Gossip
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Gossip Friday: Carole’s Free Films
From September 1941: Clark Gable gave Carole Lombard a 16mm projector and sound equiptment last Christmas, and she decided it would be very nice to have a 16mm library of all her hit pictures. She made inquiries and discovered that a 16mm copy of a feature film, with sound, costs four hundred dollars and she could get a twenty percent discount. So, very blithely, she made the rounds of the various studios where she’d made the films, and told them about her wonderful idea. The studio heads insisted upon presenting her with the copies. Not one would let her pay for them. Which was pretty heartwarming for Miss Lombard—thinking, after…
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Gossip Friday: Christmas with Classic Stars (Part 2)
Continued excerpt from last week, “Santa is a Headache”, Hollywood magazine, January 1940: Many of the stars, including Barbara Stanwyck, have started a considerable amount of Christmas charity work. Barbara tells me: “I’d a lot rather give the money to a hospital or to some needy groups of people than spend it on gifts for friends who already have a lot. I think they like it better, too.” There is a growing tendency among the players to get away from cards. Most send telegrams to friends who aren’t within the charmed gift circle. Or cards which read: “This card should be a very nice one. But it’s plain, because my…
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Gossip Friday: Christmas with Classic Stars (Part 1)
Excerpt from an article entitled “Santa is a Headache” from the January 1940 issue of Hollywood magazine: Claudette Colbert is one who started her shopping last August–with a notebook. Each time she found out what someone wanted, she wrote it down. Then she weny out and shopped. She put into the giving much of her own time and thought, which makes her gifts worthwhile. Joan Crawford will be doing the same thing. Jewelry, clothing, and countless other gifts will be selected and wrapped by Joan herself. Hearty Clark Gable will be shopping these days with Carole Lombard for three things: Gags, personal gifts and a large stock of liquid cheer…
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Gossip Friday: Battle of the Beard
From March 1937: Parnell will always be remembered in MGM records as the picture of the battle of the beard. Because Parnell wore a beard, they wanted Clark Gable, who portrays the great Irish leader, to grow one. Gable protested. Director John M. Stahl, stickler for realism, insisted and produced bearded Parnell photos. Gable hired a research expert, unearthed Parnell pictures showing him smooth shavem. Finally they shot tests of Gable wearing a false beard, and they looked so funny and foolish that they abandoned the idea. During shooting of the production, the MGM commissary had to strike blackberry pie off of its menu, because the extras got their beards…
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Gossip Friday: Mrs. Clark Gable Pays Her Bill
From March 1932: Well, well, well, Mrs. Clark Gable certainly pays her bills on time. She was in Magnin’s shortly after the first of January and gave the saleslady a check to take to the accounting department to see if it checked with the store’s figures of what she owed them. She had kept track of her bill and brought in the check before she received an accounting! And was she getting attention! Seven salesladies hovering over her at once. And the customers whispering to each other, “That’s Mrs. Clark Gable.” I couldn’t help but remember Clark’s remark, “And a year ago I could have walked down Hollywood Boulevard munching…
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Gossip Friday: Too Many Dance Partners
From July 1934: Clark Gable was at the recent Spinsters’ Ball, exclusive social soiree of Los Angeles. At the Spinsters, girls cut in on the men. Five hundred eager debutantes! For Clark, the evening was something like a game of rugby. No sooner would one cooing, little, starry-eyed girl snuggle into his arms than a smack at her elbow would jerk her away and another was in her place. It went on until six the next morning.
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Gossip Friday: Gone with the Wind Chatter
From May 1937: You wouldn’t think that Willie Powell’s walking out on a production called “The Emperor’s Candlesticks” would have an influence on Clark Gable’s playing the role of Rhett Butler in “Gone with the Wind” now, would you? But that’s Hollywood for you. It did have–for Willie has a mind of his own, and one of the very best in the acting profession it is too, and he realized that another not-so-hot to follow “Mrs. Cheyney” would endanger all that terrific advance his career has made since his lucky accident of being cast in the original “Thin Man.” Hence he went on his own sit-down strike in the desert…
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Gossip Friday: Tennis, Anyone?
From December 1938: Carole Lombard isn’t exactly the athletic type, but she’s got a tennis cup. It’s the Seabright cup, and a girl gets it only by winning the women’s singles three years in a row. The cup was won by tennis star Alice Marble, who promptly presented it to pal Carole as a gift.
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Gossip Friday: Poor Carole
From June 1937: Two things Clark Gable brought back with him from that Arizona hunting trip–and Carole Lombard liked neither! One was a goatee! During his absence from civilization, in the mountain forests, Clark raised it. When Carole saw it, she nearly fainted. “Off with it, or else!” she [demanded]. Not liking the “else,” Clark shaved the trick beard. Other item he brought back was a mountain lion. It’s still a cub, but even so, it’s tough. And it doesn’t like Carole. It snaps at her. However, Clark still has it. Talking of Carole, the poor girl suffers from rashes that burst out all over her whenever she gets even…
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Gossip Friday: Carole’s New Contract
From March 1937: [Carole Lombard engineered for herself] one of the finest, fattest new contracts in Hollywood–Paramount to pay her $150,000 per picture, for three pictures a year; Carole to have full and final say on all production details! And besides that, she’s to have the right to make one picture away from Paramount each year–when and what she pleases. Oh, I say, do you hear London calling?