Gossip Friday: The Legs Have It

From September 1940:

On the set of Boom Town: The last time Claudette [Colbert] co-starred with Clark Gable was in “It Happened One Night.” It gave both of them Academy Awards, made both of them famous. The most memorable scene was the one in which, after Clark unsuccessfully tried to thumb a ride from passing motorists, Claudette stepped to the side of the road and stopped the first motorist who came along by showing a super-generous expanse of leg. We asked Claudette how she felt about that being her best-remembered scene.

She laughed. “It was a nice little joke on me that the thing I had fought against all my life–showing my legs–was the thing that got me an Academy Award.

“That was a very funny scene. I particularly liked the tag to it–which might well be the tag for this story. Remember when the motorist stopped, how furious Clark was? He said to me,’Why didn’t you take off all your clothes?’

“And I answered, ‘It wasn’t necessary.'”