Screenland (Nov 1934-Apr 1935)

72 SCREENLAND Latest About Carole Lombard Continued from page 32 we left, Russ called and said he would join us in a couple of days. That night he went to see Lansing Brown and that awful thing happened!" Miss Lombard shuddered, but raised her head proudly. "But now, it is all a thing of the past, like a dreadful nightmare. I have recovered from any emotional feeling about it and can face the future happily again. It was Fate, that's all." "But how did your eight months' romance fit into the picture that you and William Powell have painted of Hollywood's most successfully divorced couple?" I could not resist asking. "Why, Bill doesn't care whom I go with — we are the best of friends and always will be. I expect some day to marry again he knows how to plan his own meals, to order the right wines; he calls the llorist every week and orders (lowers for the rooms — those are the things that make a lniinc and for which the wife is usually responsible. "I am glad of the experience of having been married to Bill and would not change it for the world. I am glad of everything that has ever happened to me — for it is through the past that I have attained my present happiness. "Today, 1 have everything! Work that I like, loyal friends, money enough to assure my independence always, and the whole world before me !" she sighed exultantly. "I want to remain in pictures for a few years more — I am just approaching the Mrs. Nathalie Bucknall, head of the M-G-M research department checks the costume Elizabeth Allan will wear in "David Copper field," and you get a slight idea as to the job it is to get authentic production detail. and still remain friends with Bill. And if we should not see each other for years at a time, we would still feel close to each other and would always understand each other. "I don't care whom he goes with; in fact, he tells me all about the girls he takes out and asks me what I think of them. And the funny part of that is that while I don't resent them, they all resent me! When I meet them any place they lose their composure and giggle and talk nervously." "But don't you think any other woman who likes Bill Powell has a right to be jealous of you? This very bond that you admit exists between you may prevent his ever caring deeply for someone else — yet you don't want to be married to him yourself. Isn't that a little like a 'dog in the manger'?" I asked. She shook her head. "No. I really wouldn't mind if Bill married again— though I don't think he should. For he is not meant for marriage. He has lived alone so long that he doesn't need a woman around him always — that is why we are divorced today, and are so happy about it. "Bill can run his own home perfectly — peak of my success, now. I want to enjoy the short period allotted any of us at the top, then I want to retire and watch youngsters have their chance. I love to see youth succeed — I've been through so much struggle myself and I know the pleasure of 'arriving.' I want to see others have the same joy." This, then, is the remarkable philosophy of the little girl from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who came to Hollywood as plain Jane Peters and remained to become the beauteous Carole Lombard, one of the screen's most potent stars. It was when Jane was quite small that the Peters family moved to the cinema capital and she received her early schooling in the shadows of the studios, later attending Hollywood High School from which she frequently "played hookey" in order to call upon casting directors with pleas that she be given a chance in pictures. At last her "break" came — when she was fifteen, as Carol Lombard she was given her first part, a lead opposite Edmund Lowe in a film made at the old Fox Studio. Other roles followed and she remained on that lot for a year, then going to Mack Sennett for several years' training in comedy — which training, by the way, she considers invaluable. However, an automobile accident in which she was badly injured ended her association with the Sennett Studios, for she was unable to work for nearly a year. When she returned to the screen, it was to the Pathe Company — and with an "E" added to her first name, for luck. Her time with Pathe she considers a huge teaparty, as work came second to pleasure on that lot, and players spent more time in playing practical jokes on each other than in learning their lines. Hollywood still roars over the recollection of Miss Lombard's most famous prank, of which John Loder was the victim. When that Englishman arrived on the Coast, he achieved distinction because of the frequency with which he sprayed his throat with a well-known antiseptic. His coworkers were amused. Then, Miss Lombard had a brilliant idea — and she persuaded a "prop" man to till Mr. Loder's atomizer with a mixture of onion juice and vinegar. Imagine Mr. Loder's embarrassment! But all good times must end eventually, and about three years ago Miss Lombard migrated from the happy-go-lucky Pathe lot to that of Paramount, hard work, and success. "My career is the most important thing in the world to me," she explained in throaty tones. "When I started in pictures I made up my mind to reach the top and that I would let nothing deter me — nothing! I have kept my promise to myself !" Something in her words and manner was reminiscent of another girl I had known. I groped about for a moment, then realized that Miss Lombard was in looks and attitude, in the way she talked and gestured, the exact prototype of Lilyan Tashman. "Many persons have noted the resemblance," she admitted. "Even Lil herself and I used to talk about it. She was a great person — and now that she is gone, it is amazing to see how many of her characteristics have been transferred to Ed. It is as if she lives again in him !" Miss Lombard's eyes seemed to grow a deeper blue until they matched the enormous star sapphire, gift of Mr. Powell when Carole was his wife, which adorned her right hand. I have never seen such a stone — literally it was the size of a half-dollar in circumference, and an inch high! It was her only ornament, and added to the quality of her natural artificiality. She was really lovely-looking, with her pale fair hair brushed from her brow, her skin smooth and devoid of make-up, her lips a vivid scarlet — lovely and young — very young to have conducted her life and career with such • financial and emotional success. "I inherit my business sense, that's all," she admitted. "My grandmother used to manage an estate back in Indiana (no, I'll never go back there), and my mother has always been financially independent. It's always been easy for me to discuss salary and contracts and such things. "As to achieving happiness, I simply believe in taking every experience, pleasant or not, as part of the training an actress must undergo in order to attain sympathy and understanding — and greatness. "I never let anything bother me for long — I don't take anything or myself seriously. I think that's the first rule for being happy, and the second one is to try always to be a good sport and give the other fellow a break !"