{New Article} 1938: Why is Carole Lombard Hiding Out From Hollywood?

It’s Clark and Carole’s anniversary this week, so here’s one about the third Mrs. Gable. This article is one on a theme that is so over-played it’s rather boring at this point. Once Carole Lombard fell in love with Clark Gable, her nightclubbing days were over. Suddenly, she was a recluse! This was usually blamed on Clark–like he had forced her into a homebody life. Carole was a pretty strong-minded person and I sincerely doubt Clark forced her into anything. She fell into his patterns, certainly, as is natural with couples. Also, Clark was still a legally married man and I think part of it was because of that. I don’t think she was too keen on being the other woman, so to speak.

Of course there have been a lot of rumors about Carole’s sudden and voluntary retirement from public life. Some of them have been unkind—some tempered with tolerance. But all rumors come back to the same moot point—why is Carole absenting herself from the Hollywood scene?

Carole’s romance with Clark Gable is perhaps one of the most publicized in the world today. The gossips have it that Mr. G. himself is responsible for Carole’s “I won’t talk” attitude. They hint darkly at dissention between the present Mrs. Gable and her spouse that prevents the usual divorce and the expected happy ending of the Carole-Clark romance. But whether it’s true or not, Hollywood resents the fact that the happy-go-lucky Lombard that it once knew is no longer part of its colorful present.

The article then delves into tales of Carole’s generous acts, which is a bit odd considering the title.

Her habit of befriending people has paid her dividends like these only this once. But Carole never has thought of that angle. She wouldn’t.

There was what she did for Margaret Tallichet, for example. Margaret had come to Hollywood to try to get in the movies, had had no luck, and, determined to stay close to them, if not in them, had got a job as a stenographer at Paramount. She landed in the publicity department.

The legend has it that Carole first saw her there. That isn’t true. One day an interviewer (this was back in the good old pre-elusive days!)  had an appointment with Carole. Margaret’s boss, who was busy, sent Margaret to sit in on the interview. Carole said afterward, “I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t keep my eyes off that girl.”

She found out the girl’s name. The next day, she walked into the surprised secretary’s office and took her off to meet Adolph Zukor, head of the studio. Without any ballyhoo (Carole was against it), Margaret was enrolled in the studio’s acting school. Two months later, she was given a test. Nothing came of it. One broken-hearted girl saw herself going back to a typewriter for keeps. Carole saw something else.

She persuaded Zeppo Marx, a friend and an agent, to make an exception just once and have an unknown for a client. He interested Producer David O. Selznick in testing Margaret. Weeks passed afterward, with no word. Carole, herself, talked Selznick into making an elaborate second test.

To get “the right clothes” for Margaret, Carole raided the Paramount wardrobe department. That appealed to her sense of humor. Wouldn’t it be ironic for one studio, which hadn’t been interested, to help another to find a new star? She also bought clothes for Margaret. She talked to her by the hour, and had Clark Gable do likewise, giving her tips. Margaret was signed after that second test, given a “bit” in A Star is Born, then sent East by Selznick for a year’s training in little theatres and a year’s study in glamour, poise, and everything else a star should have. Margaret Tallichet is in for a big build-up—and all because of Carole!

 I don’t know how much of that story is true. I looked Margaret up and she certainly didn’t become a huge star, but she had a few parts in films from 1937-1941, when she retired after having children.

Everybody knows Carole’s love for animals. Everybody knows, also, that her favorite pet of all times was her dog, Pushface, which played in Love Before Breakfast, and in whose behalf Carole at the time took out full-page ads in the local trade papers. But few people know what has happened to Pushface.

“Push,” as she called him, was very fond of her maid. The maid was crazy about the dog. So what should Carole do but give Pushface to the maid—who is the “day” variety and lives “outside.” It wasn’t easy to part with Pushface. But giving him to the maid appealed to her as aw way to make both the dog and the girl happy. That’s typical of her.

That story is just plain not true. Pushface died around this time, 1938-1939. I don’t think I ever heard of her giving little Pushface to a maid. There is a story that Jean Garceau told in her book of when Pushface died and they had the dog stuffed.

Read more about Carole’s generosity in the Article Archive.