected for his first journey into the realm of publicity.
He was rapidly becoming headline-conscious by the time our week was up. Fowler came through with the week’s top idea, not a publicity story at that, but for a picture.
He is writing a story about a go-getting a woman press agent, a film that will be to publicity what The Front Page was to journalism and is calling it Life Kicks Up It’s Heels.
They made me mayor of Culver City in honour of the week, which gave me a chance to declare last Saturday a holiday for all Selznick International employees.
The main idea was to get a day off, and it nearly worked.
The week is ended, and I’ve turned the reins back to Russell Birdwell at Selznick’s news bureau. He carries on from here, while I go back to where I belong. Whether Lombard, the press agent, was a success is for others to say.
All I know is this; an offer came from another studio by wire. “Come to work for us and we’ll top by 15 dollars a week anything you’re getting there. Your copy is better than Birdwell’s.”
If you’d like to learn more about Carole’s week as a press agent you can read the letter she wrote to Walter Winchell by clicking here >>
Screenland, September 1929
By Erle Hampton
Carol Lombard is the Lastest Sennet Girl to Indulge in Drama
It is an axiom of science that if you travel long enough in one direction on this earth you will ultimately arrive at the point from which you started. But science had nothing to do with the application of this theory on a career in Hollywood. Carol Lombard did that. As a matter of fact, Carol could not have made the trip faster around the enchanted circle of what is coyly referred to as Cinemaland if she had a bicycle.
In a little more than two years, with six months out for accidents, Carol has swept through an itinerary of ingenue leads, Mack Sennett custard, screen vixens, sophisticated characters and back to leads. According to the log of the trip, however, the little blond beauty veered a trifle from her course because instead of becoming an ingenue lead again she became a much more interesting one, a leading lady with a past.
And this seems a good a place as any to start from the beginning!
Fort Wayne, Indiana, was the town Mr. and Mrs.Lombard decided upon to add one cute little Hoosier to its population. That was about nineteen years ago and for seven years a lively tow-headed youngster played dolls with the girls and prison base with the boys.
The street that Carol was born on evidently was predestined to be significant in motion picture history, because a few years before that important event a two-fisted little roustabout saw the light of day and was christened Charles Gebhardt. That youngster became Buck Jones, cowboy star.
Carol was brought to Los Angeles when she was seven. Grammar schools and the Los Angeles High School supplied a necessary amount of intelligence and then came the dramatic urge. A course in a dramatic school conducted by Miriam Nelks was the result. Small parts followed in productions atr ‘The Potboilers,’ a little theater organization.
About this time Carol met Cecil B. De Mille, the godfather of so many of the present screen great. ‘CB’ was impressed.
“How old are you?” the producer asked.
“Fourteen,” replied Carol.
“Go home and grow up. Then come back and see me,” said C.B.
“Yes, Mr. De Mille,” said Carol, unconscious of the fact that her answer was to go down in history as one of the by-words of the great motion picture industry.
So Carol went back to her dramatic knitting under the guiding eye or Miriam Nelks. More parts in stage productions. More complete training. Better recognition. Then another opportunity at the gates of screen fame. This time it was at the William Fox Studios through, it is said, a sister of William Fox who was interested in the Little Theatre movement in Los Angeles and had been impressed with Carol’s dramatic aptitude.
This time the age question did not interfere. Carol was seventeen years old. A small part with Edmund Lowe followed won her a contract and then, whom do you suppose she played opposite? Yes, Buck Jones- the young fellow who was born on the same street with her in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Pathe officials took notice of her. There was a role of a two-timing country gal that needed filming in “Power” with William Boyd. Carol got it. She also got a long-term contract on the strength of that.
“Ned McCobb’s Daughter” followed. Then “Show Folks.” And finally, Carol went back to see Mr.De Mille, just as he had told her to. The visit however, came at the behest of C.B. who borrowed her from Pathe to play one of the two leads in “Dynamite.” At the Pathe lot William Boyd was waiting to star work in “High Voltage.” Conferences followed. Carol came home, back to a leading role, with sympathy and everything. She plays a girl crook in “High Voltage.”
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**P.S. I have scanned and added 27 new movie photos to the Photo Archives. I was internet-less for two days this week so I’ll try to add some more portraits to make up for it. Have a wonderful weekend.
Screen Pictorial, August 1937
Conventions are made to be broken where Carole Lombard is concerned! She has been called “the most startling woman in Hollywood!” says Quintas Page
Carole Lombard can claim to be the most publicized star in Hollywood. The parties which she throws at her beautiful Los Angeles home are the giddiest since Prohibition days. Her practical jokes have made her Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of half the film colony, and her boy-friends are legion. In two short years Carole has become God’s gift to gossip writers.
