Fireball, Robert Matzen
Fireball, Robert Matzen
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Fireball
Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3

Author: Robert Matzen

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Unabridged: 12 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/14/2014

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

This fresh look at Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball," Carole Lombard, presents a first-ever examination of the events that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her life on the side of a Nevada mountain in 1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard's husband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with the tragedy. In effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds and stamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard became the first Hollywood star to sacrifice her life in the war.The War Department offered Gable a funeral service with full military honors, but he refused it, knowing his wife would not approve of such spectacle. Based on extensive research rather than gossip, this investigation further explores the lives of the twenty-one others on the plane, including fifteen members of the US Army Air Corps, and addresses one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II. On a clear night full of stars, with TWA's most experienced pilot at the controls of a ten-month-old aircraft under the power of two fully functioning engines, why did the flight crash into that Nevada mountainside?This gripping page-turner presents the story of the people on the plane, the friends and families left behind, and the heroic first responders who struggled up a mountain hoping to perform a miracle rescue. It is a story of accomplishment, bravery, sacrifice, and loss.

About Robert Matzen

Robert Matzen is a former federal contractor for NASA who now specializes in Hollywood history. He has appeared on BBC 2 and BBC Radio 4. He is the author of Carol Lombard: A Bio-Bibliography and Errol & Olivia, and he is the coauthor of Errol Flynn Slept Here. He lives in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

About Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert is an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry. Named the 2018 Voice of Choice by Booklist magazine, she is also winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has earned numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. Audible.com has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir. In addition to voice acting, she is an accomplished producer, singer, and theater actor. She is also a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Justine on July 02, 2014

Carole Lombard was one of those rare people in perpetually catty Hollywood who seems not have left behind anyone who could say a bad word about her. Her boundless energy, generous heart, delicious sense of humor, down-to-earth sexiness, and general exuberance have endeared her to generations of fans......more

Goodreads review by Donna on April 10, 2015

This certainly was a page-turner. I had no problem with the switch between the Lombard biography and the events leading up to the crash. I found the biography of Lombard to be "bio-lite" easy to skim and clearly cribbed from the sources. The meat of the research went into the files on the crash and......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on October 21, 2023

OK, I devoured this in a day, given the intersection of my love of vintage Hollywood, calamities, and WWII. Matzen does a great job with research, but I'm giving him four stars instead of five because of his unfortunate reliance on what he called "extrapolation," or the insertion of his thoughts int......more

Goodreads review by Jim on December 27, 2016

This is a very informative book about one of Hollywood's best-loved stars, the "Dream" romance of Hollywood royalty, and the tragedy of a plane crash that has long served as fodder for conspiracy theorists. The danger of such a book is that it may be nothing but a bare-bones rehashing of details .........more

Goodreads review by Susan on March 01, 2015

The author suggests at the start of the book that he has "discovered" something about the plane crash that killed Carole Lombard. We are led to believe it is, perhaps, something sinister because Orson Welles once said at lunch to Henry Jaglom, "the plane was shot down, and those who know, know." Rea......more

Quotes

“Fantastic job of research, served up as a real page-turner. It would make a great movie.” Lou Lumenick, chief film critic, New York Post

“Tavia Gilbert delivers a fast-paced narration in a pleasant voice…An enjoyable listening experience.” AudioFile

“This work alternates coverage of her film career; her much beloved image, which combined looks, style, and down-to-earth humor; her romances, culminating in her marriage to superstar Clark Gable; and her final flight, which led to an arduous recovery effort…Matzen shows how Lombard’s bubbly personality and democratic nature provoked profound mourning in Hollywood and around the country after her death.” Library Journal

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