Carole Lombard

[SheBoss]

I don't know much about this lady other than she was very beautiful, but I just finished reading Lana Turner's Autobiography in which she states that Carole Lombard was out of the country filming a movie and she was in the country filming a movie with Gable. The reason (she states) that Lombard took a plane instead of boat like everyone else, is because she was jealous of Lana and "her man" filming a movie together. Carole was rushing home to be by his side. Do any Lombard fans think this is true?

[Danny62]

I don't know much about this lady other than she was very beautiful, but I just finished reading Lana Turner's Autobiography in which she states that Carole Lombard was out of the country filming a movie and she was in the country filming a movie with Gable. The reason (she states) that Lombard took a plane instead of boat like everyone else, is because she was jealous of Lana and "her man" filming a movie together. Carole was rushing home to be by his side. Do any Lombard fans think this is true?

The sad part is her mom did NOT want to fly.

Her and Carole flipped a coin to see if they would go home by train or fly...her mom obviously lost!!!

Also they bumped some military officers off the fatal flight. Which was rare during the war. she stated that with all the war bonds just sold, that it must be worth something!!!

[KELT]

LOMBARD was not 'out of the country' rather in her home state of Indiana. Word had reached her from her various studio friends that LANA was making a play for CLARK so rather than take the train home as originally planned, CAROLE opted for an airplane.

The mother, ELIZABETH PETERS was a supersticious old gal and the number 3 kept showing up in connection with the flight which she took for being a sign of bad luck (She was right this time).

We're talking January 1942 and the plane had to make sveral stops along the way to re-fuel. LOMBARD & her party of three were asked to give up their seats for additional army personnel, but she was in a hurry to get home and pulled rank stating that since she'd been to Indiana on official business at the request of F.D.R. that she wasn't going anywhere. The 3rd person in the LOMBARD party was OTTO WINKLER who had been a business manager for GABLE. Shortly after taking off from Las Vegas at about 7:45 in the evening, the plane, a DC-3 crashed into a mountainside. It took several days to reach the crash site, and LOMBARD'S body was identified by "a wisp of blond hair".

[MorbidMolly]

Kelt, your post ALWAYS rock......great info and pics.....I adored Carole and didn`t know that about Lana....

[Zeenie]

She was fantastic in "My Man Godfrey."

[Jaxxx]

The pilot of the plane, had been reprimanded several times about some infaction or other, the speculate by where he was found that his inexperience co polite was flying while he was in the back talking to Lombard. I never was much of a Lana T fan and now I'm even less.

[Danny62]

This is believed to be the last picture taken of Carole Lombard with her mother Elizabeth Peters in Indianapolis before their flight left early January 6, 1942.

Her mom doesn't look to thrilled...Do you think she had a feeling something was going to happen??

She really didn't want to fly!

Thanks Jaynefan, you come up with some rare pics.

Dan

[Danny62]

Here's the story from a book. Carole's mother Elizabeth did not like flying. Just a month or two before the plane crash, Elizabeth went to see an astrologist. The astrologist told Elizabeth two significant things: 1) Stay away from airplanes, and 2) The number 3 is bad luck.

On the day of the flight, witnesses saw Carole and Elizabeth bickering on the tarmac. Elizabeth did not want to go on that flight. Elizabeth pointed out to Carole the prevalance of "3" that surrounded them, as listed below:
1) The plane was a DC-3
2) Carole was 33 years old
3) There were 3 of them traveling together

Carole got her mother on the plane, but Carole was also sympathetic to her mother's anxiety.

Jaynefan,

Great stuff! I did read they were agruing entering the plane...I didn't know anything about the number 3 or the astrologist Part!!

You rock dude!!

Dan

[lulu]

here's some great footage of the site from the nineties. There's some debris in the area still. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZA8yjgZyE

[Danny62]

here's some great footage of the site from the nineties. There's some debris in the area still. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZA8yjgZyE

That is eerie...why the hell didn't they clean up the crash site?

Its chilling seeing the parts from the plane!!!

Thanks for posting that!!

[lulu]

That is eerie...why the hell didn't they clean up the crash site?

Its chilling seeing the parts from the plane!!!

Thanks for posting that!!

I always wondered that too, why they didn't it clean up, nowadays they get every single piece of an aircraft. It's interesting though, if I ever get back to Nevada, I'm going there.

