Films
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Gossip Friday: Rhett Can Ride
From March 1940: Clark Gable proved that if he ever gets tired of romantic leads he can sign up as a hard-riding western star. Assigned to “sit out” a scene on a spirited black horse, Gable found the animal feeling too good to stand still. So, before the next take was ready, Gable galloped his steed up the road and gave it such a workout that it was glad to take a rest while the picture was being shot. The riding part was that of Rhett Butler in “Gone with the Wind,” David O. Selznick’s Technicolor production starring Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland and currently showing…
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Gossip Friday: Below Freezing
From March 1947: Clark Gable and Lana Turner are another pair of movie lovers who are not presently what you might call friendly. During “Homecoming,” the atmosphere on the set was below freezing they tell me. And that’s really strange because Lana and Clark are the two sexiest characters in the film business. I mean, if anyone can out-sexy Clark, it’s Lana–and vice versa. I’m told they had an outside date once and something went wrong. However, they’re both too smart to let it show in their movies.
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Gossip Friday: Misadventure
From February 1951: You can safely bet anything you have that Clark Gable and Greer Garson will never kiss each other, or anything each other, in any movie. “Gable’s Back and Garson’s Got Him!” I remember the ad excitement when Clark returned from the war, and Greer, then Queen of the Metro lot, grabbed him for “Adventure.” A better title might have been “Misadventure.” They never did hit it off. Some say it was because Greer was ready to work until 10:00am. Clark Gable stomped on the sidelines, made up and ready to go from 9:00am. But that I find hard to swallow. Greer is too conscientious an actress to…
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Gossip Friday: Don’t Worry, Fella
From April 1947: At a preview showing of “Homecoming” in Glendale, Clark Gable, John Hodiak and Anne Baxter were all sitting together. During a love scene between Gable and Anne, a man behind them whispered to his wife: “Gee, Hodiak just sits there and watches Gable make love to his wife.” Hodiak turned around and whispered back, “Don’t worry, fella. I kissed Anne when we got home. And Gable wasn’t there to watch me.”
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Gossip Friday: Intelligent and Sensitive
From June 1948: On “The Hucksters” set, Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr were going through a scene in the rear of a taxi. Clark looked exceedingly well…. Producer Arthur Hornblow strolled over and [said] what a pleasure it was to work with Clark. “He knows the script inside out weeks in advance and if there is a complaint to be made, he makes it before the picture starts instead of waiting until the day of the scene. And intelligent, sensitive actor,” Mr. Hornblow pronounced him.
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Gossip Friday: Very Gray
From 1950: The person this story amuses most is–Clark Gable. It seems before he started “Across the Wide Missouri,” his studio instructed him to let his beard grow. Being a good boy who always does what he’s told, the virile Mr. G. just smiled and tucked away his razor. Finally, they called him into the studio for wardrobe fittings. When they got a gander at that luxuriant face foliage–very fine but very gray–they ordered the makeup department to make with a fast false beard. Clark went happily on his way–to the barber shop.
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Gossip Friday: Playing Scrabble
From 1954: Interiors were shot in London and exteriors in Holland. At all times, in all places, longtime friends Lana Turner and Clark Gable had a ball working together on “Betrayed.” Clark brought back old copper pieces for his Encino ranch fireplace. Lana collected rare. cut crystal mugs. Between shots the Hollywood pair taught English cast members how to play Scrabble!
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Gossip Friday: No Strange Cats on Strange Cargo
From March 1940: Disappointment smacked down all the let’s-be-there-when-it-happens gang, who under one pretext or another managed to clutter up the sound stage on the first day of shooting for MGM’s Strange Cargo. That’s the picture in which, you know, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable share top billing. And for weeks, the rumor has hottened Hollywood, that Joan and Clark were about as friendly as a couple of strange cats, and that when they got together, the temperamental fur would fly all over the set. So what happened? So Joan smiled at Clark, and Clark smiled at Joan, and it remained for Joan’s famous dachshund “Puppchen” to provide the only…
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{New Article} 1935: Behind the Scenes with Joan, Clark and Bob
Here is one of those articles that is utterly pointless and serves only as a publicity piece from MGM for Forsaking All Others. I don’t think there was ever any real concern that there was going to be a battle royale for star status between Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery but nonetheless: When Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery were announced as the stars of “Forsaking All Others,” under the ace direction of “Woody” Van Dyke, the local gossip columnists assumed their favorite cat-that-ate-the-canary expression and sat back and waited for the worst to happen… …of course, there was that fascinating angle of Mr. Clark (star) Gable…
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Movie of the Week: But Not For Me (1959)
This week, Clark Gable is a Broadway producer stuck between his lovestruck secretary Carroll Baker and his ex-wife Lilli Palmer in But Not For Me (1959). Gable is Russ Ward, an aging Broadway producer deep in debt and losing his touch. When he finally decides to throw in the towel, his much younger secretary, Ellie Brown (Baker), admits to being in love with him. Her speech to him gives him the idea for a great play and he sets to work on it, reviving his career, leading Ellie on in the process. She proves she can play the lead role and becomes a success. Russ starts to have feelings for…
