Films
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Gossip Friday: Big Foot
From January 1939: Clark Gable was afflicted today with an ailment that brought no romantically sympathetic telegrams from his feminine fans. His 11-C size feet have swollen half a size, after six weeks of hoofing in patent leathers as a song and dance man for “Idiot’s Delight,” his latest motion picture. All his shoes tweak. Dr. H.A. Jones, a chiropodist, who was called in to see if something could be done to shrink the star’s growing feet, suggested Gable soak them in salt water twice a day.
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Gossip Friday: Over and Under Exposed
From July 1938: As a newsreel cameraman, Clark Gable for a day was convinced he was a flop. For his role as a newsreel cameraman in “Too Hot to Handle,” Gable was called upon to cling to the top of a racing ambulance with his camera equipment while filming Myrna Lot trapped in a crashed burning plane. While Hal Rosson’s cameras were filming Gable and the burning plane on MGM’s Sixty Acres, Gable also was making an actual newsreel of Miss Loy and the blazing plane to be shown on the screen of his boss’ projection room. When Gable returned to the set the next day, he received a regulation…
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Gossip Friday: Good Picture
From September 1947: Clark Gable has finally seen “Gone with the Wind.” He was telling on the “Homecoming” set how he happened to miss it. At the world premiere in Atlanta he was so weary from the civic celebration that he put his feet up on the railing before the front row and slept right through the picture. When it came to the premiere here [in Los Angeles], his wife, the late Carole Lombard, said she didn’t want to sit through the four-hour show again. So they walked through the crowds, down the aisle and right out the back exit. Recently a friend arranged a showing and invited Cark. “Good…
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Gossip Friday: Very Much All Right
From March 1941: Wouldn’t you think that, after coming 3,000 miles to see Clark Gable (and a few others), and, after rearranging a whole week so as to be able to get out to MGM, when he would be working on a picture–wouldn’t you imagine that we’d have something very serious and important to talk about? Something like the Rhett Butler portrayal which climaxed his career. Or like the shoulder which gave him so much trouble a few months ago. Or like his home life. Or Carole Lombard. Well, we did touch on those subjects, of course, but lightly. No need to say much about Rhett Butler, since Gable put…
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Gossip Friday: Setting a Record
From November 1938: Clark Gable says he has set a record for osculation in the movies. He had to kiss four nurses in one sitting in “Idiot’s Delight.” But something went wrong with each take (I think I know why), and Clark had to do each scene with each girl ten times. “I’m not sure I liked it,” said Mr. Gable. I bet Miss Lombard doesn’t like it, either.
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Gossip Friday: Rhett’s Command Performance
From January 1940: When Clark Gable and his wife, Carole Lombard, got home from their exciting trip to Atlanta for the premiere festivities of “Gone with the Wind,” Gable sank into his favorite chair, sighed, grinned and exclaimed: “Well, Mrs. G., here we are at home–and isn’t it wonderful? Now I know how kings feel when they finally get into their private suites and pull off their trappings, after reviewing the troops, laying a cornerstone and addressing the populace.” From first to last Gable has been doing a command performance. Frankly, he didn’t want to tackle the role of Rhett Butler. After all, the guy was a Southern renegade, a…
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Gossip Friday: Know It Backwards
From November 1938: As a very special favor, I was permitted on the “Idiot’s Delight” set–and understood the guarded doors when I found them filming the tap-dancing sequences Clark Gable hates so much. Director Clarence Brown asked Clark if he wanted a rehearsal before they started shooting, but Clark brushed him aside. “Naw,” he growled, “I know the thing backwards.” One take half-completed and Brown shouted “Cut!” Walking over to Gable, he added, a grim note to his voice: “Clark, I think you’re right. You know it backwards–but that isn’t the way we want it done!”
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Gossip Friday: Nice to Meet You
From 1948: Deborah Kerr: “It’s been told before, but I think it bears repeating–how I got to meet Clark Gable, with whom I starred in my first American picture, THE HUCKSTERS. I was introduced to him at the studio, but not by any of its officials; instead, by my own husband! Imagine Tony not ever telling me that he and Clark were old friends, having worked together when Clark was a member of the US Army Air Force in England! We were in Mr. Mayer’s office when Clark strode in. I took a quick breath and prepared to be my most charming self, but before anyone could say anything, Clark…
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Gossip Friday: Advice from the Expert
From July 1959: In a scene for “But Not For Me,” Clark Gable had to show Barry Coe how to kiss Carroll Baker, according to script. So when Barry had a love scene in “Affair” with Christine Carere, he got a still photo of the clinch, sent it to Gable with a note, “Is this okay?”
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Gossip Friday: Quite a Distraction
From 1954: In May, 1950, the big race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was only a few weeks away. To add to the excitement, MGM was hopefully trying to shoot scenes for To Please a Lady. The cameramen were trying to get shots of Barbara Stanwyck coming down the back steps of the Pagoda, but they couldn’t get into the correct position because of the crowd. Suddenly everybody started moving infield, and I, wondering what ruse they were using to distract the crowd, followed and saw four State Troopers. Walking in their midst was the handsome, smiling Clark Gable. This enabled MGM to shoot their scene, and enabled me to see…