[Aries65]

I always wondered that too, why they didn't it clean up, nowadays they get every single piece of an aircraft. It's interesting though, if I ever get back to Nevada, I'm going there.

Not if Scott beats you there first!

[Jaxxx]

Thanks Lulu for the youtube, I was named after Carole, my father loved her.

[Rudy's Girl]

So tragic. I'm assuming that they couldn't fully recover Carole's body? I never really heard the details there. I just remember seeing photos of Clark at that time. He looked so devastated....

[Rudy's Girl]

Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz.....two of a kind! They had great chemistry.

I so agree JayneFan! But I have to admit, I always had an extra soft spot for Ethel, hence my name, even though I am a crazy redhead like Lucy!

[Lobsters]

So tragic. I'm assuming that they couldn't fully recover Carole's body? I never really heard the details there. I just remember seeing photos of Clark at that time. He looked so devastated....

i had read...on the site that is by that same guy who made the video of the crash site on YouTube....that Carole's left hand was missing and that Gable offered money to anyone who could find it so he could get her wedding ring.

Here is a linky to a site with picks of the crash site. I think the reason they didn't take all the plane out was because the parts were just to heavy to remove in that rugged terrain....


http://hwstock.org/lomb/


also read on another site that Carole lost her head..............yikes


another good linky. She 'visited' Lucy too!

http://www.murphsplace.com/lombard/end.html

[poppie]

From stories told about Clark Gable, he would seduce anything and anyone. Lombard knew this, was jealous, and unfortunately, the plane ride cost her her life. Her films are remarkable, and she was a fine actress.

[Rudy's Girl]

i had read...on the site that is by that same guy who made the video of the crash site on YouTube....that Carole's left hand was missing and that Gable offered money to anyone who could find it so he could get her wedding ring.

Here is a linky to a site with picks of the crash site. I think the reason they didn't take all the plane out was because the parts were just to heavy to remove in that rugged terrain....


http://hwstock.org/lomb/


also read on another site that Carole lost her head..............yikes


another good linky. She 'visited' Lucy too!

http://www.murphsplace.com/lombard/end.html

Lobsters, thank you for the info and the great links. Poor Carole......

[orionova]

From stories told about Clark Gable, he would seduce anything and anyone. Lombard knew this, was jealous, and unfortunately, the plane ride cost her her life. Her films are remarkable, and she was a fine actress.

Clark had had several affairs and one nighters during his marriage with Carole. She wasn't really the jealous sort, and put up with them. It was only in cases where it looked like it might go further that she put a stop to it.

I read a biography of Carole that said that she and Clark had argued (over Lana?) before she left for the war bond tour, and the reason she was in a hurry to get home to him was to make up. She may have been the love of his life, but Clark definitely took Carole for granted.

[desert hag]

I love watching old Carole Lombard movies. I especially liked My Man Godfrey and In Name Only. She did screwball comedy very well. I had read in one of her biographies that Carole and her mother were both into numerology and the numbers (ages, date, flight number, type of plane) didn't bode well with mom. She was very nervous about flying, and wanted to take the train, but agreed to flip a coin. The group was asked to get off in another city (can't remember which) to let some military officers on. Carole felt she had priority since she had been on a bond raising tour. She and her group stayed on. I had also read that she was nervous about Lana Turner and that was why she was anxious to get back home.

[TNpuck]

Note to the famous: if it comes down to flipping a coin, just don't get on the damn plane!

[Jenga]

On the day of the flight, witnesses saw Carole and Elizabeth bickering on the tarmac. Elizabeth did not want to go on that flight.

Always listen to Mama.

[Lobsters]

Mama and the coins are NEVER wrong. Just FYI.



Okay, I'm going to be horrid,,,,but you know they are in heaven (or where ever!) and Mama is looking over at Carole saying "SEE? I TOLD YOU!"

[Katie]

Very good info. Thanks for posting

[Kathyf]

I have read that Carole Lombard was Clark's only true love. I never read the info about Lana Turner either.

[KELT]

I have read that Carole Lombard was Clark's only true love. I never read the info about Lana Turner either.

