Photo: The 4200 block of South Olive Street via Google’s Street View.

Jan. 4, 1942: William E. Kosdy uses a shovel to dig a two-person bomb shelter in the backyard of his home, 4236 S. Olive St. “I didn’t follow any specifications. This is no time to be waiting for specifications or permits,” he says.

Rychei Tanaka is arrested after he was allegedly seen leaving a rooming house at 310 1/2 S. Los Angeles St. with a bag full of swords. Sakiko Takemoto told police that the swords belonged to her brother, and upon investigation, authorities arrested her and her mother, Chika, for failing to obey a presidential order to surrender a .22-caliber rifle, a revolver, a signal flare and a shortwave radio.

The Ambassador Hotel announces that the Cocoanut Grove will only be open for dancing on Friday and Saturday nights “until the habits of the socially inclined have returned to normal.”

Los Angeles police officers return to eight-hour shifts after working 12 hours a day since the Pearl Harbor attack. However, police will be asked to work one 12-hour shift per week.

War workers at the Severance Tool Co., 3844 S. Santa Fe Ave., begin every morning with a 15-minute religious service. And yes, they are paid for the time they spend in worship.

“After a Scripture reading, a short talk and perhaps a devotional song, the meeting is closed with a prayer as each workman kneels before his tool-cutting machine,” The Times says.

Clark Gable tells Jimmie Fidler why he and Carole Lombard didn’t dispute stories that their marriage was in trouble. “Denial, Mr. Fidler, is often as incriminating as admission. So we simply ignored the rumors.”

Photo: 3844 S. Santa Fe, Vernon, via Google’s Street View.

Photo: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard at home with their pet Siamese cats.

Jan. 17, 1942: Carole Lombard, who was returning from a campaign to sell defense bonds; her mother, Elizabeth K. Peters; and MGM publicist Otto Winkler are among 22 killed  when a TWA  Douglas Skycub slams into the side of Olcott Mountain 35 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Her husband, Clark Gable, who had been waiting at the Lockheed Air Terminal, immediately chartered a plane to Las Vegas.

The next day, The Times reported that Gable “vainly sought to make his way torturously up the cactus-strewn trail to the scene of his wife’s death. He was finally persuaded to return to Las Vegas, where he received the news that all aboard the plane had perished.”

Maxine, spicy strawberry blonde, is at the midnight show at the Aztec, “home of peachy burlesk.”

Jimmie Fidler says: There are several private campaigns underway to get Academy Awards; chief ones are for Joan Fontaine (“Suspicion,”) Ida Lupino (“Ladies in Retirement,”) Olivia de Havilland (“Hold Back the Dawn,”) and Claudette Colbert (“Remember the Day.”) But why not Greer Garson for “Blossoms in the Dust?”

What do you know! Ernie Bushmiller could actually draw.

Jan. 18, 1942: Times artist Charles Owens draws a terrific map of the crash that killed Carole Lombard. Edwin Schallert reflects on Lombard’s life, adding her to the tragic deaths of Hollywood actresses: Jean Harlow, Mabel Normand and Olive Thomas.

Jimmie Fidler interviews Bob Hope.

One of the oddest experiences in running the L.A. Daily Mirror is to see how many people stumble in while searching for “snuff” pictures of Carole Lombard, who died in a 1942 plane crash. Not a day goes by that I don’t get searches for “carole lombard death photos” or something similar.  I have never seen any of these pictures, I don’t know if they exist and if they do, I absolutely would NOT run them. People who surf the Net looking for morgue pictures or body shots — whether it’s Lombard or Elizabeth Short or anybody else — should get a life.

The all-time top 25 search terms for the L.A. Daily Mirror include “Carole Lombard body,” “Carole Lombard death photos,” “Carole Lombard plane crash,” “Carole Lombard crash” and “Carole Lombard body found.”

Stop it.

They’re not here. I don’t have any of these photos and I wouldn’t post them if I did. Whoever is looking for these photos, get a life.

