Gossip
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Gossip Friday: Hypnotic to Most…
From July 1941: Clark Gable to most women would be hypnotic. Not so to Rosalind Russell, whom he kisses in “They Met in Bombay.” Before shooting, Roz called to her maid: “Bring me my sex appeal!”—perfume atomizer, gum. ____ Roz is hilarious! There’s a great article in the archive in which Roz discusses working with Clark.
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Gossip Friday: Puss in Splints
From January 1941: Latest freak at the Gable-Lombard zoo (which is what Hollywood is calling that amazing San Fernando Valley ranch of the stars) is a cat with one hind leg in splints! Seems that Clark and Carole have no less than twenty cats about the place—and the population is going up steadily. But even so, the famous couple can’t find the heart to dispose of any of them, no matter how steady the rate of production. And when one of them meets disaster—well, the other day one of the cats got in a trap and came out with a broken leg. Instead of having her killed, Carole and Clark…
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Gossip Friday: Beauty Shop Chatter
From May 1940: Carole Lombard was at Westmore’s the other day having her hair shampooed and waved. After the star had left, Miss Lombard’s hairdresser took her next appointment–a woman almost too excited to talk. “Tell me all about her,” begged the customer. “Is she going to have a baby like the newspapers say? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Clark and Carole had a baby? Why, America would go wild!” ________ Shucks, I, for one, am so sad that never happened. Wouldn’t it be something if there was a person walking around today, probably in their 60’s, who was half Clark and half Carole? Talk about hitting the genetic lottery.…
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Gossip Friday: Waitress’ Choice
From February 1936: On a recent questionnaire given to waitresses at the Beverly Hills Brown Derby, it was discovered that twenty-five of the girls were willing to answer. Thirteen of them were writing poetry, three wrote plays and twenty-three thought Clark Gable the best actor. P.S. Only one little gal had any desire to be an actress!
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Gossip Friday: Holiday Greetings from…
From a fan magazine, here are hand-signed holiday wishes from several stars of the golden era, including Olivia de Havilland, Claudette Colbert, Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Jeanette MacDonald, James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and more. No, Clark and Carole aren’t included, but I thought it a cute holiday gift nonetheless! Happy Holidays everyone! Click to enlarge:
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Gossip Friday: Roughing it
From February 1939: Clark Gable’s hunting paraphernalia is really something to look at. His sleeping bag is made with an extra-thick downy mattress. His gun cases were given to him by Carole Lombard. They are made of hand-carved leather. The deer gun case has hand-carved deer for decoration. The duck gun case is finished off with hand-carved ducks. Clark usually hunts up Bakersfield way and Carole often goes along. She’s such a crack shot, she usually gets the limit a few minutes after her arrival. So she spends the rest of her time playing retriever for Clark. And they used to call this “roughing it!”
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Gossip Friday: Ria’s Ready for her Closeup
From February 1939: One of the most attractive and popular matrons in Hollywood is Ria Gable. Even though she separated from Clark Gable, all their old friends clung to Ria as a tribute to her. Recently Ria returned from a trip to New York. Hollywood was happy to have her back. And Ria says the highlight of her trip was an afternoon spent in Gloria Swanson’s New York apartment. The decorating scheme and all the furnishings of her Hollywood home have been transferred East by Gloria. The same charm, the same individuality that made Gloria Swanson’s home a showplace in Hollywood, makes her new residence of the really outstanding places…
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Gossip Friday: Keeping His Promise
From April 1940: Clark Gable and a friend dashed out of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and entered a taxi, on their way to the broadcasting station. Clark was due to go on the air in a national hook-up, and they already were frightfully late. The crowd espied Gable. And that was that. They threatened to overturn the vehicle unless he emerged for all to see, and signed his autograph for then. When he didn’t leave the taxi, and the friend in his excitement shouted to the driver to go through the crowd, the mob actually started to make good their threat. The actor solved the difficulty by leaning out…
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Gossip Friday: Turkey Trouble
Since yesterday was Thanksgiving, here’s one from September 1940: Clark Gable and Robert Young both have their troubles with fowl-fancying ventures. Gable had turkey trouble, Young encountered chicken grief… Clark and wife Carole Lombard had been raising two dozen turkeys, for Thanksgiving–both their own Thanksgiving feast and as gifts to friends. BUT the other day, they decided to give something else when November rolls around. Reason: They had sprayed weeds on their ranch with weed-killing poison, and then the turkeys came along and gobbled the weeds. That was when Gable found that weed-killer is turkey-killer, too. As for Robert Young–well, he doesn’t like chicken pie anymore. This is the…
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Gossip Friday: Always the Business Man
From June 1940: Clark Gable hasn’t enough to do–with his twenty-five costume changes in “Boom Town”–but has even gone in for technical advertising, as well! Gable was an oil field worker himself, way back when, so one day on the set he offered a few tips to the director and was promptly encouraged to give out more. “Not for nothing,” said Gable. “Okay, I’ll buy your lunch,” offered the director. “Lunch and a bottle of beer,” said Gable, always the business man.