I. South by Southwest
The woman is leaving Indiana. It is 1942, the 16th of January, early in the morning, at about 7:00. She is famous, a movie star. There is a plane, nearby where she stands, on the runway, for she is to be taken home to Los Angeles. Her luggage, brought from her California home, is sparse, only what she needed for the concert she was giving. Her mother is afraid of flying, and she encouraged her daughter not to go. She is dismissive of her mother’s nagging. Her mother proposed a coin toss, and her daughter won it, and now she is taking the plane. Her mother is there, and so is her agent. Now they are all waiting for the plane.
The midwestern wind caresses the woman’s dress. She reaches to keep her veil and hat on. She looks up, and now she realizes where the omnipresent midwestern wind originated from. She sees a plane, the one (she believes) will take her home. It is Douglas DST, a fine vehicle, a safe one. The plane hovers, and begins to land.
The pilot, inside, is dead tired; he has not slept. He should keep flying, he reassures himself, but he knows that the copilot could serve just as well. A small moment of hesitation follows, and he ultimately caves in to his fatigue. “Jack,” he says. “Jack, take over for me. I’m dead tired.” “All right, Tom,” the man Jack says, gripping the wheel. He lands the plane on the obliging ground. He begins releasing the steps, attached to the plane, from their enclosure, and now they fall downwards, to the runway. He senses a bit of a catch, and he is struggling on the wing. The woman sees this, and she laughs. The man Jack is, of course, a bit embarrased. After half a minute’s more struggle, he looses the stepladder, and the woman proceeds upwards, followed by her mother, and the agent. He thinks “Carole Lombard. Jeezus.”
He goes into the cockpit, and the flight begins. The plane stops in Las Vegas, to refuel. The woman steps out of the plane, for a bit of fresh air. Now she is back in the plane, and, as night falls, she goes to sleep. She is roused from slumber by a bit of a hard maneuver on the plane’s part. She goes up to the cockpit, and Jack says “Nothing to worry about, miss. Turbulence, ya see. Down there’s Potosi Mountain.” She looks out the window and down, and, as the man said, there is the mountain. After a minute, she returns to her bed, and returns to sleep. She is roused, again, by the plane landing at Burbank Airport. Carole Lombard leaves the plane. It is now about 9:00, and there is Clark Gable, running to meet his wife.
———
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the world of The Golden Age. This is an alternate history timeline, of course. The point of divergence is what you just read; in OTL, Carole Lombard, a well-known comedic actress, returning from a performance for American soldiers in her native Indiana, died on that plane, as did her mother and her press agent, Otto Winkler. In OTL, it hit Potosi Mountain, in Nevada, but in this TL, of course, she survives. The year is 1942. The Second World War is brewing, in the Pacific and in Europe. The American war machine has just been awakened, and the Soviets are engaged in vicious war with the Nazis.
This timeline is made for me to combine a number of the things I am most fond of: the Golden Age of Hollywood and its issue of films; alternate history; and writing. This is my first AH TL, although I have been a long-time lurker. It's going to be in both an epistolary and narrative form, because I hope you’ll enjoy this timeline; I’ll certainly enjoy writing it and hearing from you all.
Index:
Parts:
Part 1: Introduction (South by Southwest)
Part 2: Persona
Part 3: A Winter's Tale
Part 4: Gone With the Wind
Part 5: It's All True
Part 6: The End of An Era
Part 7: The Butcher of Iowa
Part 8: The American Century
Part 9: Childhood's End
Part 10: Stability
Specials:
Special 1. Significant Personae of the 20th Century
Special 2. More Significant Personae of the 20th Century
Extras:
Extra 1: A Brief Chat
Extra 2: From the LA Times-Tribune, Part 1