All
was not well in the cosmos with Carole Lombard. Forever immortalized on
celluloid, she is perhaps best known for To
Be or Not to Be, a satire that was released two months after her untimely
death. “I believe that everything that happens is determined by an inflexible
Fate,” Lombard later remarked. Ironic when you consider that her life was
struck down by a number of hardships, including a life-changing auto accident.
On January 16, 1942, returning home from a war bond our, Carole Lombard
perished in a plane crash 30 minutes outside Las Vegas. Like James Dean and
Marilyn Monroe, Lombard became iconic as a result of a pre-mature death and the
public’s never-ending question: “what would she have accomplished had she not
died so early?”
To Be or Not to Be was a brilliant
satire of the times. During
the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish
soldier's efforts to track down a German spy. Doesn’t sound much like a comedy
and at the time the film was released, neither critics nor public were in the mood to
laugh, finding the picture tasteless and callous. Over the years, however, the
movie has been re-evaluated and has since become a classic.
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| Carole Lombard |
Miriam Hopkins was the original choice for Maria Tura. She turned the
role down when she realized Jack Benny had all the laughs and her part would
largely be his straight man. Lombard saw the overall quality of the material
and took the part. Lombard took the female lead despite the strenuous
objections of her husband, Clark Gable. After the shooting of this film was
finished, Lombard told many people that To
Be or Not to Be was the happiest experience of her career from start to
finish.
This
week I finished reading Fireball: Carole
Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3, by Robert Batzen. A fresh look at
Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball Comedy," Carole Lombard, presents a thorough
examination of the events that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her
life on the side of Mt. Potosi in
1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard's
husband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with the
tragedy.
In effect, having just
completed the first sale of war bonds and stamps in the nation following its
entry into World War II, Lombard became the first Hollywood start to sacrifice
her life in the War (40 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor). The War
Department offered Gable a funeral service with full military honors, but he
refused it, knowing that his wife would not approve of such spectacle.
Lombard was a tomboy with
athletic prowess and spirit far exceeding her size (she was petite and stood 5'
2", with shoes). She became good friends with many in Hollywood, never let
fame get to her head, and contributed both time and money to help further the
careers of others. Jack Benny was so taken back by Lombard that two days
following the plane crash, he was unable to attend his weekly Sunday evening
radio program.
Based on extensive research
rather than gossip, Fireball further
explores the lives of the 21 others on the plane, including 15 members of the
U.S. Army Air Corps, and addresses one of the most enduring mysteries of World
War II. On a clear night full of stars, with TWA's most experienced pilot at
the controls of a 10-month-old aircraft under the power of two fully
functioning engines, why did the flight crash into that Nevada
mountainside?
She was posthumously awarded
the Medal of Freedom by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the first woman
killed in the line of duty in WWII. FDR greatly admired her work for the war
effort
Looking
back, very few of her films are above average but among my favorite is a quick
guilty pleasure titled Supernatural
(1933), in which Lombard co-starred with pre-screen cowboy star Randolph Scott.
The story dealt with ghosts and possession, a woman ala Roxy Hart executed for
her crimes and her spirit invading the body of an innocent woman, taking
possession of her senses only to seek revenge against the man responsible for
her execution. Lombard found director Victor Halperin so vexing that at one
point she reached out her arms and shouted to the heavens, “Who do I have to
screw to get off this picture?” Since that day in 1933, that line may have been
the most quoted on-set line in Hollywood history.
She
portrayed a hooker in a risqué pre-Code drama called Virtue, which featured a tawdry plotline and women in stockings and
garter belts who “would do anything to get ahead.” Understanding what sold
tickets at the box office, Lombard gained a reputation for going braless
onscreen, acquiring cult status at the grindhouses for nipples poking through
silky dresses and displaying lots of leg. Before takes she would apply ice
cubes to ensure her perkiness caught on camera.
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| Clark Gable and Carole Lombard |
“I've lived by a man's code
designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time I never forget that a
woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick,” Lombard was once
quoted. Sex sold and Lombard had no problems defending her honor behind
the camera. She was known for swearing like a sailor but many theorize it was a
defense mechanism against the wilds of male testosterone. Besides, she had
competition. Jean Harlow was so sexy that she made nearly every line of
dialogue into the Kama Sutra.
Her
first husband was William Powell. Sparks flew between the two from the first
rehearsals, and a healthy infatuation catapulted them to the nearest bedroom.
He was almost 40; she was 22, making pictures by day and playing the field by
night. After their divorce, Powell romanced Jean Harlow and the rest is
history.
No Man of Her Own became the only
picture both Lombard and Gable co-starred together. Both were married at the
time to other people and neither seemed to be interested in a “test drive,” but
they respected each other and their talents. If anyone tells you it was the
movie that they met and fell in love and got married shortly following, you can
debunk that myth.
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| Lombard performing on stage on January 15, 1942. |
It
was during filming of Twentieth Century
that Howard Hawks and John Barrymore discovered that the fun-loving Carole
Lombard was stiff and cardboard when the cameras rolled. This is one of the
reasons why film buffs do not regard her as a great actress – not like Bette
Davis and Greta Garbo. “She couldn’t act for a damn,” Hawks later remarked.
“She just became completely phony.”
Before
Clark Gable, she contented herself with sex and adoration, with doubts about
marrying again after William Powell. There were other loves – George Raft, Russ
Columbo – but the death of the latter came back to haunt her many times over. She
was linked romantically to the crooner and his death traumatized her.
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| Recovery attempts of the plane wreckage. |
Lombard
was the inspiration for actor Robert Stack, then a youth who taught her how to
hold a gun and shoot skeet. Stack appeared in To Be or Not to Be on the recommendation of Lombard and until the
day he died the actor never hid his admiration for the actress.
Lombard
helped urge Lansing Brown toward self-forgiveness when a freak accident caused
the death of Russ Columbo, and participated in subterfuge for Columbo’s frail
and incapacitated mother, who was never told of her son’s death. Instead, a
lavish European tour was dreamed up, and Russ would send her letters from
exotic locations that spoke of his latest successes, while his remains settled
into a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.
Lombard
threw herself into redecorating her Hollywood Boulevard house and brought in
“Billy” Haines, a leading man in the silent era who could not crack into
talkies. He was gay and his effeminate speech patterns brought his orientation
to the forefront. He became one of Lombard’s causes and her notoriety that
accompanied her support of a gay actor meant more than cash and helped to
launch a 40-year decorating career.
Lombard
was responsible for the successful career of Alice Marble, tennis player, who
was down on her luck. When Marble suffered a number of health issues, Lombard
found a general practitioner and paid the bills. A few years later Marble would
claim the California state singles title, the U.S. Open Women’s Singles title
at Forest Lawn and a clean sweep at the Wimbledon in 1939.
The plane crash that killed
her took place less than a month before the Oscars. Despite her mother's
premonition of the disaster, she refused to take a train to Los Angeles. She
was reputedly in a rush after getting wind of an alleged affair between her
husband Clark Gable and a young actress named Lana Turner, who at the time were
filming Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942).
The decision for Lombard to take the plane was decided literally by the flip of
a coin, with Carole winning the toss.
Fireball is a great read. If you don’t
have time to read a biography about Carole Lombard, of which there are a more
than eight (half of them amateur 40-page print-on-demand cheapies sold through
Amazon.com and cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia), I recommend this book. Lombard’s
life is summarized properly with great prose. Who knew that retired movie
actress Clara Bow, residing fifty miles southeast of Mt. Potosi on a sprawling
ranch called The Walking Box, witnessed the plane crash? I learned someone new
with the turn of every page.
