Gossip
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Gossip Friday: Food Fit for a Man
From December 1940: Clark Gable is so afraid of even having it suggested that he is a softie that every day on the set of “Comrade X” when tea time rolled around and he was offered tiny cakes and tea he bellowed, “Gimme some food fit for a man to eat!” However, he was kidded out of being too disdainful of tea. The day I visited the set his director arranged a gag. As a total surprise a “sandwich” arrived for Clark at tea time. It was made of a loaf of bread cut in half with a two-inch steak between, and a quart of coffee as a chaser. The…
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Gossip Friday: Happy Centennial, Mr. Taylor
Today marks the 100th birthday of one of Clark’s close friends, Robert Taylor. Taylor started gaining fame on the MGM lot in 1936, after appearing in the classic romance Camille with queen of the crop Greta Garbo. His romance with and subsequent marriage to Barbara Stanwyck paralleled Clark and Carole in hype. After adopting a mustache in 1940, he was dubbed “The new King of Hollywood” and “The Next Clark Gable” by the press. There was no rivalry between the two men, despite what fan magazines said. Their ranches were near each other in Encino and they shared the same desire of a simple life. Clark and Carole and Bob and Barbara were fast…
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Gossip Friday: Just that Swell!
A letter to a movie magazine, January 1941: Clark Gable is a very natural, homespun sort of actor that never seems to go high-hat or stale. I like him. All his pictures, including the much-critised “Parnell”, have been good in my estimation. The nicest, most pleasant things I’ve ever read in Photoplay or any other motion picture magazine in regard to any actor are the things written about the Gable farm. Not that I feel Clark could enjoy ploughing through the fields of mud and slop I’ve witnessed in the country…but with his money, the up-to-date paraphernalia and what-not, his farm is a wonderland and it is a credit to…
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Gossip Friday: What a Wind
From May 1939: During Hollywood’s coziest wind storm in many a day, a traveler far out in the valley spotted two men struggling with some object on a nearby estate. Fearing his fellow men were in trouble, the traveler braved the nasty tempered blast to go their aid. “Need help?” he called. “Yea, thanks,” came back the answer, “we’re trying to wire down these trees. Don’t want them to be blown away.” Valiantly the men struggled with wire and stakes until the last tree was safe. It was only then the traveler turned for a good look at his hard-working companions. One of them was Clark Gable! “Say,” said the…
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Gossip Friday: Splitsville for the Gables
Ria and Clark Gable Since July 19 marks 80 years since Clark married Ria Franklin, here is a gossip column’s statement on their break-up, from February 1936: There is heartbreak in Hollywood over the official separation of the Clark Gables. The whispers have been flying for months, but the whole town hoped that these two grand people would never definitely part. Everyone is so fond of both of them. In one of the most difficult spots in the world, Ria Gable has presided with dignity and humor. She seemed the perfect wife for a famous man and no one out here is more charming. The separation will inevitably be blamed…
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Gossip Friday: A Handsome Pair
Since Clark and Kay were married 56 years ago on July 11, here’s some gossip on them from June 1944, when they were dating the first go-round: At an Army and Navy dinner dance recently [we] sat kitty-corner from Captain Clark Gable who had pretty Kay Williams as his girl friend. [We] thought the two a handsome pair but couldn’t help comparing the quiet, almost demure Kay to the vivid, magnetic Carole. What a contrast.
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Gossip Friday: Comrade X Currency
From November 1940: In “Comrade X”, Hedy Lamarr plays a street conductor in Russia. Clark Gable gets on her car and gives her some “rubles” for his carfare. We just happened to be looking at the “rubles”–and they turned out to be Marie Antoinette coins, last used in [the 1937 Norma Shearer picture] “Marie Antoinette”. _____ Interesting piece of film trivia there! New this week: Photos in the gallery Four new articles, all from the 1940’s
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Gossip Friday: The Skilled Horseman
From September 1935: When the entire world became Clark Gable-conscious the studio sent word to the newly-arrived idol that they wanted some special portraits. Magazines were clamoring for art on the virile Gable in outdoor attire. They wanted Gable in riding clothes, Gable on a horse. This was Clark’s first big sitting and he determined that nothing should stand in the way of making it a huge success. Although he really couldn’t afford it, he chose the most exclusive tailor in town for his riding habit. The outfit, of imported English whipcord, was fashioned after the smartest English lines. Perfectly fitting boots, an imported turtleneck sweater and hand-knitted gloves completed…
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Gossip Friday: Scarlett Also-Rans
From March 1940: Talk of Hollywood, recently, is how much luck the girls who did NOT get the Scarlett O’Hara role in Gone with the Wind had! Of course, Vivien Leigh was the “lucky” one who got the part. But look at the others– Bette Davis did Jezebel instead and won an Academy Oscar; Norma Shearer, in The Women, did such a swell job that she may get the next Award; Tallulah Bankhead, when she flopparooed on Scarlett, did the stage play that’s getting her international raves…ditto Katharine Hepburn, who also did NOT get the O’Hara plum, but who scored hugely behind the footlights in Philadelphia Story. And Susan Hayward,…
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Gossip Friday: Applause for a Soldier
From March 1943: Here in my [Hollywood columnist Jimmie Fidler] office, I’ve literally got a ceiling on letters–they’re piled that high! Practically every one of them requests news about our Hollywood men serving in the armed forces, so I did a little scouting. Four out of seven wanted information on Clark Gable. Clark came home to Hollywood on official business the middle of last December, looking trim, tan, and terrific. He stayed with the Walter Langs while he was here and saw only a few close friends. The sight of the month was First Lieutenant Gable and First Lieutenant James Stewart discussing Army business on the steps of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Administration Building–both…