The No. 1 search term? “Scotty Bowers and fact checking.”

No Google search drives more traffic to the L.A. Daily Mirror than some permutation of “Carole Lombard Death Scene” or “Carole Lombard’s Head” or “Carole Lombard Decapitated” or “Did They Ever Find Carole Lombard’s Wedding Ring?” And as I have noted before, there are no Carole Lombard death scene photos here. I wouldn’t publish them if there were any.

But Eve Golden reports after reading Robert Matzen’s “Fireball” that Lombard’s body was never photographed, at least according to Matzen.

Eve writes:

Her body was found under a wing, so is not in any crash site photos, and none were taken at the morgue at the behest of the studios, because they knew damn well they would be leaked! She was ID’d through dental records.

And Eve says the book was much better than she expected.

So folks, stop looking for Carole Lombard snuff pictures. There aren’t any.

Thanks Eve!

I watched “Twentieth Century” for the first time the other night and was more than a bit surprised to see Carole Lombard clearly braless in this scene. It’s not as apparent in a frame grab as it is in the film, but she jiggles mightily.

Photo: The 4200 block of South Olive Street via Google’s Street View.

Jan. 4, 1942: William E. Kosdy uses a shovel to dig a two-person bomb shelter in the backyard of his home, 4236 S. Olive St. “I didn’t follow any specifications. This is no time to be waiting for specifications or permits,” he says.

Rychei Tanaka is arrested after he was allegedly seen leaving a rooming house at 310 1/2 S. Los Angeles St. with a bag full of swords. Sakiko Takemoto told police that the swords belonged to her brother, and upon investigation, authorities arrested her and her mother, Chika, for failing to obey a presidential order to surrender a .22-caliber rifle, a revolver, a signal flare and a shortwave radio.

The Ambassador Hotel announces that the Cocoanut Grove will only be open for dancing on Friday and Saturday nights “until the habits of the socially inclined have returned to normal.”

Los Angeles police officers return to eight-hour shifts after working 12 hours a day since the Pearl Harbor attack. However, police will be asked to work one 12-hour shift per week.

War workers at the Severance Tool Co., 3844 S. Santa Fe Ave., begin every morning with a 15-minute religious service. And yes, they are paid for the time they spend in worship.

“After a Scripture reading, a short talk and perhaps a devotional song, the meeting is closed with a prayer as each workman kneels before his tool-cutting machine,” The Times says.

Clark Gable tells Jimmie Fidler why he and Carole Lombard didn’t dispute stories that their marriage was in trouble. “Denial, Mr. Fidler, is often as incriminating as admission. So we simply ignored the rumors.”

Photo: 3844 S. Santa Fe, Vernon, via Google’s Street View.

Photo: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard at home with their pet Siamese cats.

Jan. 17, 1942: Carole Lombard, who was returning from a campaign to sell defense bonds; her mother, Elizabeth K. Peters; and MGM publicist Otto Winkler are among 22 killed  when a TWA  Douglas Skycub slams into the side of Olcott Mountain 35 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Her husband, Clark Gable, who had been waiting at the Lockheed Air Terminal, immediately chartered a plane to Las Vegas.

The next day, The Times reported that Gable “vainly sought to make his way torturously up the cactus-strewn trail to the scene of his wife’s death. He was finally persuaded to return to Las Vegas, where he received the news that all aboard the plane had perished.”

Maxine, spicy strawberry blonde, is at the midnight show at the Aztec, “home of peachy burlesk.”

Jimmie Fidler says: There are several private campaigns underway to get Academy Awards; chief ones are for Joan Fontaine (“Suspicion,”) Ida Lupino (“Ladies in Retirement,”) Olivia de Havilland (“Hold Back the Dawn,”) and Claudette Colbert (“Remember the Day.”) But why not Greer Garson for “Blossoms in the Dust?”

What do you know! Ernie Bushmiller could actually draw.

