Gossip
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Gossip Friday: A Fan’s Poem
A fan’s poem from 1933: Judgement Day There’s the rush and roar of many feet– Young maids, old maids, sour and sweet. They’re clamoring, they’re yammering, They are glad that they are born, For romance is resurrected When Clark Gable blows his horn. ~Dvoll Semay
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Gossip Friday: Building Clark Gable
From February 1936: At a party we saw Mrs. Clark Gable chatting with the ex-wife of a famous star. “My husband didn’t play fair about alimony,” said the ex-wife. “I gave him the most dignified divorce Hollywood ever saw. I chaperoned him and his girl friend for months to avoid scandal. Now she has him when he’s on top. I worked for him during the building years.” Mrs. Gable nodded quietly. “I know a little about building myself.”
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Gossip Friday: Saving Clark’s Soul
From October 1935: Poor Clark Gable had to stand a lot of ribbing about being prayed for by members of a church in his old hometown, and everybody wanted to know how he was “serving the devil of lust.” Clark himself has some curiousity on the subject, too. Jack Oakie, who worked with Clark on “Call of the Wild,” was, at last reports, endeavoring to convert Clark by preaching to him, but without much success. Jack took on the duty because he took on such a long beard for the picture that he looked like a biblical patriarch. Anyway, it may all suggest a new religious film to some producer.
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Gossip Friday: Take a Ride in Clark Gable’s Wheels
From November 1940: A few years back Clark Gable owned a very swanky car. The body was low-slung, with dazzling chromium from stem to stern. The gaudy paint job made the car recognizable blocks away. Clark finally had to give up his foreign-made pet because it attracted too much attention. Now the Gable stigma still clings to the machine. It’s owned by an executive of a large corporation here. He uses it, specifically, to show visiting officials about Southern California. They get a big kick out of riding in a car once owned by Clark Gable.
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Gossip Friday: Mickey Rooney’s Idol
From May 1939: Clark Gable…played a very important part in Mickey Rooney’s career. No wonder Mickey wants to be just like him. It was about five years ago when Mickey was twelve, and on the verge of starvation. Vaudeville was a thing of the past, and Mickey couldn’t even get a job as an extra in Hollywood. He’d only worked about three days in three months. Then he had an idea. He called Clark Gable. “Mr. Gable,” he said, “there’s a good part for a boy in ‘Manhattan Melodrama,’ and I’d give my shirt to play it. I’ve been acting since I was a baby–and I know I can do…
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Gossip Friday: Good Lux from Carole Lombard
From July 1936: The latest gag present from Lombard to Gable was delivered to a somewhat bewildered Mr. G. at the close of a radio broadcast in which he was appearing in a dramatic skit with Marlene Dietrich. Just as the show ended an attendant brought in a huge floral horseshoe–the kind gangsters used to send their dead colleagues. The card from Carole read, “Good Lux.”
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Gone with the Wednesday: Honor Page
Screenplay Magazine Honor Page, from December 1939: “Gone with the Wind” is the great picture of its time, as “Birth of a Nation” was great in its day. It runs for 3 hours and 45 minutes, It has an all-star cast and thousands of extras. It is all in brilliant Technicolor, with some scenes of breathtaking beauty, It’s always stirring and often thrilling. But you can’t describe this Selznick epic. You must see it in order to believe it. Three-star pictures are rare. In “Gone with the Wind” three performances are such absolute perfection in portrayal that all three must be given our award. Vivien Leigh reincarnates Margaret Mitchell’s headstrong…
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Gossip Friday: Can Clark Gable Stay Married?
From December 1931: Can Clark Gable stay married? Clark recently said: “Neither my wife nor I ever expect to be married again. She is my ideal woman. I hope I never fail as her ideal man.” And Hollywood, remembering that Clark has been married before and that he is younger than his wife, sighs: “Ah…” If Clark Gable and Rita [sic] Langham can stay married, it will be a great thing brought to pass between a man, a wife and that most exacting mistress of all, Fame. The only other two men upon whom she has bestowed her hysterical favors so lavishly have been Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert. And…
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Gossip Friday: Eligible Gable
From March 1936: All things considered, Clark Gable will probably have the most terrifc year of anybody in Hollywood. Imagine Clark on the semibachelor list! The first announcement of the formal separation of himself from Ria Gable was immediately followed by an onslaught of rumors concerning fair ladies and Clark. He was variously reported engaged or about to be engaged to Elizabeth Allan, Mary Taylor and Loretta Young. It can be wagered that they’ll be no peace or contentment in and about the colony until Clark is married again. The suspense will be pretty terrible, because even after a divorce is filed, it takes a year for the final decree…
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Gossip Friday: Beard Protest
From April 1937: Just a little publicity story sent out about Clark Gable wearing a beard in “Parnell” caused more of a furare than anything of a similar nature with the single exception of Marlene Dietrich’s determination to wear trousers a few years ago. Mail was received from all parts of the United States, a great deal from fans, but some from barbers’ associations advising that the idea be dropped for fear of a falling off in the tansarial trade. Also, it seems there are various bearded organizations in the United States which strongly advocated the idea. After the stage play, there was nothing in particular to suggest that Gable…