Articles
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{New Article} 1937: How Will the Gable-Lombard Romance End?
This article from 1937 is taking a guess on how the fairly new but highly publicized Clark Gable and Carole Lombard romance would end. Sadly, I don’t think anybody would have ever guessed how it did end just a few years later. At this point, though, a lot of people were still eyeing the romance as another flash in the pan Hollywood union. And of course at this point Clark was still married to Ria and it really seemed as though that divorce was never coming! Carole was wise during this period. She knew that Clark was still married and while her and Clark were pictured together at Hollywood events,…
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{New Article} 1934: Any Man Would Like Clark Gable’s House!
This is the story of the house that a million women have dreamed about and have wanted to know about—Clark Gable’s new home. And when men read about Clark’s surroundings, he will rate even higher with them as a he-man than he already does. Don’t miss this vivid pen-picture of the interior of his home, which will give you new ideas of your own! …says the Editor’s note at the beginning of this article from 1934. Which is rather funny on many levels. This article describes the Brentwood home that Clark and his second wife Ria rented for about two years, 1933-1935. I believe that Ria stayed on there after…
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{New Article} 1935: This is Clark…and This is Bob
First off, let me apologize for my lack of updates recently. I have packed up my entire life and moved across town, which always seems like less of a chore than it actually ends up being. Among the many advantages of my new home is that I finally have an office, or “classic movie den” to call my own. While I shifted through boxes and boxes of paperwork, I finally organized all these articles that have been simmering on my desk for literally years. The good news is that I have 52 Clark Gable articles to type. The bad news is I have to type them. Oh well, let’s start with…
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{New Article} 1935: Into a White Hell For You
Yes, that is actually the title of this article! It is about the horrendous working conditions the cast and crew faced on Washington state location shoot for Call of the Wild. Most of it is a brief interview with Loretta Young: “Nobody expects to believe that a pampered film player ever is exposed to real hardships,” Loretta told me, “but if you could have seen what we went through–! It was no press agent’s dream, the rigors of that location trip. “It might not have been so difficult for me had I been accustomed to cold. Although I was born in Salt Lake City, where winter is frigid enough, I was brought…
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{New Article} 1941: Why Clark Gable is Today’s Topic for Gossip
This article (along with this image of Clark on the cover of the magazine) appeared in December 1941. 1941 being a year of peace for Clark, for the most part. Clark and Carole were happily settled in the ranch, trying to have a baby. Life was more calm. Up until the following month, of course. The premise of this article is one that is usually used for Carole: to talk about how Clark has gone into hiding. William H. Gable, a plain man from Ohio, had a birthday the other week. His son Clark had given him a little car to use on hunting and fishing expeditions and Gable, Sr.,…
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{New Article} 1932: Around the Clock with Clark Gable
In case you have ever sat and thought to yourself, “I wonder how Clark Gable spent his Saturdays eighty-one years ago?” I have the answer! In this probably-mostly-made-up article from 1932! At this point, Clark’s stardom was exploding and the MGM powers-that-be figured out that they couldn’t paint him as a nightclubbin’ man about town, no matter how hard they tried. So they went with the opposite approach: Here is your hearthrob Clark Gable, a man who woos Joan Crawford and wears tuxedos all week at the glamorous movie studio, but on the weekend schelps around town like an every day Joe! Here is is Saturday schedule: It is…
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{New Article} 1936: Jean and Clark Expose Each Other!
Clark Gable’s relationship with Jean Harlow was adorable. It wasn’t some great love affair like some people like to claim; it was a buddy-buddy, brother-sister relationship. He was always looking out after her, teasing her, and while everyone else called her “Baby,” he called her “Sis.” I like to point to his relationship with Jean when people say that he was some kind of predatory womanizer, like he bedded every co-star he had. Unfortunately, Jean was also one of the many women in Clark’s life who were special to him and then left him far too soon. This article is an interview conducted on the set of Wife vs. Secretary.…
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{New Article} 1936: Don’t Misunderstand the Clark Gables!
Here is an article from early 1936, when Mrs. Gable was Ria Franklin and all of movie fandom wasn’t whipped up into a frenzy over the pairing of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard yet. I don’t think most people understood why the reigning hearthrob of Tinsel Town was married to an older, matronly, stoic socialite with two teenage children. But they were indeed married and therefore it was the press’ obligation to portray their marriage as a wonderful romance, despite evidence to the contrary. Everyone in Hollywood knew that Clark and Ria were pretty much married in name only and that Clark had many affairs. It was a surprise to…
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{New Article} 1936: I’ve Lived a Lifetime in Five Years
Clark Gable was humble. This isn’t news to any fan of his, but this was new to those in the 1930’s used to worshipping screen gods put high up on unreachable pedestals. Clark’s “aw shucks” attitude was very different and at first MGM didn’t know how to publicize this kind of guy. Then they decided to go with it, and followed him around, posing him hunting and fishing and looking rugged. When Clark first touched the fringes of fame, he avoided parties and admitted that he was uncomfortable in dress clothes. He appeared only at the important places where the studio requested him to go. I well remember seeing him…
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{New Article} 1939: Will Carole Lombard’s Marriage End Her Career?
This 1939 article, written soon after Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s marriage, is very sexist. Okay, extremely sexist. But it was 1939 after all and so one has to quiet their inner feminist as they read things like… Carole Lombard, who was born Jane Peters, decided early in life that she had to do things to get places. She has devoted herself, through every working minute, to that aim. She has always wanted to be a star. She worked at it, and became a star. She built up the most amazing make-believe personality Hollywood has ever known, but she did it because she wanted something and that was her analysis…