Such exciting news!
Pleased to announce that my Regency romances, (publisher: Lachesis Publishing, Toronto, Canada) were recently featured at the London Book fair!
Such exciting news!
Pleased to announce that my Regency romances, (publisher: Lachesis Publishing, Toronto, Canada) were recently featured at the London Book fair!
by Beverly Adam (author of Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo).
“We would have married,” said Carole Lombard during her interview with magazine writer, Sonia Lee, for Movie Screen Magazine, in 1934. Russ Columbo had been killed. Lombard revealed that she had been planning to marry the famous singer, whose movie and radio career she had been guiding.
Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo were young, the same age (twenty-five years old), and very much in love. She helped run his career, and was guiding him to film stardom. If any couple could be called soulmates, they were.
Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo
by Beverly Adam (author of Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo)
Carole Lombard’s unexpected death, as in life, was connected in the press to Russ Columbo’s.
“To account for her son’s prolonged absence, Mrs. Columbo was told he was in London, making movie pictures with Carole. In the course of her romance with Russ, Carole naturally had grown close to Mrs. Columbo. Thus, to keep the heartbreaking news from her, Carole wrote weekly letters full of gay chit-chat and news of their activities, which were supposedly postmarked London and read to the blind mother.” Hollywood Magazine.
Both Russ Columbo and Carole Lombard died young. It is a sad twist of fate that they both had premonitions that they would do so. Yesterday, January 14th, was Russ’s birthday.
When she enthusiastically sang the National Anthem on January 15th she must have thought of him. If Russ were alive how proud he would have been of her standing there singing her heart out, leading the audience, encouraging them to buy war bonds. He had been the one, after all, who gave her voice lessons early on in their romance. And she in turn had encouraged him to consider a career singing opera.
Carole Lombard knew she would die young. When she told her friend Alice Marble, the tennis-pro replied, “Did the fortune-tellers tell you that?”
“Yes, they did, but it’s more than that. It’s a feeling I have,” Lombard said. Original source: Courting Danger by Alice Marble.
Russ Columbo had had a premonition that he too would die young. When he did his family decided he would be placed in the vault opposite his brother Fiore’s, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. When Carole Lombard made her last will and testament, the first instruction she wrote down was her desire to be interred in a modest crypt at the same cemetery which is not in Hollywood, dressed wearing her favorite white gown.
The flowers that were laid on her burial casket were identical to the ones she had laid on Russ Columbo’s and the large heart shaped wreath display she had sent to the funeral she had arranged signed with his pet name for her, Angel.
Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard’s brother, Fred Peters, were pallbearers at Russ Columbo’s funeral.
The last song Russ Columbo ever sang and recorded was Two Lovers by Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon:
I see two lovers on the moonlit sand,
Standing face to face,
And as he takes her little trembling hand,
They slowly embrace.
I see two lovers in a world apart,
Heart to heart, what bliss!
And in my loneliness, I see them start
One heavenly kiss.
.
by Beverly Adam (author of Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo)
“Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo were the gayest of gay and continued to dance the rumba long after everyone had gone home.” Silver Screen Magazine reported on the charming couple’s partying in 1934.
Looking back at their romance, I can write they were two people who were destined to meet and fall in love. And oh how they enjoyed each other’s company and that of others!
Russ Columbo had once hosted at the height of his radio and theater career in the early 1930s a party at the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York city, hosting over 200 reporters to celebrate his success at the local Paramount Brooklyn Theater. His musical variety shows were sold-out. He set a record that would not be broken for a quarter of a century at the theater.
The gifted singer and songwriter Russ Columbo grew-up in show business and performed as a child prodigy of the violin. Columbo was born into a large Italian-American family on January 14, 1908, in Camden, New Jersey and had taken the radio airwaves by storm as The Valentino of The Radio, making women’s hearts flutter with his velvety voice and handsome profile.
