I bet he wishes he could have a cigarette.

"Robert Montgomery awaits the signal from the control room to go "on the air" with his NBC television program.  He is host and producer of "Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theatre," presented alternate Monday nights on the NBC video network."  Stamped April 20, 1950.  

1950 was a big year for Bob, both professionally and on the home front (the spousal switch).  The tension shows.  I hope the smile appeared in time.  

  

For the record:  Night Flight (1933) is available to stream on TCM until Nov. 18th.  

AND, Petticoat Fever (1936) is available through November 25th.  Great movie.  And Bob is great in Night Flight.  His entrance in the movie is just superb.  

Being seen off by friends in your Sunday best for a train ride across country ... life has changed. Well, except for the box of chocolates.

"At the Sante Fe Station, Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Nugent look over some picture postcards with Mr. & Mrs. Bob Montgomery just before the latter left for New York."  

  

I'm guessing this to be 1935, recognizing Betty's traveling attire from other photos.  That's one big corsage Betty has on.  Bob with a simple carnation in his lapel is right on, as always.  Check out the Whitman's Sampler on display above Bob's left shoulder.  

"Mr. & Mrs. Bob Montgomery leave on The Chief for a short vacation at their home in the east."  

Looks like Bob skipped his morning shave.  Well, he is on vacation after all. 

Makes me want to see the movie

 Just love this photo of Irene Dunne for the movie Backstreet (1932).  Sheer perfection, including the hair styling, the fur stole and white gown.  And the exquisite pearl necklace arranged just so.  The open- mouthed smile.  The costume designer, Vera West, and makeup artist Jack Pierce deserve credit.  I do not know who the photographer was, but he deserves a round of applause.  It is even a double-weight photo!  

Irene Dunne made my day.  You'd think it was me getting excited about a young Mr. Montgomery.

Patsy, Bob and Roma at the Trocadero

 Patsy Ruth Miller, the young lady on the left, was quite popular in the silents.  She seems bemused by Mr. Montgomery, paying full attention to a Ms. Roma Erwin.  Perhaps it's the flowers in her hair that has caught his eye.  Unfortunately, I could not come up with anything about Ms. Irwin.  What I do know is that it is December of 1937, and she smoked a cigarette with Bob Montgomery at a party at the Trocadero.  Lucky lady.  

"... a prompting to merriment, an occasion for applause."

 
                Robert Montgomery, b. 5-21-1904, d. 9-27-1981

 

"For a conservative Republican from an old family, Montgomery possessed a rather moody restlessness of spirit.  At a certain point as he grew older, nothing would do but that he and Buffy sell the Hook Pond property and move on to new adventures --- in summer, a place on the water in North Haven, Maine, and in winter a beautiful ancient farmhouse in the Canaan Valley, in northwestern Connecticut.  It was there in 1981, a short drive from the big family house overlooking the Hudson at Fishkill, that Montgomery died.  He had played many roles in his long lifetime, off-camera and on-; in age, the slender playboy of Our Blushing Brides had become a no-longer-slender country squire, but the grace of the performer remained what it had always been:  a prompting to merriment, an occasion for applause."

From an article by Brendan Gill, a friend of Bob and Buffy, which appeared in the April, 1982 issue of Architectural Digest.