• Mood: cheerful

While sunbathing with Baxter

Candid shots of Carole Lombard are always worth checking out. They give you an idea of what she was like in real life, minus the ability to create an ethereal, otherworldly effect with makeup and the proper lighting. And while it must be said that a few of them show her devoid of allure -- something we could say about virtually anyone -- in many, she's still splendidly attractive.

Regarding this photo, we'll let you make up your own mind:



Carole's second from left, wearing the sun hat. On her right is someone she not only knew, but had worked with...



...Warner Baxter, shown with Lombard in the 1930 Fox western "The Arizona Kid," his followup of sorts to his Oscar-winning turn in 1929's "In Old Arizona."

It's hard to tell when this beach photo was taken; I'm guessing it to be from a few years after "The Arizona Kid," perhaps while Lombard was married to William Powell, a longtime friend of Baxter's. Nor do we know the identities of the woman Carole is talking to or the other woman in the photo. And the picture-taker apparently didn't know, either:



One of them may be Baxter's wife, former actress Winifred Bryson, whom he was married to from 1918 until his death in 1951.

This is a one-of-a-kind photo, measuring 3 1/4" x 4 1/4". Three bids have been made to date, topping at $10.53; bidding concludes at 8 p.m. (Eastern) Sunday. To place a bid or learn more, visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/1930s-ORIGINAL-CANDID-PHOTOGRAPH-Warner-Baxter-CAROL-LOMBARD-Movies-HOLLYWOOD-/360450345397?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53ec83c9b5.

To close, here's something I heard on the radio the other night (specifically Rich Conaty's "The Big Broadcast" over WFUV-FM in New York; where else would you hear this?) It's my favorite record from one of my favorite acts, the Boswell Sisters -- their brilliant "Shout, Sister, Shout," recorded 81 years ago this Monday, April 23, 1931. Accompanying the Bozzies are some of the best jazz musicians of the time -- Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti and more. If you've never heard the Boswell Sisters, this is a perfect example of their wonderful musical imagination. (As they were fairly new on the scene, some people wrote magazines asking whether they were white or black.) Enjoy their genius.