Articles
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1960: Why Gable Feared Rhett Butler
Below is one of Clark Gable’s final interviews, by an entertainment reporter who went to see him in Reno. Why Gable Feared Rhett Butler by Emery Wister November 18, 1960 One of Clark Gable’s last interviews was given to Emery Wister, The Charlotte News amusement writer. Here Mr. Gable, the film star who died in his sleep yesterday, tells some of his fears in playing the role of Rhett Butler in “Gone with the Wind.” RENO–Twenty-one years ago Clark Gable was afraid his career was about to come to a sudden, crashing halt. The public was insistent that he play the role of Rhett Butler in “Gone with the Wind.”…
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{New Article} The Great Gable Part 2
Here is part 2 of The New York Daily News’ “Great Gable” series. A rather disjointed piece, swinging from Clark’s recent marriage to Kay Williams, his reputation as aloof and lonely, and the failure of his post-war films to catch on with audiences. Paradoxically, Gable, while fundamentally a lone wolf, is a friendly man, with a lively interest in others. During all the years he was King of MGM, the legend of Clark Gable’s inaccessibility grew to the point where he became widely regarded as a male Garbo. Affably aloof was the way reporters most often described him. And when one gained a rare interview with the celebrated star, it…
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{New Article} The Great Gable Part 1
This is part one of a series of articles that were written for the New York Daily News. Apparently Clark Gable gave them a few quotes, they interviewed some of his friends, were all ready to go to print and then came the surprising news that Clark had eloped with Kay Williams the day before. So they had to squeeze that into the articles as well. It is hard to find anybody who doesn’t like Gable—even among his ex-wives and girlfriends, practically a small army in themselves. Even Lady Sylvia Ashley, Wife No. 4 whom Gable eventually locked out of his California ranch, has admitted, grudgingly, that Gable is quite…
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{New Article} Marriage is Career Enough
This syndicated newspaper article was published in November 1941, so just two months before Carole Lombard’s untimely death. There was lots of talk before her death of Clark and Carole buying a larger, more commercial farm in Wyoming or Montana. These plans never came to fruition after Carole’s death. Clark never could bring himself to sell their Encino ranch so ultimately it would be the final home for both of them. Marriage is Career Enough by Mayme Ober Peak Being Mrs. Gable More Important Than Film Roles, Says Carole Mrs. Gable is the happiest woman in Hollywood. And Carole Lombard doesn’t give a darn whether she ever makes another picture.…
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{New Article} Gable the He-Man Talks!
Here’s a brief article from London’s Daily Mirror in 1936, while Clark Gable was filming San Francisco. Nothing earth shattering here. A man with a very dirty face. A man in a grimy, tattered suit. A queer-looking cove with blood-stains all over him, sitting patiently on a rickety old camp-stool. Don’t look round now, but it’s your old friend, Clark Gable. Want to know what he’s really like? If he’s really and truly the Tall-Dark-and-Handsome he looks on the screen? If he’s really so tough as the pictures make him out to be? I’ll tell you now. Better still, Clark Gable will tell you himself. He said this: “I’ve had…
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{New Article} Hollywood’s Happiest Woman
Below is one of Carole Lombard’s final interviews, printed by the Associated Press in the days following her January 16, 1942 death. Hollywood’s Happiest Woman by Mayme Ober Peak Hollywood-Jan. 17–Sitting in her portable dressing room on the set of “To Be or Not To Be,” only seven weeks ago, Carole Lombard told me she was the happiest woman in Hollywood. I remarked that she was making her first picture in more than a year. She nodded, looked at me a little quizzically, and then said, almost sharply, “I don’t care if I never make another picture.” “No matter what career women tell you,” she said, “you cannot find happiness…
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{New Article} 1940: Gable vs. Crawford
This is a new short little article gossiping that Clark Gable and Joan Crawford were not getting along on the set of Strange Cargo. This was actually mentioned in a few Gable biographies. Clark did not want to be in the film as he did not like the script (I can’t say I blame him). Joan’s career was on a downturn and she needed a hit so she was paired with Clark, who was just coming off Gone with the Wind success. Joan was a bit miffed at this, since just nine years earlier, she was the big star and Clark was getting his feet wet playing her love interests…
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{New Article} 1950: Clark and Sylvia
New to the website is a series of syndicated newspaper articles written 74 years ago this week. The media was in a frenzy because, out of the clear blue, Clark Gable had hurriedly gotten married just before Christmas 1949 and hightailed it to Hawaii. The game of “who would be the next Mrs. Gable” had been played practically since Carole Lombard’s funeral eight years prior. Any woman Clark was pictured out with was declared to be the one. The British, thrice-married widow of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was a shock then and it’s still a shock now. 74 years later, it still isn’t clear what on earth Clark was thinking. There…
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New Articles!
You’d think considering that Clark Gable has been dead for nearly 62 years that I would run out of material; that one day there would just be no articles left. That day is nowhere in the near future! There are five new articles in the Article Archive today, and I must admit that none of them are especially remarkable. So instead of devoting a post to each, here they are and they are quite diverse and span thirty years! 1933: Is the Future Threatening Gable? This article speculates whether Clark Gable’s fast ascension into super stardom will cause him to flicker out quickly. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t). Leslie Howard, himself,…
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{New Article} 1948: The Gable Women
This 1948 article is one in a long list of ones from this time period after the War, after Carole, but before Sylvia, where the press was trying to guess who the next Mrs. Gable would be. This game would restart after Sylvia left the picture. At this point, in late 1948, the list of probable Mrs. Gables was narrowed down to Dolly O’Brien, Slim Hawks, Iris Bynum, Anita Colby and Virginia Grey. what of Anita Colby, Hollywood’s most glamourous executive? The fans were asking that one, because of all the Gable dates, she has received the most publicity. Anita is one of those girls everybody likes. It seems inconceivable…