For many reasons, the crazy actions of the beautiful star of My Man Godfrey, the craziest of films, present an enigma. Carole is no empty-headed young girl, breathlessly in search of new excitements, new sensations. Rather is she a shrewd and intelligent woman of the world. An actress, moreover, who has won success only after one of the longest and bitterest fights which has fallen to the lot of any performer in the Hollywood circus.
I suspect that the true explanation of the Lombard wildness is to be found in the early days of her career.
“A girl needs a strong defense,” said Carole some time ago. “When I was a youngster, tramping New York, looking for jobs in the show business, I found that men in the booking offices got ideas. I discovered that if I could startle them sufficiently, they soon got their minds back to business.”
SHE has carried this original weapon of defense with her all her life. With a six-figure contract, Carole no longer has to try conclusions with casting-office Romeos, but she has found a use for “that startling Lombard” just the same.
Hollywood is the most difficult place on earth in which to retain a sense of proportion. Sudden fame, living in the constant glare of publicity, money – all tend to turn the head unwary. And Carole’s attitude to life is the perfect antidote to conceit. As an individualist by nature, her high spirits are a challenge to the pretentious and self-important. Her mad pranks and hilarious laughter are an invitation to come down from the pedestal and enjoy life- to be yourself.
Carole is no respecter of persons. On one occasion she gave a special party for certain New York socialites who were on a visit to the film colony. They reached the rendezvous magnificently attired- only to find that, so far from being held in an exclusive Hollywood club, the setting for the party was the Fun House of a down-town Amusement Park!
After completing No Man of Her Own, in which they co-starred, Carole sent Clark Gable a ham tied up with red ribbon. Later she bought him the oldest and most dilapidated Ford she could find in a Los Angeles junk yard. Clark, whose luxurious roadster is one of the sights in Hollywood and the apple of his eye, took the joke in good part. On numerous occasions he arrived at the Studios at the wheel of Carole’s gift, wreathed in smoke and the famous Gable grin.
Beneath the Lombard’s flippant exterior beats one of the kindest hearts in the film business. Her gifts to charity, her care for studio workers who are ill, have made her a popular figure among the dwellers in the shadow of the arc lights. If a damaged extra awakes in a hospital ward and finds his bed surrounded by strange gadgets and stranger games, he rarely inquiries the name of the donor.
“Give ‘em a laugh,” says Carole, “that’s the best doctor in the world!”
It says much for the Hollywood Press that they recognize the gold behind the glare that envelopes Carole. In spite of the many opportunities which she has given them to rate her as a publicity hunter, as the Screen’s Smart Young Thing, her exploits have rarely gone beyond the gossip columns.
On one occasion a reporter dubbed her “The Most Startling Woman In Hollywood.” Carole ignored the article except to say:
“MAYBE it is true that I have a habit of being abruptly outspoken and not mincing my words. I’ve never believed in kidding myself by calling a spade a garden implement. But never in my life have I ever said anything for the purpose of embarrassing anyone, or for the effect of being called the most startling woman in Hollywood.”
“I really can’t get peeved about Hollywood gossip. I’ve been treated to so little of it. The Press has always been more than square with me.”
Where Carole’s romances are concerned, however, it is a different story. She has been engaged Continued on pg.46
**I apologize for cutting you off but the article is from a magazine currently up for auction on Ebay until March 12th. If you’d like to grab it so you can finish the article you can do so by CLICKING HERE >>
These are big ones so chose the Full Size option if you like them large ; )
The gorgeous and talented Carole Lombard as she appeared in the 1940-1941 RKO Exhibitor Book to promote Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And here’s a pretty pin-up for the boudoir:
True Confessions magazine chose this lovely Lombard still for their December 1932 Portrait of the Month.
P.S. I’ve added some more photos to the Photo Archives — mostly Gable and Lombard with some great GWTW premiere pics courtesy of Kendra. So if you haven’t already, go check them out!
The following article gives some insight into Carole’s daily life while preparing for the screen. Hope you find it worth your reading.
There are ten steps in the creation of every costume that appears on the screen, it was revealed recently in an interview granted by Travis Banton, studio gown designer.
Take as an example, the satin and sequin evening ensemble in which Carole Lombard appears in one of the scenes of Paramount’s “Sinners in the Sun” which is being shown at the Rite theater for two days, beginning today.
