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Gossip Friday: Gable Oranges
From April 1939: If Clark Gable wants to rubber-stamp his oranges with a likeness of himself he can make a fortune from them, he was informed recently. On the Encino ranch which Gable recently purchased there are between 800 and 900 Valencia orange trees, now loaded with fruit. A Valley packing house made him an offer to buy the crop at a figure far above the market price, if Gable will allow his picture to be used on the boxes and on the individual oranges, which will be sold as the “Gable Oranges.” __ Well that never came to fruition. Haha, see what I did there….
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Gossip Friday: April Fool!
From April 1, 1939: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard today denied any marriage plans and said that they are “just good friends.” “It was merely a publicity stunt from the beginning,” chuckled Miss Lombard. “Why, I am young enough to be Mr. Gable’s sister! He is really engaged to May Robson, and I have consented to marry Mr. Jasper Jitterwhisk, a tap drummer. Mr. Gable is returning all my presents except Bessie, the mule, which he needs for his spring plowing.” APRIL FOOL! ___ That was really printed in the paper as an April Fools joke, along with other gems like “After changing his director, scene artist, cameraman and several…
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Happy Anniversary, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married 79 years ago today, on March 29, 1939, eloping to Kingman, Arizona on the spur of the moment. You can read Clark’s description of their wedding day here. Because they managed to slink away and marry with no fanfare, they dutifully obliged to an early morning press conference on the front lawn of Carole’s home on St. Cloud Rd. There is newsreel footage of this press conference, with Clark and Carole in their wedding attire, beaming and laughing and constantly touching each other. But it is silent. There are dozens and dozens of pictures of them; every time I think I’ve seen every…
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Happy Birthday, Mr. Gable
Today is Clark Gable’s 117th birthday! To celebrate, I thought I’d comb through my massive collection and pick out my favorite 117 pictures of him. Not an easy feat, as I lost count at 20,000 photos a long time ago and there are so many I haven’t scanned or categorized yet. But here they are. These are in no particular order; they are not a countdown of my favorite pictures and they are not in chronological order either (thought that would be boring). They are just 117 of my favorites and the reason I love them could be because they are beautiful, they are weird, they are funny…whatever reason. Here…
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Last Year, This Year, Next Year
A belated Happy New Year to all! I usually do a re-cap of the year’s blog posts but things were a bit quiet here in 2017. Not due to lack of new content available, as my office is drowning in it, but due to personal obligations I couldn’t post as much as I wanted. I certainly didn’t want to stop the Gossip Fridays but even those had to be halted for a bit. My ambition for this year is to at last get through articles I have had for years. And I’m also going to re-watch a lot of Gable films and offer a new post. So those are coming.…
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Goodbye, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard died 76 years ago today, at the age of 33. Her brief time on earth ending after crashing into a snowy mountaintop near Las Vegas, she left behind a world of grieving fans and one distraught husband. Celebrate, rather than mourn, Carole today. She would not be one to wallow, after all! Some great Carole content around here: Last year I chronicled the newspaper headlines around the time of her death, starting with January 16, through January 23: 75th Anniversary of Carole Lombard’s Death Here’s a piece regarding Carole and those persisting baby rumors: Carole Lombard, Clark Gable and The Baby That Never Was Some rare Carole photos…
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Happy Anniversary, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard finally tied the knot 77 (can you believe it) years ago today! Associated Press, March 30, 1939: Happy Ending Written to Courtship of Hollywood Stars Fun-loving Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who wrote the long anticipated happy ending to the story of their courtship in a little Arizona town late yesterday, returned early today to the bride’s Bel-Air home. Exhausted by their 750-mile trip, they retired, to wait until later to move into the home on his One-Mule San Fernando Valley ranch which Gable redecorated in preparation for the wedding. Friends were not surprised when news of the ceremony reached here last night, although their…
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Everything That is Wrong with Gable and Lombard (1976) Part Two
Part Two of me watching Gable and Lombard (1976) again and reporting back on how terrible it is. Here’s Part One. (I am quoting a movie that is Rated R so please pardon the language) Having decided to make a go of their relationship and to keep it under wraps, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are now disguising themselves as Western Union delivery boys and cab drivers to sneak off together. Aren’t those Clark’s pre-denture teeth? He calls her “Ma” here for the first time, but she still shrieks “Gable” all the time. In reality Clark and Carole were seen everywhere–premieres, auto races, horse races, restaurants, parties–everywhere. They received lots…
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Everything That is Wrong with Gable and Lombard (1976) Part One
Oh, the things I do in the name of this site. I receive a lot of random emails (by the way if I don’t answer your email right away, forgive me as my emails server tends to send them in packs of 50 about three days after they were originally sent–don’t get me started). I do love to receive emails from new Clark Gable fans asking questions or just declaring their new love for Clark. I especially love to point Gone with the Wind fans in the direction of Clark’s other works, as there was so much more to the man than Rhett Butler. Over the years, I have received…
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{In the News} The Final Years of Kay Williams 1965-1983
Here is our final installment of the Kay Williams news clippings series. The other installments: Clark Gable Marries Kay Spreckels 1955-1960 Kay Williams Divorces Adolph Spreckels, Dates Clark Gable Again 1951-1954 Kay Williams Marries Adolph Spreckels 1945-1951 Kay Williams Dates Clark Gable (For The First Time) 1944-1945 Kay Williams 1937-1943 We pick up in 1965. April 19, 1965: Los Angeles–On the flickering screen was the happiest marriage of casting and character, plot and player, in the long history of motion pictures. The handsome, muscular man who played the renegade Confederate blockage runner seemed less an actor than the real article. In short, it was hard to tell where Clark Gable…