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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.     CHAPTER I: Carole with an «e» Jane Alice Peters was born to a wealthy Indiana family on October 6, 1908. When she was seven years old, her parents separated and her mother, Bessie, took her and her two older brothers to live in Los Angeles. Jane grew up a «tomboy» and was pa...

Ava Gardner Frank Sinatra Norma Shearer Bob Hope and Doris Day Ann Miller Loretta Young Kim Novak Elvis Presley   Merry Christmas, everyone!

Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) begins in early 1942, when Lt. Col. James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) calls for volunteers for a top-secret Army Air Force mission, following the surprise Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. One of the many men to offer his services is pilot Lt. Ted Lawson (Van Johnson), who is sent for training at Eglin Field in Florida, along with his B-25 Mitchell crew, including gunner Cpl. David Thatcher (Robert Walker) and navigator Lt. Charles McClure (Don DeFore). Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson as James Doolittle and Ted Lawson in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo .   During the first of many briefings, Doolittle informs the men that the mission they are about to undertake will be tough and dangerous, and encourages anyone with doubts to drop out. Ted's friend and fellow pilot, Lt. Bob Gray (Robert Mitchum), suggests that he withdraw from the mission, since he recently got married, but Ted remains determined to go thro...