GABLE screwed around on occassion, but from what I've read it would appear that he was chased. Considering who he was, The King of Hollywood, it would seem plausible.GABLE had several paternity cases in the 1930s, and fathered a child with actress LORETTA YOUNG; The child, a girl named JUDY, had been sired during the making of CALL OF THE WILD. GABLE knew the truth, but the public did not, that is until 50 years later. This knowledge, had become public in the late 30s, would likely have ruined both careers. YOUNG went into hiding for a year, allegedly for health reasons. Once recovered, the story goes, YOUNG who spent a fair amount of time doing 'charity' work, fell head over heels for a baby girl she saw in an orphange run by an order of nuns, and wouldn't you know- she just had to have her for her very own. Somehow YOUNG, then divorced and with no man immediately on the horizon managed to 'adopt' little JUDY with little obstacle. This in 1937 being unheard of (single parent adoption).

LOMBARD, who wasn't one for pretense, told her closest friends that not only was GABLE a so-so lay, but wasn't exactly big in the basket either. " You know how I love Papi, but it ain't so hot in the sack, " she was remembered to have told her secretary & confidante FIELDSIE.

Keep in mind, GABLE'S first two wives were older women who were in positions to help him; Neither had been a passionate match. With LOMBARD he finally had a woman who was closer to his own age (CAROLE was 7 [SIZE=1]1/2[/SIZE] years younger), who was beautiful, who challenged him, and who was able to keep that carrot dangling just out of reach.

Following LOMBARD'S death, GABLE entered the armed services. He was 41, too old for the draft. (During WWII, P.I.s were drafted up to age 35, physicians up to 60) . Wife #4 was DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS SR.'S widow SYLVIA. The couple wed right before Christmas 1949.
Once she moved in, SYLVIA changed alot of the LOMBARD touches in the house which ticked GABLE off to no end. GABLE realized quickly enough that he'd made a bad mistake and the couple divorced in several years. GABLE fifth wife was former POWERS model and bit actress KAY SPRECKLES. Three times divorced, KAY had 2 children from her third husband : son BUNKY & daughter JOAN. This marriage turned out to be a happy one, though none would ever compare to his third marriage to LOMBARD.

[leevancleef]

i dont know what he was thinking when he married that Sylvia Ashley. ive read that he realized what a mistake he had made only a few days after marrying her. by all accounts she was a snob, and hated most of Clark's friend and his hobbies.

[leevancleef]

Clark attends Carole's funeral. He looks devastated. You can also see Howard J Mannix, Metro Goldwyn Mayer's vicepresident with him in the picture.


Clark and Carole, one of the my favorite couples.

[leevancleef]

This is my favorite picture of Carole, she looks so happy. i love her smile.

[Curtis Radiohead]

Her mom doesn't look to thrilled...Do you think she had a feeling something was going to happen??

She really didn't want to fly!

Thanks Jaynefan, you come up with some rare pics.

Dan

Where is the pic? I didn't see it anywhere...

[Curtis Radiohead]

i had read...on the site that is by that same guy who made the video of the crash site on YouTube....that Carole's left hand was missing and that Gable offered money to anyone who could find it so he could get her wedding ring.

Here is a linky to a site with picks of the crash site. I think the reason they didn't take all the plane out was because the parts were just to heavy to remove in that rugged terrain....


http://hwstock.org/lomb/


also read on another site that Carole lost her head..............yikes


another good linky. She 'visited' Lucy too!

http://www.murphsplace.com/lombard/end.html

Was the wedding ring ever recovered?

[orionova]

If memory serves, the dog at Carole's knee in the photo above
was named 'Pushface'. When Pushface died Carole was distraught, so at Christmas her maid (housekeeper?) gave her Pushface. Stuffed.

Carole couldn't bear to even look at her former pet.

[colz85]

Her childhood home is a b and b now. And for sale!

http://www.carolelombardhouse.com/

[KELT]

The other thing that I believe was missing when the body of
CAROLE LOMBARD was found was her [SIZE=3]diamond & ruby clips[/SIZE] which GABLE had given her. There was a rumor that they were imbedded in her heart. She was wearing them when she'd boarded the plane. Keep in mind, her body was identified by wisps of blond hair; that's how badly the bodies were torn and disfigured.

[sassie]

That is eerie...why the hell didn't they clean up the crash site?

Its chilling seeing the parts from the plane!!!

Thanks for posting that!!

I've hiked up in that area several times, and, yeah, there's a few pieces of the plane left. It's a remote site - less now than in years gone by, but still pretty inaccessible - and only a few barely there service trails in the area.

Guess they figured there was no reason to remove those pieces, since you have to hike for miles over rough terrain to get to them, and no easy way to do it, either.

[chrisdr]

They say the success of Clarks last marriage was because Kay acted like Carole. She really was classy..I am such a fan..