This gown was created by Banton especially for the scene in which it is worn by Miss Lombard and the interviewer induced Designer Banton to outline the elaborate and circuitous details in the creation of this particular gown as an illustration of the care taken by Paramount to have the gowns worn by their stars correct in every detail. The ten steps are as follows:
1. Banton receives the final script on “Sinners in the Sun.” He reads carefully and compiles a list of the number and type of costumes required by the script.
2. He holds a conference with Miss Lombard, the director, and the cameraman as to the type of costumes they prefer. Special attention is given to the outfit to be worn in the climactic scenes of the picture.
3. A sketch in water colors of the most important costume is made by Banton. Complete details of colors, lines and accents are shown in this sketch.
4. The sketch is submitted to the director and Miss Lombard for a final okay.
5. After – the okay is received, Banton instructs the studio shopper to purchase ten yards of pearl white satin, six yards of black satin and twenty yards of massed silver sequins.
6. When material is delivered, Banton holds a conference with the head fitter, who supervises all the seamstress work on the costume.
7. Next day, Miss Lombard arrives for the first fitting. The gown of white satin and scarf of sequins is basted and pinned carefully to the lines of her figure. The wrap of sequins, lined with black satin, is fitted for length and drapery. Banton closely supervises all fittings.
8. Another conference is held with the fitter if any small changes have been decided -upon during the first fitting.
9. The second and final fitting is held the following day.
10. The gown is worn by Miss Lombard on the set where the cameraman takes a careful look at it under the various lights to ascertain the best illumination and angles.
(Travis Banton, Gown Designer, Describes Ten Steps Taken In Creation Of Screen Costumes, The Big Spring, Texas Daily Herald, June 19, 1933)
The gown Lombard is wearing in the photo above was designed by Banton but do you think it is the one referred to in the article? It seems to fit the description.
It should also be noted that in later years Lombard wouldn’t approve Banton’s sketches. Whatever he came up with was good enough for her.
(Monitor Index and Democrat, October 7, 1932, pg.3)
Although I think make-up is very essential to beauty, my hint is not to overdo it.
In daytime, I use a powder of equal parts beige and flesh tints; a tea-rose shade of rouge and a very pale rose lipstick. I never use mascara or eye pencil when going to shop or out walking.
For evening, a powder four shades darker is my favorite. I use no cheek rouge, but my lipstick is heavier. I use a carmen red. At night I also use violet eyelid shadow and dark blue mascara, lengthening my eyebrows slightly with a blue pencil.
Blue pencil on eyebrows? Never would have imagined that. Too bad I don’t have a blue pencil- yet!
Another beauty related announcement: SKy+HD was commissioned by the Telegraph.co.uk to survey viewers on who they thought were the Top 20 Most Timeless Beauties. Audrey Hepburn was voted number one but Carole Lombard didn’t make the cut. Apparently Jennifer Aniston and Keira Knightley are more timeless.
Not cool.
Click Here to see the b.s. of a list yourself.
I have added new photos to the Photo Archives and will finish uploading the rest of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith screen caps today.
MOVIE MAGAZINE, MAY 1935
By: Dorothy Kugler
SIMPLICITY-
Conservatism-
Unerring taste-
These qualities have put Carole Lombard on the pinnacle of smartness- they have caused Travis Banton, Paramount’s designer and one of the leading authorities on women’s fashion in the world, to name her as the best-dressed woman in films.
The day of the “clothes horse” in pictures is rapidly drawing to an end. More intelligent audiences are demanding something more than the spectacle of a woman trailing across the screen attired in enough frills and furbelows to clothe the entire cast. Theatrical and “stagey” looking clothes are passe for the star of today. Carole Lombard is Hollywood’s foremost example of this metamorphosis.
There was no better source to which I could have gone for an answer to my questions, and my questions were these:
“How did you become the best-dressed woman? What advice can you give which would be helpful and practical to girls in less glamorous walks of life who want to know how to be well-dressed on smaller salaries?”
Miss Lombard’s answers were so satisfactory and practical that I am putting them here with the certainty that they will prove highly useful to any woman with a conscious where her clothes are concerned.
“I have always stayed on the conservative side of the fence regarding dress,” Miss Lombard told me. “Any departure from established forms and standards should be done gradually and with the trend of style,, not radically and violently. A woman who goes to extremes in the matter of apparel is preferring ostentation to good taste. She will never be considered truly smart.”