And then one fateful night at the Cocoanut Grove his eyes met Carole Lombard’s and they started an unforgettable romance. Lombard told reporters, “His love for me was the kind that seldom comes to any woman.” In another interview she said, “I have married, divorced, and loved again.” This was in 1934. Carole Lombard showed her love both in action and words, and sometimes by the gifts she gave him. They were noted in newspapers and by the inventory of his estate.
What kind of gifts would you give a male Hollywood star on his birthday? We know that Carole Lombard gave Russ an Alaskan malamute puppy.
Carole Lombard, according to the accounting of Russ Columbo’s estate, gave him a silver platinum cigarette case with his initials set in small diamonds. It may have looked something like this (see below).
Listed among the other items Lombard was known to gift Russ was a Cartier watch inscribed from her to him. Carole Lombard also gave him a ring with an inset solitaire diamond.
Happy Birthday Russ!
Love, your Angel,
Carole Lombard
To read more you can go to my free blog, see links at the very bottom of page
By Beverly Adam (author of Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo).
“Carole was crazy about him,” Bing Crosby said during a televised interview on the Joe Franklin Show, and he was not referring to Clark Gable. He was talking about the greatest love in Carole Lombard’s life, Russ Columbo, with whom Bing had been both friend and rival during the early 1930s.
Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo were both twenty-five years old and very much in love in 1933. Their studios, however, were not happy. They wanted the couple to be seen as single. And if Carole was to be in love, Paramount wanted it to be with George Raft, her co-star in Bolero, not the handsome crooner. A lot of money and publicity had been invested to make that impression.
In September of 1933, the publicity department was working overtime putting out the rumor that Russ Columbo was afraid to meet Bing Crosby on the set of We’re Not Dressing, while his girlfriend, Carole Lombard, was performing on Catalina Island.
Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby had once been friends and had worked together with the Gus Arnheim Orchestra. The congenial Columbo “had always hated the idea” of being rivals with Bing Crosby. Carole Lombard played a part in their reconciliation. You can read about all of them in Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo.
Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo were called by the magazine gossip wags in 1934, “the most charming,” couple in Hollywood. They each had an entourage of friends, family, and Hollywood notables who surrounded them.
Carole watched “The Valentino of The Radio”, Russ Columbo sing at the Cocoanut Grove, in August of 1933. She was recently divorced from her first husband, the suave actor, William Powell (The Thin Man).
Carole had met Russ before at several parties, including one at the home of Wesley Ruggles, who had directed her and Clark Gable in No Man of Her Own. She and Russ had also partied together at a celebration hosted by William (Bill) Powell, two months before she married Powell. Russ played the piano and sang Christmas Carols with Bill and actor Edmond Lowe(seen below), with whom Carole had been in the movie, Marriage by Transit ( 1932). Who was also in attendance is rather surprising, and often left out in most biographies. The information about the Christmas parties derived from newspaper and magazine articles found on public digital archives.
Years later, Carole and Russ met again when he sang at The Cocoanut Grove. They say, eyes are the windows to the soul, and theirs met. They fell deeply in love, beginning an unforgettable romance.
Russ was singing with the Gus Arnheim Orchestra and wearing his signature white tuxedo with a black tie. He had just debuted in his first major supporting movie role in Broadway Thru A Keyhole with actress Constance Cummings. The music he had composed was timeless. He had a huge fan base and his voice was heard from coast to coast in the USA. The singer Perry Como would years later make the love song Russ wrote, The Prisoner of Love, a number #1 hit on the music charts in 1946.
Constance Cummings and Russ Columbo
Carole’s closest friend was Madalynne Fields (aka: Fieldsie). They had met during her early career in Sennett’s comedies in the 1920’s. Fieldsie helped Carole advance her career and was her friend, as well as her personal secretary.
George Raft was the ex-gangster/ actor whom Carole dated publicly, while under pressure from Paramount to promote the movie Bolero. Mack Gray was George’s bodyguard and friend. Mack was dating Lucille Ball. This is biographical fiction.
Lucille Ball, George Raft, actress Virginia Pine, Joanie (Virginia’s daughter), Mack Gray (bodyguard).
