Anniversary
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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…
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Remembering Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard died suddenly71 years ago today, at the age of 33, when her plane crashed into Table Rock Mountain near Las Vegas. Her husband, Clark Gable, was shattered. I have little doubt that the day that he stood at the base of the mountain, looking up at the burning wreckage and knowing his wife was up there, was the worst day of his life. But he was not alone in his grief–Carole was truly a person who was loved by all who knew her, even if the only way they knew her was on the screen. I have posted this fan poem before, but it is so beautiful it is…
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Goodbye, Mr. Gable
Fifty two years ago today, Clark Gable died in Los Angeles at age 59. Described by many as a man they thought would live forever, his death came as a great shock to his friends, family and fans. The obituary piece that ran in the following week’s TIME magazine: A Hero’s Exit Time Magazine, November 28, 1960 “I’ve laughed about my so-called death before,” he said last year, when his health seemed excellent and he smilingly scotched the sort of morbid rumor that forever comes up in the career of an aging giant. Of course he was not dead. The lines of his face had deepened and the skin had…
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Happy Birthday, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard, actress, patriot, everyone’s friend and Clark Gable’s third wife, among other things, would be 104 if she was alive today. Not impossible, but improbable. What did seem improbable was that such a sweet and beautiful soul could be taken from the earth at the age of 33. I think often of a famous quote by Clark: “That’s the funny thing about life. The tough ones don’t make it.” I don’t think Carole would have done too many things differently if someone had told her she would only live to be 33. I think perhaps having a child was the only big thing left on her bucket list; she…
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70 Years Ago Today, Clark Gable Joins the Army
Within weeks of Carole Lombard’s untimely death in January 1942, rumors swirled that Clark Gable was going to give up Hollywood for good and take off for the Armed Forces like so many other stars had. Carole had wanted her “Pappy” to join while she was alive; in fact her last telegram to him urged him to “join this man’s [Roosevelt’s] army!” Not surprisingly, MGM was desperate to hold on to him, after having lost so many male stars to the service already and tried to dissuade him. Clark made no public statements one way or the other, so the public was left to speculate what was next for their…
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We’re Three!
Today marks the third anniversary of this website, I am very happy to announce! (Technically it was yesterday but I had some posting problems…) So thank you, thank you, to you many Clark Gable fans who support me, who send me pictures, who have mailed me radio shows, who email me and discuss anything Gable related. Thank you for helping me keep Clark’s films and legacy alive! To date, there are over 10,500 pictures in the gallery– here are some of my favorites from the past year: There is so much more to come so stayed tuned!
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75 Years Ago, Saying Good-bye to Jean Harlow
75 years ago today, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard attended the funeral of 26 year old Jean Harlow. Jean was a dear friend of Clark’s. They starred together in The Secret Six, Red Dust, Hold Your Man, China Seas, Wife vs. Secretary and Saratoga. He loved her lack of pretense and how casual and free spirited she was. While everyone else called her “The Baby,” he called her “Sis.” Theirs was not a romantic relationship; he was like her protective older brother. They were filming Saratoga together when, after weeks of looking bloated and feeling fatigued, she collapsed on the set. She died just a few days later. Carole Lombard…
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Carole Lombard Became Mrs. Clark Gable…
…73 years ago today. Would they have stayed together if Carole had lived? We can only speculate. No marriage is perfect. But I must say, you don’t often come across a couple that looks this in love and this deliriously happy! Here is how their wedding day went, straight from Clark Gable himself: It has been written since then that Carole and I had that wedding day planned out for months in advance, but that’s not true. It happened this way. On the afternoon of March 28, I was finished with my scenes [in “Gone with the Wind”] about three in the afternoon. While I was taking off my make-up, the…
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Happy Birthday, Dear Mr. Gable!
Today is Clark’s 111th birthday. I suppose it is slightly feasible that he could still be alive today…but not very likely! Knowing him and his modest ways, I am sure he would be shocked that anyone in the year 2012 remembers him and his movies. But we all do! Here’s what Clark was doing every 11 years on his birthday: 1912: Living in a house his father built on Mill Street in Hopedale, Ohio, young Clark was in the fifth grade, playing the horn in the school band and thriving under the attention of his beloved stepmother, Jennie Dunlap. 1923: Clark (or as he was called then, “Billy”) was working at…
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Goodbye, Carole
Carole Lombard Gable died 70 years ago today. Amazing to think that it has been that long, as Carole left in her wake films and tales that seem so modern. I’ve often thought you could drop Carole down in this day and age and she wouldn’t miss a beat. There is no denying that her death infintely shaped Clark Gable’s life from that day on. He was different…and he was never quite the same. From “The Story Gable Wouldn’t Tell”, Modern Screen magazine, November 1942: Dorothy Canfield Fisher once wrote a story about a girl whose parents’ love and dependence on each other grew with every passing year. Then her…