Jan. 18, 1942: Times artist Charles Owens draws a terrific map of the crash that killed Carole Lombard. Edwin Schallert reflects on Lombard’s life, adding her to the tragic deaths of Hollywood actresses: Jean Harlow, Mabel Normand and Olive Thomas.

Jimmie Fidler interviews Bob Hope.

One of the oddest experiences in running the L.A. Daily Mirror is to see how many people stumble in while searching for “snuff” pictures of Carole Lombard, who died in a 1942 plane crash. Not a day goes by that I don’t get searches for “carole lombard death photos” or something similar.  I have never seen any of these pictures, I don’t know if they exist and if they do, I absolutely would NOT run them. People who surf the Net looking for morgue pictures or body shots — whether it’s Lombard or Elizabeth Short or anybody else — should get a life.

The all-time top 25 search terms for the L.A. Daily Mirror include “Carole Lombard body,” “Carole Lombard death photos,” “Carole Lombard plane crash,” “Carole Lombard crash” and “Carole Lombard body found.”

Stop it.

They’re not here. I don’t have any of these photos and I wouldn’t post them if I did. Whoever is looking for these photos, get a life.

The No. 1 search term? “Scotty Bowers and fact checking.”

No Google search drives more traffic to the L.A. Daily Mirror than some permutation of “Carole Lombard Death Scene” or “Carole Lombard’s Head” or “Carole Lombard Decapitated” or “Did They Ever Find Carole Lombard’s Wedding Ring?” And as I have noted before, there are no Carole Lombard death scene photos here. I wouldn’t publish them if there were any.

But Eve Golden reports after reading Robert Matzen’s “Fireball” that Lombard’s body was never photographed, at least according to Matzen.

Eve writes:

Her body was found under a wing, so is not in any crash site photos, and none were taken at the morgue at the behest of the studios, because they knew damn well they would be leaked! She was ID’d through dental records.

And Eve says the book was much better than she expected.

So folks, stop looking for Carole Lombard snuff pictures. There aren’t any.

Thanks Eve!

Jan. 13, 1939: About 4,000 worshipers attend a Perpetual Novena for Our Sorrowful Mother at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. People knelt in the aisles, in the doorways and outside praying for peace and for relief of the poor, The Times says..

Also: RKO plans more lavish films with Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert, Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Listen! The Wind” leads the bestseller list and good seating is available for the Pro Bowl at Wrigley Field.

The post originally appeared on latimes.com in 2009 and is available via Archive.org.

OK, cat lovers, who likes Siamese?

• Marlon Brando? Alas, no.

• John Wayne? Sorry, no.

• Clark Gable and Carole Lombard (Alexa Foreman). Absolutely right!

Los Angeles Times file photo

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard at their home in Encino, March 29, 1940. And yes, everybody loves that wall. 

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This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 picture No More Orchids, with Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Louise Closser Hale, Lyle Talbot, C. Aubrey Smith, Allen Vincent, Ruthelma Stevens, Arthur Houseman, William V. Mong and Jameson Thomas.

Screenplay by Gertrude Purcell. Story by Grace Perkins. Adaptation by Keene Thompson.

Photography by Joseph August.

Edited by Jack Dennis.

Directed by Walter Lang.

More information on the film is available from the AFI catalog.

No More Orchids is available on DVD from Critics’ Choice Videos.

::

I picked this week’s mystery movie by going through the trades and settled on No More Orchids because it hasn’t been shown on TCM since 2014.  I’m trying to branch out from TCM because most of the Daily Mirror vault has been recorded from that channel, which has become increasingly repetitive.

As Harrison’s Reports says, without the leads (that is to say, Carole Lombard), No More Orchids would be a very ordinary and predictable film. She’s terrific. Lyle Talbot is passable. One particularly eerie element is the conclusion of the film, in which a character is killed in a plane crash – a bit unsettling given the way Lombard died.

I’m going to guess this was in Mordaunt Hall territory and that he liked it – sort of.

