LOMBARD– Unlimited!

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.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

**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.