Bob and Carole ...

 Two excellent pros in a delightful comedy.

Carole Lombard & Robert Montgomery in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

Three October Birthday Ladies

 ... and three very different actress types.  But they all loved our Mr. Montgomery.  Let's see, Janet Gaynor, born on October 6th and a very tiny person, 4'11-1/2", was in Three Loves Has Nancy (1938).  

                        Janet Gaynor in One More Spring (1935)

Carole Lombard was also born on October 6th.  A great match for Bob in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941). 

        Fred MacMurray & Carole Lombard in True Confession (1937)

And Helen Hayes, born October 10th, made two films with Bob, Another Language (1933) and Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935).  Happy Birthday, Ladies!

   Helen Hayes & Bob Montgomery in Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935)

Well, Maybe Not as Cool in B&W

 Bob and Carole hamming it up while making Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941).  It's always great fun to watch a couple of pros enjoying themselves.  If we hadn't lost Carole so soon, I can definitely see the two making another movie or two on down the line.  Yes, what a shame.  

              Bob and Carole Lombard in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

When I talked about Lady in the Lake (1946) being streamed by TCM earlier this month, I really thought I was correct to believe so.  BUT, unless it streamed for one night only, it just disappeared.  Whatever, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is now listed under Watch Movies but hasn't been updated as yet with showing dates.  Hopefully it won't disappear as well!

Bob's October Birthday Ladies

 Errrr .... a little late for all three ladies.  I think Gaynor, Lombard and Hayes were classy enough to forgive me for my tardiness.  Anyway, Happy Birthday ladies!  You are still remembered.  

Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor were a highly successful pair, teaming up for a dozen movies from the late 1920s and on into the 1930s.  They were a handsome couple for sure.  

                          Janet Gaynor, b.  October 6, 1906

You have to wonder how Carole Lombard's career would have progressed if she had not made that fatal flight in January, 1942.  She was only 34, but that's getting on the old side for a female star in her era.  Of course, she was still a knockout and at the top of her form.  I do know she needed to have made at least one more rom-con with Mr. Montgomery, they were really quite good together in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941).  Below, Carole is with Fredric March in Nothing Sacred (1937).  

                          Carole Lombard, b. October 6, 1908

Bob always said his favorite leading lady was Helen Hayes.  Bob seemed in awe of theater performers.  She did have the large face for a stage actor.  Much like Ethel Merman's voice could be heard clearly throughout the theater, Helen's face could be seen.  (and as Clark Gable's large head was magnetic on the big screen!)     

                          Helen Hayes, b. October 10, 1900

Who'll give me 40? 75? 137.50?

 Recently, a still from Mr. & Mrs. Smith was sold on eBay for $137.50.  It was a great photo and all, capturing David (Bob) and Ann (Carole) in the bedroom brawl at the beginning of the movie.  BUT!!! $137.50 ... are you kidding me?  I'm guessing two Lombard fans drove the bidding up so high.  I certainly hope that was the case.  Why, you ask.  Because I can't afford to shell out that kind of money for Bob stuff!  It's bad enough having to compete with Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford collectors.  Control yourselves people, inflation is bad enough!  

 Good Smith photos are rather a rarity and I do have a few atrocious electric bills coming up.  How about a $100 opening bid for this original photo in excellent condition?  Hey, if I can't afford to buy them ...

     Bob and Carole Lombard in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

                                                                                                         

On the Set With Mr. & Mrs. Smith

A Funny Lady, For Sure

 TCM is showing seven Carole Lombard movies in celebration of her birthday, today, Oct. 6th.  So, if you need a good laugh (don't we all!), check out a Lombard film or two.  Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) we know is a no miss, Bob and Carole were an excellent pair on screen.  It is showing at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.  (And again on Oct. 19th)

Gems Found in a Good Fan Magazine

I would have subscribed to "The New Movie" magazine in 1931, if I had the 10 cents a month purchase price that is.  Newsy, good reviews, great full-page photos ... an entertaining read.  The April, 1931 issue was worth every bit of 10 Cents!

Bob has a full-page portrait, two of his movies are reviewed and there is a mention and small photo.  His career really does pickup in 1931. 

He may have gotten co-star billing in The Easiest Way and Inspiration, but they are both starring vehicles for the ladies, Ms. Bennett and Ms. Garbo.  Bob is barely mentioned in the reviews. 

Two of the full-page portraits really stand out.  Anita Page gets the full Hurrell treatment.

And Otto Dyar does a superb job of capturing Ms. Lombard's sexual allure. 

