My second article for my Liberties column is now live: Lombard: Queen of Screwball.
The column has a Lombard-inspired name and logo – Movies Before Breakfast – which we chose before I even knew I’d write about her. And the logo is a spin on the famous Love Before Breakfast poster.
I love the dovetail of this because Carole Lombard with a black eye has not only been my avatar on Twitter but has been hanging on my wall since the Chicago days, lifetimes ago.
I’m really happy about this one because I’ve never actually written a full piece on Lombard before and I had so much fun digging into her filmography, especially the ones beyond the screwballs for which she is most famous. There’s so much to discover.
Movies Before Breakfast
Totally brilliant, Sheila!
“If we all fell in love like this, the world would shriek to a halt. Irene is so in love it appears she has no bones. She loves Godfrey so much her skeleton dissolves.” Gorgeous, Gorgeous writing!
XOXO love Stevie
Thank you my friend!! Love you!
This was beautiful tribute/analysis! The last two paragraphs made me tear up.
P.S. I especially liked the European/American comparison with Garbo. It’s so fascinating and true!
I know, right? Garbo is so filled with the existential sadness – tragedy exists and things probably won’t work out – but oh, the experience as you have it – the moment is small and it needs to last a lifetime, the tragedy of this!!
Whereas Lombard is looking straight at Forever! and in a state of bliss about the prospect.
It’s different! Both are authentic.
Thank you so much, Lizzie!
Mee too! The last two paragraphs are so beautiful!! And the comparison with Garbo, very clever.
Thank you, Clary!
It’s also a reminder that back in the day actresses were not interchangeable. You couldn’t swap Carole Lombard into Grand Hotel – and you couldn’t swap Garbo into My Man Godfrey. It just wouldn’t work. Garbo could be quite funny – Ninotchka!! – and Lombard could be dramatic – but … the sensibility was different – and the movies tailored themselves to the actors – not the other way around.
Now, we have actors who could definitely replace one another, even their hairstyles are the same (a baffling trend: don’t you want to stand out as recognizably YOU?). Rachel McAdams could play all of Reese Witherspoon’s parts and vice versa. I like both those actors but they don’t have PERSONAE. Sometimes an actor comes along who is so much themselves they stand alone and can’t really be replaced – someone like Angelina Jolie comes to mind.