The beautiful blonde star could not emphasize too strongly the importance of simplicity. Simple things, well-cut, which are compatible with the figure and the personality, distinguish the unquestionably fashionable woman. Clothes should be worn as part of the individual’s personal make-up and must be molded to fit accordingly. Miss Lombard’s wardrobe is a collection of discreet, finely made garments, created and chosen to suit her individuality, and they make Carole look like Carole, and like no one else.
“The importance of clothes has always been apparent to me,” she explained, “and income hasn’t been the dominating factor. Smartness is not a matter of money. It is an attribute solely dependent on taste. And it isn’t how many clothes you have that marks you as well-dressed; it’s what kind of clothes.”
“Most girl try too hard to have too much, and the result is a jumbled wardrobe of cheaper grade things, with nothing matching and no one outfit complete and perfect in itself. It is a senseless, futile procedure to pick up various types of wearing apparel and gadgets her and there and fill your closet with a number of things of varied colors and styles.”
“The clever girl is she who finds what colors suit her best and sticks to them. Then her accessories do not have to be numerous, because they will always match the outfit she is wearing. Her ensembles will always blend. Colors such as blue and soft browns are always ‘right.’ They can be worn in any season in any part of the country. If you don’t happen to be one of those people to whom these colors are becoming, then go for the warmer shades which are extremely smart.”
THEREIN lies the reason why Carole has always been well dressed and is now regarded as the best-dressed woman on the screen. She wears only what is becoming. In other words- she wears the clothes- they don’t wear her. She allows her gowns to enhance her personality, not to hide it from view, and she in turn enhances them.
The girl who does not study herself to find what is most suitable to her particular type, but blindly follows fashion, loses her own individuality in the mob. But to those who do want to find their correct medium of expression through clothes, a word of advice from Miss Lombard- let it be simple; let the cut and the color be your guides.
While I was chatting with her, the thought occurred to me that I might ask Carole’s advice on a weighty, glaring problem, which no one has ever solved.
“What do you think should be done about the short and dumpy?” I queried. “Their number is legion, and no one has ever seemed to be able to do anything when it comes to making their clothes appear distinguished on them.”
“In the first place,” she replied, “there is no excuse for the average short and dumpy person. There is diet, there is exercise, there are methods of improving the posture to everyone. But, if they just won’t [Continued on pg. 76]
I apologize for cutting you off but the article comes from a magazine currently up for auction on Ebay. If you’d like to grab it so you can finish the article you can do so by CLICKING HERE >>
The Pathe’ Exhibitor’s Book (1929-1930) begins with an introduction by Chairman of the Board Joseph P. Kennedy and is then followed with a look at the upcoming slate of films including Big News (1929) :
I LOVE that bridal picture of Lombard.
Watching Big News today is, like most early talkies, a little uncomfortable. I had to watch it two times in a row to fully appreciate the film and Lombard’s performance in it. At first I couldn’t understand why she was just standing there spitting dialogue! Then I remembered: the cameras were noisy. Sound had to be recorded at the same time as picture for synchronization and microphones were fixed in place and of low fidelity. So, actors were restricted in their movement and had to speak loudly and clearly in the direction of the hidden mikes!
The pace of the picture does pick up quick by the second half. So much so that it seems like a completely different picture, and definitely a different Lombard. She begins to relax — any actor will tell you that if you’re not relaxed, the camera will pick it up right away.
With that said, any film with Carole Lombard is worth watching.
I wanted to let you all know that I have been doing a lot of “behind the scenes” updates and you can check out a bunch more photos I have uploaded to the Photo Archives. I am also in the process of adding some new features to the site which I will be announcing shortly and hope you all enjoy.
P.S. If anyone can’t read the article above let me know and I will retype it. Just remeber to click the “Full Size” option. xoxo
In a 1936 article entitled “Hollywood Personalties and Their Ideas About Food,” Carole Lombard shared one of her favorite recipes with Valentine Lyon (Ben Lyon’s mom); “a simple after the theatre or Sunday night dessert- she calls it A New Dessert.” Here it is:
A New Dessert
If you want to serve something really delicious try my newest and most “special occasion” dessert. Now that one may speak of champagne above a whisper let me at once announce that that is the first ingredient. That is, it should be iced while you chose your finest champagne glasses and put in each one a peeled, fresh peach with the pit intact. When the wine is iced pour the champagne over the peach and sip it. The saturated peach makes the most delectable dish imaginable and for an impromptu supper after the theatre or on Sunday night there is nothing simpler to prepare.
Now, I don’t drink alcohol but I have tried this with sparkling cider and must admit it does taste divine. There is also nothing more vogue than to have a huge peach in your glass ; ) At least some of my guests and friends now think so. Let me know what you all think. SALUD!
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