Lastly, William Powell is featured in an article on stars and their fathers.  Appears Bill moved his parents from the cold winters in Kansas City, MO to be nearby in warmer Los Angeles.  Now that's being a good son. 

Happy Valentine's Day from the Smiths!

Wonder How Much That Ermine Coat Cost

Buying movie fan magazines just to read an article on Bob can become an expensive pastime.  Some are good buys and others, well, are not.  Thought I would share one of my purchases.   

Photoplay in the 1930s is just a wonderful treasure, a well-produced magazine with lots of "news" and gorgeous photos.  Unfortunately, the sale price for one in good condition reflects this.  I am not sure exactly how much this April, 1932, issue cost.  Too much, I'm sure.  It is a Norma Shearer cover, but the condition is not perfect so the cost was bearable! 

There are always full-page photos of the leading stars, two of the better ones follow.

And there are, of course several full-page movie ads.  This is a nifty one.

And speaking of ads ... this is a wondrously sexy Coca-Cola ad. 

 Big news in Hollywood was "who went where with whom wearing what."  In this case, it's Bob attending a premiere with Betty who was wearing an ermine coat.

Finally, we get to the Montgomery article.  It's about scene stealers, Bob being included among the likes of Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Jack Oakie, Victor McLaglen and Adolphe Menjou.  He gets just a small mention, but the cover art includes a photo of him next to the title. 

          The caption reads: "Mr. Montgomery, that scene belongs
          to Irene Purcell.  You give it right back to her."

And the only mention of Bob in a full-length article is as follows.

Gee, you'd think Bette Davis had written it! 

So, this Photoplay issue was enjoyable to me overall, but the Bob coverage was lacking.  Not a great buy if only seeking out Montgomery items.  Save your money for a good photo of Bob!

Marathon Discussion Part 1 (2 Days To Go!)

Nine movies being shown on Bob's birthday ... of course they are not all great movies, but they do have Bob in them.  That's reason enough to watch each at least once, perhaps a second time to follow the plot rather than just appreciating Mr. Montgomery. 

I would place four in the category of "must-see" Bobs, and you probably have seen them all.  Night Must Fall was Bob's favorite movie.  He put a lot of effort in the role and his performance is just wonderful.  The final scenes are just superb.  He deserved the Best Actor nomination ... at least.  

                   Rosalind Russell and Danny in Night Must Fall

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a delight.  Carole Lombard and Bob enjoyed working together and it shows through in their performances. There are a number of classic scenes that do not fail to make you laugh, no matter how many times you have seen them.  The IMDB rating is only 6.5.  I disagree wholeheartedly ... too many Hitchcock fanatics dissing the movie because it is a comedy and not your typical Hitchcock.  That's their loss.

Private Lives was first a play written by Noel Coward, and this is a faithful adaptation.  I'm sure it would have been just fantastic to see Coward and Gertrude Lawrence perform it on the stage, but Bob and Norma Shearer acquit themselves quite well.  An enjoyable movie, the leads ably supported by Una Merkel and Reginald Denny, the discarded spouses.  Did you know Laurence Olivier played Denny's role on the stage?  My fun newly acquired factoid for the day ...

                     Norma Shearer and Elyot in Privates Lives

And Hide-Out is purely a joy to watch.  Such a sweet romantic comedy, with one of the screen's best matches.  Yes, Maureen O'Sullivan was actually as good-looking as Bob.  If they had only made the sequel ...

Let's see, that leaves five movies to discuss.  I watched two of them earlier this evening, which is why I'm approaching my total collapse time already.  And three more to catch up on tomorrow.  Watching five Bob movies ... ah, the hard work I do for the blog!  Until tomorrow ...

Salt Shaker - Leading Cause of Bloody Noses

Just in case you've actually never seen it, or would simply like to have a copy of it for your library, TCM is showing Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) tomorrow, July 12th, at 9:45 p.m. PDT (12:45 a.m. EDT). 

Smith is a fun movie and whereas Alfred Hitchcock is listed as the director, I have never thought of him as doing little more than saying Action and Cut when it came to Bob's and Carole's scenes.  They were, after all, two of the best comedic actors in the movies and Mr. Hitchcock was not a master of American comedies. 

               Bob and Carole Lombard in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

Best scenes (per this totally unbiased reviewer):  David and Ann return to Mama Lucy's for a romantic dinner (David: "I'd give five bucks to see that cat take a sip of that soup."); and the nightclub scene wherein David tries everything to avoid Ann's seeing him with his, errr, not classy date.  Bob's bit re giving himself a bloody nose with a salt shaker ... absolute perfection.

"Our Baby"

Another great post from guest blogger Debbie.