“Who is Walter Lang?” I was asked by a reader. He was a director and a member of Carole’s close knit entourage, attending all her parties and sometimes helping out. He would later play a role in helping Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s romance, which was under wraps as Carole told the press, “Clark’s married. We’re just friends.” The press indicated Lang and Lombard weren’t compatible, thus ensuring that Gable could later stroll onto the scene as “the one” after he and his oil heiress wife, Rhea Langham (Gable’s second wife), finally divorced. Fieldsie and Walter married in 1937, and had one son, Richard. Fieldsie, with her encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood, then began to help her husband’s career and raise their child.
That’s all for now folks!
Carole directed by Walter Lang in Love Before Breakfast, in 1936.
By Beverly Adam (author of Two Lovers: the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo)
California. Jeff Morgan stared grimly at his computer screen. The letters materializing from the online lovelorn network were less than inspiring. Such personals on the dating websites such as, “SFSM for nite of pn”- Single female seeks single male for a night of passion, did not exactly add up to someone looking for a lifetime commitment.
He had checked countless dating apps, matchmaking agencies, and been on more blind dates in the past few months than any single should be forced to endure. The buffet of women from nose-pierced students to chunky booted marketing executives with form fitting halter tops was amazing. But let’s be real… What did he have to show for all this activity? Zero. Not even the slightest proverbial zing of attraction had passed between himself and the women he had dated. Nada. Nothing. Heart rate slow and snoozing.
A kiss that
changed her
life…
It was then I sprung upon him my good news, about my uncle’s decision that I should go to Washington D. C, with him and Aunt Lucinda. And how we planned to be gone almost an entire year and stay with my cousins in Virginia, thus giving me an ample opportunity to mix in polite society and meet eligible gentlemen.
Now that I reflect upon the events leading up to our kiss, was it my imagination or did the twinkle in his hazel eyes go out when I said that? And could it be his smile diminished a bit? What I mean to say, dear diary, is could it be that John Edington is carrying a torch for me?
No, it couldn’t be true! As I said, he has known me all my life. Until now he has never given the slightest indication that he thought of me in that way. I must not develop flights of fancy over this.
But mind, tonight I did look rather nice. The new evening gown, the one mother helped me order from Frisco, is made of the loveliest evergreen satin. It is lined with rich dark velvet and yards upon yards of the prettiest lace you ever did see. It makes a most delightful swishing sound when I dance. And the bustle in the back trails becomingly down like a rippling fountain in a river of satin and lace. I adore it, and felt like someone in a fairytale wearing it. And I received several fulsome compliments from other gentlemen present, too.
I had Betsy, my aunt’s maid, help me with my hair. She swept it up in that new style that those Gibson ladies wear. And for a bit of Christmas cheer, she entwined a small garland of white roses in it. I do not mean to boast, dear diary, but I do think I looked a pretty picture.
Now back to the kissing… When I was becoming a little bit tipsy, John asked me for a waltz. And waltz we did, right into the alcove, where hung a fresh bough of mistletoe. A bough, I must add, I do not remember hanging there.
Thank heavens no one spied us behind the red drapes. It makes my cheeks flush, thinking back upon it. I am afraid I made quite a cake of myself, hanging onto him like I did. And was it my imagination or did he forget himself too? I mean, when he wrapped his strong mechanic’s arms about my waist, was he… Could it be possible, that the reason he did so was because he forgot himself as well?
Dear diary, as you can see, I am most befuddled by all this. Yes, I am absolutely, quite splendidly at a loss as to what has come over my childhood friend and myself.
December 24, 1910
Dear Diary,
John has come to fetch me for an afternoon Christmas Eve ride. Papa told him that I might go for one in his new steamer. You see, John is doing quite well in his fruit canning business. Only the very well-to-do can afford such a luxury as a horseless carriage. And there is an increasing demand for his fruit back east. There has been quite a lot of talk of his expanding business.
