Carole & Co.

Slightly more than four years ago, we ran an entry about the February 1935 issue of Screen Play, featuring the story, "What Carole Lombard Knows About Men"...or at least most of it (http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/297275.html). Like a cliffhanger, we were kept in suspense, because we had the first two pages of the article, and it featured at least three. Moreover, Screen Play is not one of the classic-era fan magazines that the Media History Digital Library has digitized and posted online.

But, as veteran radio newscaster Gabriel Heatter used to say, there's good news tonight. I have purchased the February 1935 Screen Play, and now we'll know all of what Carole was talking about -- and in larger and easier-to-read print, too. So here it is, finally in its entirety:





I sense the author, Sonia Lee, discussed the topic with Lombard, and then Carole -- either by herself or with the help of business friend Madalynne Fields or someone in Paramount's publicity office -- composed a response (because with its long comments, it certainly doesn't read like an actual one-to-one interview). Nevertheless, it's attributed to Lombard, and I'm certain she stood by what it said; by 1930s standards, she was very much a feminist.

There was more of Carole in that issue, such as two blurbs in the gossip column "Hollywood Reporter" (no relation to the trade paper of the same name), written by western editor J. Eugene Chrisman:




That latter story (if it actually happened) sounds like typical impulsive Lombard.

Editor Roscoe Fawcett of the publishing family added his two cents in "The Editor's Opinion":



Here's his Lombard-related segment:



Rudy Vallee was smart to include Ann Dvorak on that list, because she was his leading lady in his upcoming movie, "Sweet Music," released in late February.

Lombard's lone film for MGM, "The Gay Bride," still was making the rounds of theaters, and was among the features that had previously been reviewed in Screen Play:




The other story mentioned on the cover, about Claudette Colbert, is shown here in full:





One of the copy editors made a goof on the first page; Claudette's forthcoming film was "The Gilded Lily," not "The Gilded Lady."

Finally, a few ads for studio releases. As usual, MGM gets prime position (and spot color) to promote "Sequoia," which it hoped would make a star of Jean Parker. She would have some success, but never quite ascend to the top tier:



An actress who certainly did ascend co-stars with Paul Muni in Warners' "Bordertown." (I believe I've read that at one time, Lombard was considered for the Davis role.)



The fast-rising Shirley Temple already was a meal ticket for Fox before its merger with Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures, as this ad for "Bright Eyes" shows:



And since this issue hit newsstands in early January, what better time to suggest riding Greyhound to escape old man winter? (This is from the inside back cover.)