As I was contemplating the fact that June 7th would have been my parents' 69th wedding anniversary the other day, it dawned on me that June 7th was the 79th anniversary of Jean Harlow's death. 

I never knew much about Jean other than the "Blonde Bombshell" hype that Hollywood put out about her and the films she was in.  When I became a rabid fan of William Powell and started studying his life all that changed.  For three years she was the center of Bill's life before her untimely passing.  I started reading all I could about her, the real Jean.

                   Jean with the enormous blue sapphire ring.

Everything I've read about her from other people in the industry, such as Rosalind Russell, Myrna Loy, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Latrice Joy, has described a very unaffected, natural, down-to-earth young woman.  They told about a girl who was liked by everyone from studio heads to movie crew workers.

       Jean shows off her ring to Bob Montgomery and Eddie Mannix

Rosalind Russell said that the first time she met Jean she thought she was a child.  Jean was sitting under a hairdryer and was wearing no makeup.  Roz described her as tiny, with the beautiful skin of a child.  Roz taught Jean how to do needlework.  They used to work on it between takes.  Roz was very fond of her.

                             Roz and Jean doing needlepoint. 

Clark Gable became a close friend.  He called her "Sis".  He and Carole Lombard (Bill's ex) used to double date with Jean and Bill.  The four of them attended an Oscars ceremony together.

Myrna Loy described in her autobiography the time she and Bill were filming "After the Thin Man" in San Francisco and Jean went along to be with Bill.  Because Powell and Loy were such a convincing couple on screen, many people thought they were really married.  Instead of separate rooms, the hotel had reserved a suite for Mr. & Mrs. Powell.  Jean and Myrna ended up staying in the suite and Bill was forced to stay in a single room alone.  (Myrna said he was none too happy about it.)  She described their stay as being delightful, much like girlfriends in a college dorm room.  They became very close friends.

                    Myrna, Jean & Bill arriving in San Francisco.

Latrice Joy (John Gilbert's ex) in an interview for TCM talked about what a lovely person Jean was.  She talked about Jean's delicate beauty and that she was different than her screen persona.

There was marriage talk around Hollywood about Bill and Jean in 1936.  She told everyone he was the love of her life.  Bill gave Jean a 152-carat blue star sapphire ring.  Most people considered it her engagement ring.  She wore it while making "Personal Property" with Robert Taylor.  It was also known that Jean was helping Bill decorate his house and they were seen shopping together.

There has been speculation that Bill was reluctant to marry again.  He had been married to two actresses (Eileen Wilson and the fabulous Carole Lombard) and wondered if a marriage to a VERY famous actress would work.  I don't think there was any question of how much Bill loved Jean.  That was obvious to everyone.  Unfortunately, he waited too long.

It was right after the third anniversary of their first date.  Jean had brought the cake Bill had sent her with the three candles to the set of her current film "Saratoga".  She was very happy that day but had been ill of late and looked bad.  Myrna Loy later said there was a gray cast to Jean's skin.  Later Jean felt ill and asked that Bill be notified on the set of "Double Wedding", his current film.  He left his set to take her home.  On the 6th of June, Bill called Jean's mother to return from her vacation because Jean was much worse.  She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital and Bill, her mother and a cousin stayed with her in her room that night.  She fell into a coma early that morning.  It has been said that the last word she said was Bill's name.  She died at 11:38 a.m. the morning of June 7th, 1937.  She died of renal failure.  There was no dialysis in 1937.  She died in Bill's arms. 

Jean was buried in a marble crypt at Forest Lawn's Great Mausoleum in Glendale, CA.  Bill purchased her final resting place with its three spaces for $25,000.  She is in the middle crypt with only "Our Baby" etched on the front.  Her mother was buried there in 1958.  The third space remains empty.  It is said that she was buried with a gardenia and an unsigned note, certainly from Mr. Powell, that read "goodnight, my dearest darling" placed in her hands.

The loss of Jean devastated Bill and he was unable to work for some time.  The few films he did make before his return to MGM in 1939 were made at other studios.  MGM was too painful a place without her.  Many, many years later, when asked about her, Bill's voice still broke.  When asked about the many salacious stories and films that had been written about her, his saddened response was "She wasn't like that at all".

May Bill's "Baby" R.I.P.

Bob in PJs ... A Good Starting Point

 Bob on a four Poster with Madge Evans in Lovers Courageous (1932)


            Bob (Is that a gorgeous head of hair, or what?) with
                       Tallulah Bankhead in Faithless (1932)

  Carole Lombard being mean to poor Bob in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)