Scientists still can’t answer this one simple question...

[12_Years_Late]

This entry was pre-set to post on Wednesday, June 28th, 2023 at 5:00 P.M. C.S.T. He did it!

"Carole of the curves", or "Lombard of the legs?" (LiveJournal)

Which was it? During her days with Mack Sennett, Carole Lombard herself probably didn't care, since either helped distract audiences from that scar on her cheek she suffered in an auto accident of a few years back. Sennett encouraged the curves, which legend says Carole got from eating bananas, to bolster the sex appeal of his latest troupe of bathing beauties.

But as Lombard also started working at Pathe (which had a distribution agreement with Sennett), its producers saw said curves as a liability. While at Pathe, she not only shed the "e" from her first name but a few of those banana-gained pounds as well. The result: A sleek lady whose good legs got even better. The Carole one now cared for depended upon whether you needed her to fill a swimsuit or a pair of stockings.

One magazine was definitely on the side of the stems -- a relatively obscure title whose initial issue focused on the Lombard legs. It's the November 1929 Screen Art, with an image taken by the renowned Edwin Bower Hesser:

"CAROL[E] LOMBARD . . . has become one of Pathé's foremost artists."
(This image was most likely taken in August, 1929.)

Another one of my obscure historical fixations, trademarked at AmIRight.

I'm not sure how many copies of this magazine sold, but it was likely a male-oriented issue, and I'm sure some males got a certain reaction out of seeing 20-year-old Carole (or "Carol", as Pathé Pictures insisted upon calling her) Lombard that way. All I can think of is, "Holy smokes..." (Why didn't time freeze in August 1929?)

It's another one of those rare historical finds that few people, if any, are aware of. It has always puzzled me why most people don't even bother to find such historical magazines like these. There are billions of rare, obscure historical moments like these that likely less than a dozen people scattered across the world know about, let alone research in this much detail.

But if everyone knew about it, then there wouldn't be anyone that didn't know about it. And I guess that since everyone knew about it, they wouldn't talk about it very often. And eventually less than a dozen people would know of it, and then...no one. Scientists might want to start pondering that prospect.

At least for the moment, we still have one person left alive that still knows about such things...someone had to keep the memory alive. Maybe that's why I was put here.

Wait a minute, I'm only here to hear about the story of a underwater submersible that imploded in less than a second and little else.

Great choice!

Have a happy Wednesday.

 

[12_Years_Late]

Anyone figure out an answer to the question yet? "Carole of the curves, or Lombard of the legs?"

 

[12_Years_Late]

With cooler weather on the horizon, and fall arriving on Saturday, here's one last picture to represent this past summer.

Carole Lombard in a swimsuit from spring 1931, released to promote Paramount Pictures' "I Take This Woman" (though I don't know if her character wore this).

THE SUN SUIT - has met the approval of fashionable bathers, among them Carole Lombard, appearing in Paramount's picture "I Take This Woman."
Comprising a pair of black trunks and a backless brassiere the jersey suit permits the atinic rays of the sun to be healfully helpful. A narrow white
grosgrain ribbon is used as a belt.

 

[12_Years_Late]

View attachment 120160
With cooler weather on the horizon, and fall arriving on Saturday, here's one last picture to represent this past summer.

Carole Lombard in a swimsuit from spring 1931, released to promote Paramount Pictures' "I Take This Woman" (though I don't know if her character wore this).

Anyone else like it?