Gossip Friday: Christmas Cow

From January 1940:

Clark Gable, who had been at Fieldsie’s party with Carole Lombard (this was the first year they had discovered each other), slept well into the morning [on Christmas Day]. He had sent his lady love an appropriate gift, and when he arose he waited for her ecstatic telephone call. Secretly, he was also eager to see his own present  from Carole.

The first gifts of sweethearts are always the tenderest, the most elaborate and sentimental. Gable’s was. As he walked about, happy, sappy, in love, he came across an unexpected sight on his front lawn.

There stood a forlorn heifer. None of the neighbors had cows. They are not a common sight in Beverly Hills. This cow wore a dejected look. About her neck was a frivolous ribbon, quite out of tone with the animal’s lugubrious demeanor. Attached to the ribbon was a card:

“Merry Christmas From Carole.”

That was about the saddest Christmas Gable ever spent. At least until his love telephoned and a messenger brought Carole’s real gift, elaborately and appropriately sentimental.