Gossip Friday: Not a Diva

From October 1936:

Clark Gable is in the Metro commissary eating lunch. He sits at the long table reserved for the writers and the directors. There is only one other actor, Spencer Tracy, who ever sits at this table and mingles with the boys.

Seldom do the tourists glimpse the stars dining in the Metro commissary. Robert Taylor may be seen there, but I have never seen Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, William Powell, etc.

Gable, finishing his lunch, gets up and walks to the sound stage where he is working. This particular day he happens to be working in the flicker “Love on the Run.” On the way to the sound stage, he stops at the new dressing room building, goes to his dressing room, puts on his makeup and costume. Then he strolls over to the sound stage.

He always appears to be alone. There is no entourage of stooges surrounding him. On the set, I have never seen him with a valet or a secretary. He has no expensive portable dressing room on the set. Occasionally, the studio pitches a temporary dressing room on the set for him. He likes to rest on a couch between long waits.

On the set, he will sit in a camp chair and generally keeps to himself. He usually has a copy of the scenario in his lap, and is reading over his lines. Sometimes he will call over the script girl  and “run through” a love scene with her. The script girl pays Crawford or Harlow, whichever is in the flicker.

He seems to be less concerned about his career than any other big name star. He takes things easy.