Nailed it! (Jan. 2, 1933):

Walter Connolly gives another excellent characterization in the Roxy screen contribution No More Orchids, an unimportant but frequently entertaining picture. Carole Lombard, whose attractive shadow is adorning the Paramount film No Man of Her Own, is also the principal feminine player in No More Orchids.

The versatile Mr. Connolly supplies to this present offering a very definite personality, that of an agreeable and self-sacrificing father, C. Aubrey Smith, who is seen invariably as a genial old man, here acts an irascible, hard grandfather, who is bent on his granddaughter, Anne Holt (Miss Lombard) becoming the bride of a Prince Carlos.

Well. It is amazing to me that a movie critic would generally ignore Carole Lombard to heap praise on Walter Connolly, who is in his adequate, but typical father mode. Especially since he got second billing after Lombard.

For Monday, we have a mystery guest. For a change, he approves of such goings-on.

Update: Many questions about this fellow. I had a hard time picking a Monday person and he was the best I could do. The actor gets solo screen time and some lines so by today’s standards ought to get a credit but he doesn’t. Howard suggested Chic Sale and Sheila guessed Tom Ricketts. Both good guesses, though I’m not sure either is correct. It is always my hope that someone will recognize these unidentified, very minor folks.

For Tuesday, we have a mystery fellow. The leading lady has been cropped out due to her complete lack of mysteriousness and will appear later in the week.

Update: For Friday, adding our mysterious leading lady. She’s great in this role.

Update: I love this photo of Lombard giving the stink eye to Harold Minjir.

Brain Trust roll call: Sheila and Howard have interesting guesses. Our mysterious flagman has a tiny role and isn’t credited, so he truly is a mystery. Let’s see how the week develops once people figure out our mystery picture.

For “Hm Wednesday,” we have these mysterious women.

Update: This is Louise Closser Hale and Ruthelma Stevens.

We also have this mysterious fellow – he does NOT approve of such goings-on!

Update: This is Jameson Thomas.

Brain Trust roll call: Sheila (Tuesday’s mysterious fellow in a trance) and Anne Papineau (mystery movie and mysterious fellow in a trance).

For “Aha Thursday,” we have this mysterious fellow. His companion has been cropped out due to lack of mysteriousness and will appear Friday.

Update: For Friday, adding our mysterious leading man, who is quite interested in the model of a boat.

Update: This is Lyle Talbot, left, and Walter Connolly.

We also have this mysterious fellow. And the enigmatic Back of the Head Woman.

Update: This is C. Aubrey Smith in a change from his typical role as a genial elder of the film.

Brain Trust roll call: Anne Papineau (Wednesday’s mystery guests), Mary Mallory (mystery movie and Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s guests), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie and Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s mystery guests), Sheila (mystery movie and Wednesday’s mystery guests) and Mike Hawks (mystery movie and Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s mystery guests).

For Friday, our mystery leads.

Update: Carole Lombard and Lyle Talbot.

Brain Trust roll call: Howard Mandelbaum (Thursday’s mystery guests), Benito (Wednesday’s mysterious prince and Thursday’s wastrel father), Mary Mallory (Thursday’s mystery guests, plus off-camera guy and Back of the Head Woman), Floyd Thursby (mystery movie, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Sylvia E. (mystery movie and Tuesday’s-Thursday’s mystery guests), L.C. (mystery movie and mystery cast), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery guests and Back of the Head Woman), Chrisbo (mystery movie, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Funky PhD (mystery movie and Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Anne Papineau (Thursday’s mystery guests) and Dan Nather (mystery movie, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests).

This week’s mystery movie was the 1935 Paramount picture Rumba, with George Raft, Carole Lombard, Lynne Overman, Margo, Gail Patrick, Iris Adrian, Monroe Owsley and Jameson Thomas.

Screenplay by Howard J. Green.

Additional dialogue by Harry Ruskin and Frank Partos.

Based upon an idea by Guy Endore and Seena Owen.

