Articles
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{New Article} 1935: A New Log of The Bounty
This is a short article from 1935 about the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty on Catalina Island. It really doesn’t give much detail except to rehash the history of the events depicted in the picture. A new tale, of another Bounty, could be written around the adventures of that sore-beset crew, filming this grand tale for Metro, for all of them, from Director Frank Lloyd on, have stories to tell of trials and tribulations. But it all is well worth it, for without question here, in “Mutiny on the Bounty,” will be one of the greatest pictures ever contrived. I have lately returned from a cruise on this new…
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{New Article} 1937: Two Kings Share One Crown
This fluff piece from 1937 was most certainly ordered by MGM publicity to beef up their young acquisition, Robert Taylor. The article discusses how “Bob” is replacing Clark and how Clark’s day in the sun is fading. Which makes zero sense. It wasn’t until after this article was published that Clark was officially crowned the “King of Hollywood” by Ed Sullivan, and Bob at this point was really just starting out, Camille and Magnificent Obsession being his two most memorable roles at this point. This is quite the transparent PR play. Robert Taylor, a youth in his twenties, briefly out of an American university, has overnight become the living symbol…
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{New Article} 1932: What About Clark Gable Now?
Clark Gable had only been in the public eye for a little over a year when this article was published. But yet it’s all about “What is he up to NOW? What is NEW with him? He has CHANGED so much!” Meet Clark Gable today! This he-man with dimples; this gangster who went heroic by feminine demand; this most desired of all screen lovers—where does he go from here? His powerful performance in “Strange Interlude” has clinched his right to stardom. Unofficially MGM’s biggest male draw for the past six months, he is on his own for the first time in the just completed “China Seas.” What is Hollywood doing…
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{New Article} 1931: Do Women Love Cave Men?
Newcomer Clark Gable had burst onto the screen in 1931, tossing around the likes of Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck, sending feminine hearts aflutter. But does this mean that women love cavemen??? WE MUST KNOW. Ivan Lebedeff says: “A woman loves the man she loves, whatever he is. Love to a woman is something, the reason for which can never be explained. The most beautiful women often give themselves to ugly and sometimes even invalid men. And women of fine intellectual and spiritual development sometimes give themselves to absolute dumbbells. “But there’s a physical side to all women. They are all thrilled or attracted more or less by…
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{New Article} 1932: An Open Letter to Clark Gable
These “open letters” that editors of fan magazines would write to stars are quite eye roll-inducing. Usually they mildly insult the stars in some way, then the star offers a rebuttal. This one is at least short and I didn’t find Clark’s rebuttal in any subsequent issues of this magazine so I guess “Delight’s” opinion didn’t matter much to him, eh? From Screenland magazine editor Delight Evans: Dear Clark: This is going to hurt me more than it does you. I like you a lot—just because I’m an editor doesn’t mean I can’t pick my favorites—and I hope you like me, too. (I should think you would after all those…
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{New Article} 1931: By Popular Request
When this short article was published in the summer of 1931, Clark Gable had just busted onto the screen with several small but memorable roles in films such as The Secret Six, Dance Fools Dance and A Free Soul. I am guessing that the magazines had a lot of requests for more information on this new heartthrob and the magazines didn’t have much to say yet… Clark Gable’s face is undoubtedly his greatest asset. No, this newest recruit from the New York stage isn’t a handsome young man, with curly hair and chiseled features. If he were, you probably wouldn’t remember him, because leading men do have a way of…
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{New Article} 1936: Clark Gable Warns Stenos What Happens When Husbands Get Caught in a Triangle
This article (and yes that is actually the long, rambling title) is quite obviously just a piece to promote Clark Gable’s latest film, Wife vs. Secretary. Clark, who never worked in an office, is asked about husbands having affairs with their secretaries. “The office husband problem is a tougher subject to talk on than politics—unless you stick to the fence, and I don’t like people who do that. Anyway, I’ve never worked in an office so I wouldn’t know much about that, but, just from the way you have to figure these things out for a picture, I’d say that office wives have to be as careful as office husbands—and…
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{New Article} 1957: Memories of a Great Lover
This article from 1957 is about Clark’s “slowed-down” lifestyle. I’d say that’s understandable for a 57-year-old, wouldn’t you? In 1958—on February 1—Clark will be fifty-seven years old. He’s still one of the biggest at the box-office—and as lusty a he-man to the ladies in the audience as he ever was. But Clark is slowing but he still stands as straight as an Indian and can make a muscle on any part of body lie. He tips 200 on the scale—only twenty-five more than twenty years ago—and his middle finger doesn’t bulge. But Clark has mellowed. “He’s seen it and done it and had it in spades,” one friend said, “and…
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{New Article} 1936: Gable’s New Freedom
This article, from 1936, arrived on newsstands after it had been announced that Clark Gable and his second wife, Ria Franklin, were divorcing. “The only possession I have ever craved, the only goddess I can serve faithfully for all my life is freedom!” So said Clark Gable. “I’m a tramp at heart,” he continued. And with these words he gave the real “inside” story of himself, of all that he wants from life, even of the marital events recently headlined and hysterics-lined. For though Clark, in due course of time, will be “in circulation” again—he won’t be. Not really. He looked magnificent as he sat there, in his dressing room.…
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{New Article} 1956: The Brave Lovers
This article is from 1956, when Clark Gable and fifth wife Kay Williams Spreckels had been married less than a year. It’s one of those that I’m not really sure what the point of it is. Also they picked the weirdest photo for the main page of the article; it’s him helping her out of a chair and she’s hunched over and not looking at the camera (See for yourself). Anyway. Clark Gable and his wife Kay have had more than their share of trouble in their lives. But fate waited until now, when they thought there was nothing but peace ahead, to deal them the hardest blow. Their big…
