Articles
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{New Article} 1932: “I’m No Saint,” Says Clark Gable
This article from 1932 is mainly focused on Clark complaining about how reporters dig into his past…to a reporter. There isn’t a lot of substance here but it is interesting to hear Clark’s own voice saying what he feels about fame and it’s pitfalls. Unlike many articles of this period, it is at least filled with direct quotes and not fluffy backstory. Here are some quotes by Clark from the article: “I don’t like to have people asking me about the women I’ve fooled around with, trying to dig into my past. I’m willing to talk to people, and the press has given me some great breaks—but whose business is…
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{New Article} 1953: Gable and a Girl Named Kelly
If you take one look at the Article Archive, you’ll note that the majority of the articles (we’re up to over 130! ) are from the 1930’s and 40’s. This being mainly because that is when Clark Gable was at the peak of stardom and of most interest to writers and the public. As he aged, the top headlines went to the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis, Tony Curtis, etc. I can usually snap up any fan magazine from the 30’s and 40’s and find at least one Clark gossip item, article or photo. The 1950’s is hit or miss. Clark was in his fifties and, while still very much respected,…
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{New Article} 1940: How Does Gable Do It?
This article is one of a common theme: trying to determine why Clark Gable was so popular. At this point, Clark had been a major star for nine years. While that doesn’t seem like such a long time nowadays, to the fickle 1930’s audiences, it really was. “This won’t last, so I’m going to make my pile quick and get out!” Clark Gable told me, nearly eight years ago. The other day he smilingly admitted he had been a pretty poor prophet. Instead of getting out quickly, he has broken all records for year-after-year leadership at the box office. Throw in his Academy Award, his Rhett Butler triumph, his new…
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{New Article} 1938: Lombard as She Sees Herself
I try very hard to make sure that, while I have a lot of information about Carole Lombard, this website doesn’t become a Clark and Carole website because it isn’t, after all. I come across a lot of Carole articles and usually if they are before she was with Clark or don’t mention Clark, I don’t include them. When this article was written in 1938, Clark and Carole were very much together, although he doesn’t get too much of a mention. But this article is wonderful and yet somehwat sad; it paints such a lovely picture of Carole–young, vibrant, full of life and talking about looking forward to old age.…
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{New Article} 1933: Gable Answers Your Questions!
Early 1930’s fan magazine articles aren’t exactly a pleasure to read, for the most part. In my experience, most articles from this period are so fluffy, drawn-out, pointless and so unbelievably long that you wonder if they had a word count that had to be met in each magazine so they just filled it with junk with the occaisonal hidden gem. That being said, I actually like this article. True to form, it is entirely too long–nearly 4,000 words total! I can’t even imagine PEOPLE magazine or something of that sort printing an interview with a star that is 4,000 words. A few months prior, MOTION PICTURE magazine had an…
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Ask Clark Gable a Question!
No, I’m not talking about with a Ouija board. The above ad ran in the February 1933 issue of Motion Picture magazine: Here, at last is your chance to find out from your screen favorites, themselves, the things that you have been wanting to know. Here is your chance to ask some of those interesting questions that interviewers have neglected to ask. As a beginning for this unusual series, MOTION PICTURE provides you with the opportunity to get in tuch with the man of the hour, Clark Gable. Read about it–and then rush in your query! Well, don’t rush to fill out the 80 year old query sheet! On Friday, I…
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These are a Few of His Favorite Things…
Well, as I have lamented in prior years, Clark Gable never made a Christmas movie. There isn’t even a great Christmas scene in any of his films. All we have is the brief scene at the very end of The Easiest Way in which him and Constance Bennett see Anita Page trimming the tree on Christmas Eve. Well, although we have no Christmas scenes to savor this time of year, we can wonder: whatwould Clark have liked for a present? Let’s speculate… Clothes: Clark was very picky about clothes. He liked his clothes to be well made and fit perfectly. Once he found a piece he liked, he kept it for decades. He didn’t…
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A New Ending for Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta 73 years ago today and ever since, people have pondered if Scarlett would ever get Rhett back. Margaret Mitchell refused to ever answer the question, so everyone was left to their own imaginations. Screen Guide magazine held a contest for their readers to come up with the best new ending for GWTW and published the winner in its September 1940 issue: ___ The fadeout of “Gone with the Wind” whets the curiousity of millions of moviegoers. They watch Scarlett return to Tara alone, deserted by Rhett, and they argue hotly among themselves about what happened afterward. “He’d never go back…
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{New Article} 1932: “I’m Not So Sure,” Says Clark Gable
This article appeared in Photoplay magazine in January 1932, when Clark Gable was a new star and nobody knew much about him yet. It’s rather funny how nowadays a quick internet search provides anyone with information about virtually anybody, but 80 years ago the journalists were scrambling to separate fact from fiction in Clark’s history. Has he been married twice, three times or four? What is his true background? Every writer in Hollywood is trying to find answers to these questions. Some have printed stories without waiting to get the truth. It’s a very old Hollywood custom. But a custom which Clark, a newcomer, is incapable of understanding. “Why don’t…
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Veterans Day: Speaking of Heroes
A letter from the editor of Photoplay magazine, November 1942: Speaking of Heroes There isn’t a movie-goer among us who didn’t respond with quick emotion when Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the Air Corps of the United States Army, or who failed to feel a sense of elation reading the news less than three weeks later that Tyrone Power had been sworn in as private in the Marine Corps and that Henry Fonda, without advance word, had enlisted in the Navy. These men gave up adulation, riches and fame to become soldier, marine and sailor without rating. This did not make them heroes, but it did something else.…