(Trivia note: The AFI Catalog notes the role of Edgcumb Pinchon, author of Life Among Hollywood’s “Extra” Girls.)

Music and lyrics by Ralph Rainger.

Dances and ensembles staged by Le Roy Prinz.

Costumes designed by Travis Banton.

Specialty dance created and staged by Veloz and Yolanda.

Spanish lyrics by Francois B. de Valdes.

Photographed by Ted Tetzlaff.

Produced by William Le Baron.

Directed by Marion Gering.

Further information on Rumba is available from the AFI Catalog.

Rumba is not commercially available, but can be found on the Internet and the gray market.

::

Rumba was a substitute for the movie I wanted to use, Bolero (1934), which also features George Raft and Carole Lombard (and Sally Rand!), and only exists in even worse prints than Rumba. I was mainly intrigued by George Raft as a dancer (he’s pretty good) and I always enjoy Carole Lombard.

I suspect this is in Mordaunt Hall territory and that The New York Times did not approve of such goings-on.

No, it’s F.S.N. (Frank S. Nugent) and he does not approve (Feb. 25, 1935):

There are, in Hollywood, a group of men with prematurely gray hair, furrowed brows and dyspepsia. It is their sad duty to select titles for the various pictures released annually. Sometimes they ponder for days over the one, two, three, or four words that best will describe their studio’s latest offering. Frequently, the chosen title bears no relation to the picture. But that is not the case, dear reader, with the current film at the Paramount.

Within the first five minutes of its unreeling, the picture offers George Raft and Iris Adrian in a dance. About five minutes later the camera has traveled to what is presumed to be the interior of Cuba where a rumba is in progress. There Mr. Raft discovers a new partner, Margo, and they try the rumba. Carole Lombard enters a bit later and Mr. Raft teachers her the rumba. having become proficient by this time. Mr. Raft and Margo dance the rumba in Havana. And finally Mr. Raft reaches New York and does the rumba with Miss Lombard.

For Monday, we have a mysterious couple….

Update: This is Soledad Jimenez and Paul Porcasi.

For Tuesday, we have a mysterious fellow.

Update: This is Lynne Overman.

Brain Trust roll call: Anne Papineau (Monday’s mysterious fellow), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie and Monday’s mystery guests), Sheila (Monday’s mysterious fellow), Mike Hawks (Monday’s mystery gent) and Mary Mallory (Monday’s enigmatic guest).

For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a mysterious woman.

Update: This is Margot.

Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (mystery movie, Monday’s mystery woman and Tuesday’s mystery fellow), Howard Mandelbaum (Tuesday’s mystery guest), Sheila (mystery movie and Tuesday’s mystery guest), B.J. Merholz (Tuesday’s mystery guest), Mike Hawks (Tuesday’s mysterious guest) and Dan Nather (Monday’s mysterious man).

Mike: Anagram your answer and you’ll get the right movie.

For “Aha Thursday,” we have a mysterious woman.

Update: This is Gail Patrick.

Brain Trust roll call: Howard Mandelbaum (Wednesday’s mysterious woman), Mary Mallory (Wednesday’s mystery woman) and Anne Papineau (mystery movie, Monday’s mystery woman and Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s mystery guests).

For Friday, we have a mysterious fellow.

Update: This is an extremely ruffled George Raft.

We also have a mysterious woman with an enigmatic companion.

Update: This is Carole Lombard and Monroe Owsley.

Brain Trust roll call: Howard Mandelbaum (Thursday’s mysterious woman), Mary Mallory (Thursday’s mysterious woman), Anne Papineau (Thursday’s mystery woman), L.C. (mystery movie and enigmatic cast), B.J. Merholz (Thursday’s mystery woman), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery woman – other answers lost in the ether, apparently), Funky PhD (mystery movie, Monday’s Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests), Benito (Thursday’s mystery woman), Incredibleinman (Thursday’s mystery woman), Megan and Thom (mystery movie and all mystery guests) and Sarah (mystery movie and Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s mystery guests).