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Today is Ginger Rogers' 115th birthday. Born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri, on July 16, 1911, she began her entertainment career as a teenager, performing in a travelling vaudeville act. In 1930, she became an overnight star with a lead role in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy by George and Ira Gershwin. Her success on the stage soon led to a contract with Paramount Pictures, and she made her feature film debut in Monta Bell's Young Man of Manhattan (1930). Dissatisfied with the parts she was given, she moved to RKO and was put to work with Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933), which started a highly successful partnership between the two stars. In their ten films together, they redefined the movie musical with their graceful performances and memorable dance routines. Beyond musicals, Rogers proved her versatility as a dramatic actress, winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Kitty Foyle (1940).

Jean Harlow is one of most the defining figures of the early decades of American cinema. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911, she made her feature film debut as an uncredited extra in the silent drama Honor Bound (1928). After a small speaking part in The Saturday Night Kid (1929), starring Clara Bow and Jean Arthur, she was hired by Howard Hughes to star in his World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930), which turned her into a overnight sensation. Signing with MGM in 1932, she became one of the studio's most profitable leading ladies, appearing in such hits as Dinner at Eight (1933), China Seas (1935), Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and Libeled Lady (1936), the last three co-starring Clark Gable . Her final picture, Saratoga (1937), which also paired her with Gable, was released after her death and became not only the highest-grossing film of her career, but also the biggest moneymaker of that year. Although she was in the motion picture industry for only nine year...

Even though I don't celebrate Thanksgiving (I'm from Portugal), I still thought it would be fun to do a compilation of pictures of Old Hollywood stars in Thanksgiving-related scenarios, to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all of you who do celebrate it. Shirley Temple in a publicity shot, circa 1936.   Doris Day in a publicity shot, circa 1950.   Alan Ladd in a promotional portrait, 1950s.   Joan Crawford in a publicity photo, circa 1930.   Deanna Durbin in a publicity portrait, 1945.   Margaret O'Brien in a promotional portrait, 1947. Ann Blyth in a publicity photo, 1951. 

Carole Lombard is undoubtedly one the greatest comediennes in cinema history. Born Jane Alice Peters to a wealthy Indiana family on October 6, 1908, Lombard began her acting career at the age of 12, when director Allan Dwan cast her as Monta Blue's sister in A Perfect Crime (1921). Although the film was not widely distributed and paid only $50, the experience spurred Lombard's mother to enroll her in drama school. In 1924, just as she turned 16, she was screentested by Fox Film Corporation, which led to a co-starring role opposite Edmund Lowe in Marriage in Transit (1925). Both movies are now considered lost.   Unlike many other actors, Lombard made an easy transition to sound, signing a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930. Four years later, she was loaned out to Columbia to work on Twentieth Century (1934), a film that not only made her a major star, but also became the prototype of screwball comedies.   LEFT: Carole Lombard and Monta Blue in A Perfect Crim...

In the mid- and late 1930s, screwball comedy was in vogue and practically every actress in Hollywood tried her hand at it. Barbara Stanwyck never considered herself a naturally funny person or a comedienne per se , but after delivering a heart-wrenching performance in King Vidor's Stella Dallas (1937), she decided she needed a «vacation» from emotional dramas. In her search for a role, she stumbled upon a «champagne comedy» called The Mad Miss Manton (1938), originally intended as a Katharine Hepburn vehicle. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda as Melsa and Peter in The Mad Miss Manton .   Directed by Leigh Jason from a script by Philip G. Epstein, The Mad Miss Manton begins when vivacious Park Avenue socialite Melsa Manton finds a corpse while walking her dogs in the early hours of the morning. She calls the police, but they dismiss the incident — not only because Melsa is a notorious prankster, but also because the body disappears in the meantime. Sarcastic newspaper editor Pet...

A lot happened in 1932. Gandhi was arrested and interned by the British in India, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the United States Senate, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was published, women's suffrage was granted in Brazil, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, Goofy made his first ever appearance in a Disney short, the Summer Olympic Games took place in Los Angeles, the first Mars bar was produced, Babe Ruth performed his famous called shot, the BBC World Service began broadcasting, and the iconic Radio City Music Hall opened in Manhattan. It was also in 1932 that Carole Lombard and Clark Gable met for the first time, not knowing each would change the other's life forever.   LEFT: Carole Lombard in a studio portrait from circa 1935. RIGHT: Clark Gable photographed by Herbert Dorfman in 1936. CHAPTER I: Carole with an «e» Jane Alice Peters was born to a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 6, 1908. When she was seven years old, her pare...