{New Article & Recipe} 1934: The Modern Hostess

Clark liked to eat. He was never a fussy, prissy eater. His widow Kay recalled his fondness for steak, baked beans, sauerkraut, potato salad and chocolate cake. And of course the onion sandwiches–a big slice of onion between two pieces of bread with a smear of mustard!

It seems Clark’s tastes didn’t change over the years, as I stumbled across this article from 1934 that details Clark’s favorite foods while he lived with Ria.  The article starts out saying how particular food items would fly off the shelves if people knew they were Clark’s favorites and so that led the author to find out what his favorites were. Which is quite funny since as the article goes on, she refers to the maple syrup he uses as “an nationally known brand of maple syrup” and his favorite lunchtime drink as “a well-known soft drink, the kind that has made Atlanta famous.” Hmmm, I guess we couldn’t mention the actual names without some advertising dollars, eh Modern Screen Magazine?

The author goes to Ria and Clark’s Brentwood home:

Mrs. Gable, Clark’s brown-haired, Kentucky-born wife, met me in the living room of their modified Colonial home in Brentwood. The deep, cool room with its lovely old pieces of carved walnut, its inlaid tables, Venetian blinds and green and gold brocaded hangings, seemed to reflect the very spirit of her gracious hospitality. And furthermore I could imagine that it would supply quite the correct and typical American background for all-America’s favorite romantic motion picture star—whose food preferences I was about to discover.

I found the description of the interior in stark contrast to Clark’s beloved ranch. The Brentwood house was Ria’s home, not really Clark’s. He just slept there. Sometimes.

“We do not entertain at home very much,” Mrs. Gable told me. “When we do we seldom have more than ten or twelve guests for dinner. Once we asked twenty people but I think that was the largest number we ever had as we prefer small groups of friends. On Sunday Clark often will bring home three or four men from the club, after a game of golf. On that day I have only one maid so I spread a buffet luncheon of cold chicken and ham, cheese, hot biscuits and cake and let them help themselves. There is absolutely nothing formal about our lives. Our friends know that. Our entertaining is all done in the same informal manner. We find it more enjoyable to ask someone to share sauerkraut and wienies with us around the kitchen table than to strive to impress them by ‘going Hollywood’ in a banquet hall.”

On Sundays Ria only has one maid! The horror! How does she survive! I alway find that funny, the Hollywood wives like Ria and the rich ones in the movies of this era. They don’t work; they have maids, cooks, nanbies, dogwalkers and gardeners. Once a week they venture to the hair salon to have their hair done and their nails manicured. What a busy schedule. Sometimes I envy that…

“If you expect me to tell you that Clark likes truffles and caviar you are going to be disappointed,” Mrs. Gable replied in an answer to my first question. “He is, after all, just a person, you know,” she went on, “Give Clark golden pancakes with little pig sausages for breakfast, stuffed pear salad and lots of sandwiches for luncheon, pot roast with rich brown gravy for dinner, followed by a great big homemade cake; and for an after-the-show snack let him make himself a Bermuda onion sandwich thick with mustard and you can have his cinema championship with a few ‘skeet’ guns thrown in for good measure.”

No frills food. Subsequent wives Carole and Kay both described his meals the same way.

There are chilly days, however, when cold food is out of the question. It is then that he relishes a soup plate full of spaghetti or baked beans. And there are moments when he succumbs to the appeal of a succulent pot roast. Only this pot roast that Mrs. Gable’s cook boasts is different. Instead of the conventional roast with its thick gravy smothering carrots and peas, Mrs. Gable has the beef cooked with nary a vegetable, depending upon that esteemed pepper-upper garlic, to give it zest.

With the roast dinner Mrs. Gable features a clear consommé—an always welcome prelude to a heavy meal—followed by the meat and potatoes browned in the pot roast juices.

Add the crowning glory to this Gable dinner by following Ria Gable’s recipe for the world’s prize dessert—in Clark’s opinion. It’s a fluffy, feathery cake which she makes herself, never trusting it to her cook. It’s made with a total disregard for the cost of eggs, but the results are so marvelous that you too will want to feel extravagant—just this once—and set out to achieve the same results. This cake is frosted with a snowy white frosting completely covered over with cocoanut. Or for variety and equal goodness, the cake makes its appearance with a thick, smooth chocolate covering which is made of cream cheese! Honestly, I wouldn’t fool you—it really is! When I tried Ria Gable’s recipe it looked just like that tempting picture at the beginning of this article. That’s how it looked—and it tasted even better!

Sounds pretty good to me! After that description, I was quite interested in the recipe for this cake! Alas, the article included a coupon that you would have to send to the magazine to receive the recipe book that included all the recipes in this article. And for some reason I have a feeling if I tried to mail it in it would come back undeliverable.

The article did include the recipe for Clark’s favorite pancakes, though. And although I usually use Bisquick when I make pancakes, I decided to give this recipe a whirl. So, spatula in hand and my toddler daughter as my sous chef, I set out to make Clark Gable Pancakes:

GABLE BREAKFAST PANCAKES

1 ½ cups flour

½  teaspoon salt

3  teaspoons baking powder

1  teaspoon sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 cup milk (or water)

Sift flour, measure. Mix and sift together with salt, baking powder and sugar. Beat egg, combine with liquid and add to dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Add melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Bake on hot greased griddle until filled with bubbles and golden brown on under side. Turn and bake on the other side until done.

Pretty simple. I used 2% milk. I don’t have a griddle (don’t make pancakes enough to merit that!) so I made mine in a frying pan on the stove.

The verdict? Fluffy, tasty pancakes.

Personally I would usually add bananas or cinnamon to the batter but I stayed true to the recipe. My daughter had never had pancakes before and she loved them–licked the bowl clean! My husband didn’t complain either.

So, whenever he’s ready, Clark can stop on by for breakfast. He could come on by for lunch too–I am sure I could manage to make an onion sandwich with mustard….

Try out the recipe yourself and read the entire article in The Article Archive