Papa told me he thought John was the wealthiest young man in our entire county. And he gave me a queer look as he said it. Just before I was to leave he kissed me on the forehead, told me what a splendid daughter I was, and said that any man who won my hand in marriage would be a lucky one. It was truly most peculiar.
When John finally arrived, both Papa and Mama greeted him warmly, as if they had not seen him in years. And that also was strange. It must be noted that yesterday, when I was out visiting the shops, I had the distinct impression he had paid them a call. For when I came home I saw his favorite wool cap hanging on the umbrella stand. But when I remarked upon it to mother she gave me this mysterious little smile. It was as if she knew what had transpired between John and I last night.
My cheeks heated under her penetrating gaze. And I pretended that I was not all that keen on seeing him this afternoon. Such foolishness, when in fact I am counting every tick on our grandfather clock until I do!
John was so courteous and correct with me when he helped me into his automobile, very much the gentleman. I had to ask him what was wrong… I had some difficulty reconciling this handsome beau in his long duster and automobile goggles, with the jokester who used to put toads in my lunch pail.
He simply said that he wanted to make certain that I was comfortable and pulled out a heavy tartan blanket to put over my lap. He was ever so thoughtful. And he did not crack one joke when I almost tripped getting in.
I pulled the veil of my hat over my face and made certain it was tightly bowed. I did not want it to fly off during the ride. The hat is the new white one I had trimmed with holly and little red berries made out of silk and lace. It has a broad band of red velvet ribbon running around it for trim. The milliner told me it was the most fetching one she had made this season. And from the wink John gave me when we took off, I would say he was right pleased by how it looked on me.
He informed me that his steamer could go up to the unheard speed of twenty miles an hour. I must say my heart tripped a little bit at the thought. He promised, however, to keep it down to the more stately speed of five. Apparently my father would not let him take me out unless he did. Papa was afraid that it might overheat if John put it at full throttle. Even so, it was thrilling and we had such a merry time! To be truthful, dear diary, we always have such good times together. I just never realized how much we enjoyed each other’s company before.
He took me up into the nearby hills. It was not a very long drive and I was almost sorry it ended, that is until I saw the view. Breathtaking, we could look out at the entire valley.
Below I could see all of the county laid out at our feet. We spotted my father’s orchards and John’s canning sheds, as well as a few of the brick buildings of our town, including Uncle Frederick’s bank. And off in the far distance we could see the salt marshes leading out to the bay and the Pacific Ocean. It all looked so lovely. I was so happy he had brought me.
We sat on the blanket and ate the chicken and potato salad my mother had cooked for us. John brought out a jug of warmed apple cider, which he had strapped to the boiler engine to keep warm. And for dessert, we had some of his housekeeper’s lemon pie. It tasted delicious and I told him so. Taking my hand into his, he gazed into my eyes and replied that it did not taste half as heavenly as me. Drawing me into his arms, he kissed me. It was sweet and tender, and warmed me all over.
As he bid me goodnight, John told me that he was going to bring me a present tomorrow. I asked if it was going to be a very small one? He laughed, and told me that I was a minx, and that if I did not behave myself he was going to replace it with one of his famous toads. That made me laugh! He is such an adorable fool.
Oh, I do so hope his present is the kind that is found in those darling silver heart boxes, the sort Mr. Miller’s jewelry store sells. I must now confess, dear diary, I no longer desire to go to Washington D. C, or any other place. I would much prefer staying here in this lovely valley with my John. You see, I do believe he is going to ask me to marry him. And as I am very much in love, I will simply will have to answer, Yes, John. And live happily ever after a princess with her loving knave. All because he daringly kissed me under the mistletoe.
.
Author’s notes: I have been up into the hills of Northern California, in the Bay Area, and seen the view the young lovers enjoy. I am the published author of a Regency romance series: The Honorable Gentlemen. The trilogy was released by Lachesis Publishing (Canadian), and is currently available.
A banshee screams… a death occurs…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAMtTMwdzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykaJXyKIBnk
A beautiful young woman married off at a young age by her greedy uncle.