Anniversary
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Happy Birthday, Mr. Gable!
Today is Clark Gable’s 113th birthday! Instead of me describing the man and shouting his praises, let’s leave it to the people who actually knew him, shall we? Here are 113 quotes about Clark from his wives, his friends, his costars and his coworkers: 1. “The tough thing about describing Clark Gable is that there’s nothing bad to say.” ~director Mervyn Leroy 2. “I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather have for a friend than Clark Gable. He embodies all the qualities which are necessary for true friendship.” ~Jean Harlow 3. “He’s a man with millions of friends. And I’m proud to be one of them.” ~Spencer Tracy 4. “Clark Gable.…
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Remembering Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard Gable died 72 years ago today, in a horrific plane crash. She was 33 years old. It’s always difficult to realize that she died such a long time ago, as she always comes across as so modern. This memorial article from Hollywood magazine sums her up quite nicely. Rather than being sappy about her death, it is rather a tribute to the person that she was. “This Was Carole,” Hollywood magazine, April 1942: Carole Lombard was a great woman. The president of the United States paid tribute to her and the service she gave her country in time of need. International press associations wrote in praise of her and named…
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In Memory
After a long and tedious shooting schedule for The Misfits, Clark Gable was ready for a rest. He was set on not doing another movie until after his child was born, in March. On November 6, 1960, he spent what would be his final day at his beloved ranch. He toiled away the day working with his hunting dog, playing with his step-children, and relaxing. He told his wife Kay he felt tired and went to bed early. He tossed and turned all night. At about 8:00am, Kay awakened to see Clark standing in the doorway, pale and sweating. “Ma, I have a terrible pain.” he said simply. He told her not to…
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Happy 100th Birthday to Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh was heralded as one of the great beauties of her time, won two Best Actress Oscars (especially impressive since she starred in only 19 films), and was the wife of one of the most celebrated actors of the century, Sir Laurence Olivier. Despite all of the above, to most she was simply Scarlett O’Hara. When she died at only 54 years old, many of the world’s headlines proclaimed “SCARLETT O’HARA DEAD!” I’m sure she would have cringed at that headline. Not that she wasn’t proud of hving played Scarlett, but the role became suffocating in a way that she couldn’t escape. Vivien was always Scarlett and sometimes she…
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Happy Birthday, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard, aka Jane Peters, aka Carole Gable, would have been 105 today! It wouldn’t be Carole’s birthday without this snippet of Clark singing Happy Birthday to his “Ma”: HappyBirthday To celebrate, here is the tale of Carole’s 32nd birthday and how it didn’t go exactly as she planned it… [On the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, on her birthday, Carole Lombard] had a hunch that [director Alfred] Hitchcock would send her a Western Union singing boy, so she decided to top his gag by having ten Western Union singing boys arrive on the set at five o’clock and sing birthday greetings to everyone on the set except herself. It was…
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We’re Four!
Hard to believe, but this site is four years old today! I feel like I just wrote last year’s anniversary post. There are now over 150 articles on the site, ver 11,000 pictures in the gallery and weeks and weeks of Gossip Fridays! I am forever indebted to the fantastic Clark Gable fans that I interact with on a daily basis. Sometimes, out here on the internet, you wonder if anyone is listening. Sometimes while I’m organizing photos, typing a 3,000 word article, compiling and tagging stacks of fan magazines, I wonder if anyone cares. And it is all of you who tell me that yes, yes you do indeed!…
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82 Years Ago, Clark Marries His Second Wife…For the Second Time?
It was 82 years ago today that 30-year-old Clark Gable married 47-year-old Maria “Ria” Franklin. According to the press at the time, it was a repeat ceremony because the one that had been performed months earlier in New York was suddenly discovered to be invalid in California. Well at least, that’s the way it was spun to the public… In many ways, it was easier to be a star back then. The studio assigned you your films, your co-stars, dictated your schedule; they covered up your affairs, paid off columnists to shoo away divorce rumors and personal scandals, and made sure the pictures of you that were published were…
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Clark Gable and Carole Lombard–Married, Married At Last
On March 29, 1939, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were finally married, after three years of will-they-or-won’t-they by the press and their fans. Clark, who emerged on the Hollywood scene just eight years earlier, had been saddled down with an older wife nobody could quite figure out and some secret lovers the press helped him keep hidden. Carole, around Hollywood since her teens, had long been America’s beloved screwball and everyone was breathlessly anticipating her next chapter. Here is Photoplay magazine wishing Carole best wishes on her new role as Mrs. Gable: The little guy who spills the moonlight Over every garden trail, Who plugs our hearts with silver…
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On Valentine’s Day, Clark Gable Drives Carole Lombard Crazy!
On Valentine’s Day in 1936, Clark Gable was heading to the studio for a day on the set of San Francisco when he found an old, dilapidated Model T Ford in his parking space, painted white with big red hearts on it. The note attached to the steering wheel was unsigned–saying only “You’re driving me crazy!” It could be from nobody but Carole Lombard–the reigning queen of gags. The car had cost her fifteen dollars at a junk yard and five hundred to be decorated and put in working order! Her and Clark had begun quite the flirtation over the past few weeks–at The Mayfair Ball and at Jock Whitney’s house party just…
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Happy Birthday, Mr. Gable!
If Clark Gable were alive today, he would be 112 years old. Notorious for his humbleness, I have no doubt that he would be shocked that anyone remembers him in 2013. In honor of Clark’s birthday, here are a collection of quotes from people who knew him, as an appreciation: “What a man, what a man! He razzes me every minute in hopes of getting my goat—and sometimes he does. In a big hot love scene the other day, he whispered, ‘Jean, you’ve got your eyebrows on upside down.’ So I said I could hardly wait for him to grow old and gray as I was just crazy about Gray…