
I've previously noted that while my mother was a Carole Lombard fan in her youth, she wasn't her favorite film star. That honor went to Ruby Keeler, the winsome star of 1930s Warners musicals whose enthusiasm and likability often eclipsed her talent.

Anyway, during mom's early teenage years, about 1935 or so, she compiled a scrapbook of Ruby Keeler photos -- then mailed it to her at Warners, perhaps hoping to have it autographed. She never got it back, which I'm sure she regretted at the time...but thankfully, it didn't dim her affection for Keeler, or for the movies.
Many stars were scrapbook subjects, including Lombard -- and now a book that's a treasure trove of Carole images (some 94 pages worth) is on sale at eBay. The cover features an illustration of a dog, something canine lover Lombard would have liked:

The seller dates this scrapbook from about 1940, which if true means none of the images of Carole were printed posthumously. None of them from the sample shown have that status:











Some pretty impressive images -- and one can only imagine what other goodies reside within these 94 pages. (Note one of the pics lists Lombard as filming "Hot Saturday" with Richard Arlen; neither would appear in that movie, whose leads instead became Nancy Carroll and Cary Grant.)
The scrapbook is 13" high, and the seller calls it "a very clean item with numerous illustrations." It's being sold for $99.99, and at last check six people were "watching," so if you want it, get there fast before one of them (or someone else) swoops in. The book is at http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCRAPBOOK-MOVIE-STAR-ACTRESS-CAROLE-LOMBARD-c-1940-WIFE-OF-CLARK-GABLE-/351278114524?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51c9cea6dc.
Our new Lombard LiveJournal header is Paramount p1202-581.