Dateline April 28, 1939


Names are superfluous here. You know who they are. You’d not be reading Greenbriar otherwise. The year is 1939, and the event is Lionel Barrymore’s birthday. He was sixty-one years young the day this was taken. Back then sixty-one was old. If you made it that far, you achieved Grand Old Man status, at least at MGM. Norma’s firm hand-grasp might quicken the pulse of a man twice Lionel’s years, but he seems to be taking it all with equanimity. Mickey Rooney’s eighty-six now and the only survivor from this group. That’s got to be sobering. Couple of months ago, he was selling his autograph at an Atlanta sci-fi con. What a road he’s traveled. Be sure to read Life Is Too Short if you get a chance. That’s the one where Mick tells of his affair with Norma in graphic detail. Settles a lot of old scores as well. What a book. The lineup here, from left to right, as if it’s necessary to identify them --- Mickey Rooney, Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, Louis B. Mayer, William Powell, and Robert Taylor. Seated are Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, and Rosalind Russell.