[leevancleef]

They say the success of Clarks last marriage was because Kay acted like Carole. She really was classy..I am such a fan..

i dont know if she acted just like Carole, but she really was classy and loved Clark for what he was , not like that snob of a 4th wife he had before(MS
ASSley). When Clark started filming THE TALL MEN in 1955 with Jane Russell he was so delighted by Janes' ways and style that Kay became a little concerned.But in the end, nothing happened between them. Twelve years after Carole's death it seemed that Clark had found the same kind of love and relationship he had been missed since she(Carole) passed away.
Kay enjoyed life in the Encino Ranch just like Carole did , and that really pleased Clark.

[KELT]

CAROLE LOMBARD
October 6, 1908- January 16, 1942

Today marks the 66th anniversary of the plane crash that took the life of the actress, her mother, her husband's associate and assorted military personnel.

[MagnusDippytack]

I have also read that the only identifying body part of Carole's was an earlobe with her earing on it.

[leevancleef]

CAROLE LOMBARD
October 6, 1908- January 16, 1942

Today marks the 66th anniversary of the plane crash that took the life of the actress, her mother, her husband's associate and assorted military personnel.

God bless them.
Carole will never be forgotten.

[cindyt]

Where is the pic? I didn't see it anywhere...

Didn't see it either.

[Lisamarie]

I love her soo much! I have a pekingnese dog just like hers....she was wonderful! Just stunning! I remeber reading that all they found was the earlobe also....Did they have enough to bury?? I wonder what exactley happened to them?? I mean did they die on impact?? They had too....its just so sad even now when you think of her up ther doing the V For Victory..bless her heart.

[Danny62]

I love her soo much! I have a pekingnese dog just like hers....she was wonderful! Just stunning! I remeber reading that all they found was the earlobe also....Did they have enough to bury?? I wonder what exactley happened to them?? I mean did they die on impact?? They had too....its just so sad even now when you think of her up ther doing the V For Victory..bless her heart.

Her mom and her flipped a coin...her mom hated to fly! They flipped a coin as to if they would fly or take a train! Carole won the coin toss!!

Unfortunate!! Even when they were boarding the plane her mom was still trying to talk Carole out of flying!

[leevancleef]

I love her soo much! I have a pekingnese dog just like hers....she was wonderful! Just stunning! I remeber reading that all they found was the earlobe also....Did they have enough to bury?? I wonder what exactley happened to them?? I mean did they die on impact?? They had too....its just so sad even now when you think of her up ther doing the V For Victory..bless her heart.

I Believe that Clark buried her in a coffin, so i guess there were remains enough to bury.... i think that her body was not destroyed , it was badly burnt.

[Danny62]

I Believe that Clark buried her in a coffin, so i guess there were remains enough to bury.... i think that her body was not destroyed , it was badly burnt.

See I need to look this up! I hear it was pretty much destroyed!!

Let me see if I can find a book I have about the crash!

[orionova]

I recall reading that the rescue party identified Carole's body by "a wisp of blonde hair". That leads me to believe that her body was mostly intact, but unrecognisible, probably due to the fire that followed the crash.

Here is a link to a page that has the newspaper stories following the crash. http://www.qnet.com/~carcomm/wreck16.htm

[eca1094]

No disrespect intended. But I wonder what kind of look Carole's mother shot her when they knew they were about to crash. "See I told you so."

[lisalouver]

I recall reading that the rescue party identified Carole's body by "a wisp of blonde hair". That leads me to believe that her body was mostly intact, but unrecognisible, probably due to the fire that followed the crash.

Here is a link to a page that has the newspaper stories following the crash. http://www.qnet.com/~carcomm/wreck16.htm

Cool link.

Forgive me if this was covered earlier, but what kind of plane is a "skysleeper"?

[Katie]

No disrespect intended. But I wonder what kind of look Carole's mother shot her when they knew they were about to crash. "See I told you so."

Most likely, there was no time to react, since they hit a mountain in the dark.

I wonder if they would have crashed if Carole and her mom had not been on the plane. They said the pilot was trying to take a short cut, and we already know they were late, and she was trying to get home fast.

[Jenny Mulhenny]

One of the links said it was to be a 17 hour flight. Would it be that long of a flight now? I hate to fly and there is no way I would get on a plane my mother had a bad feeling about; she sometimes knows weird stuff before it happens.