{New Article} 1938: Happiness Ahead for Clark and Carole

Here’s another article with the all-too-common theme of “Will Ria ever give Clark a divorce? Will Clark and Carole ever marry?”

Today Carole and Clark have put their love to the test of companionship, deep sympathy and understanding and they have found it stronger than either of them. Their heads no longer in the clouds, Clark and Carole know now. In a quiet, deeply happy, strong knowledge they are aware that they have revolutionized each other’s lives to the extent that nothing else matters, not even their careers of the white blinding light of stardom.

Their intimates know that serenely and calmly, in the face of all obstacles and gossip, they are planning their future together as solidly founded as though they were not great stars of the movies, but just as any plain Mary and Tom might plan theirs.

Carole and Clark are planning to be married within two years—and heaven and high water cannot shake that firm conviction from their hearts. They’ve dropped glamour and false values from their love story as surely as though no curious spotlight was turned on them—and their hopes for the future are as real as those of the young folks next door to you, in marriage, a home on a farm and, yes, even children.

If that is hard to believe about the luxurious Lombard and the dynamic Gable it is only because the world and Hollywood have not yet truly estimated the change their love has brought into their lives and personalities.

In the first place, it has practically cut them off from all social contacts with the exception of a small intimate few who are deep in their affections—the witty Fieldsie, Walter Lang, the director, a famous newspaper columnist and her husband, Phil Berg—Clark’s agent—and his wife, Leila Hyams.

Clark and Carole have not been to a big Hollywood party in over a year. This in itself is an amazing change in Carole whose parties used to be the talk of the town. Remember the “hospital” gag party she hosted when she was married to William Powell? And her small bachelor girl’s house on Hollywood Boulevard was famous for the intimate little dinner gatherings with Carole moving through rooms like a gilded, restless queen? She loved to dance. She was usually among the ringsiders at the smart night spots.

But now the only entertainments she goes in for are those Saturday night poker games at her Bel Air home, or at Clark’s farm in the Valley. At midnight, Carole arrayed in slacks, will go out in the kitchen and make sandwiches for the gang. Or else, with Fieldsie and Walter Lang, they will get into Clark’s station wagon and drive into North Hollywood to see a three-months-old movie at the neighborhood theater. It is something to see Carole, the former glamorously groomed luxury girl, in a ringside seat at a soda fountain in a small town drugstore.

The change is just as marked in Clark. Restlessness and impatience used to drive him from Hollywood at every opportunity. He used to seek solace for his inner unhappiness by long hunting and fishing trips. And he still loves this life—if Carole is by his side. He’s even been known to postpone a hunting jaunt for nothing wilder than shopping for pots and pans with Carole for the farm.

When he does take off on his dawn fishing trips, Carole is usually by his side. They have found that just being together is the greatest happiness in either of their lives—and that no amount of fame and glitter can take the place of what they have found in simplicity and understanding.

It is no secret to their intimates that they are both planning to retire when their present contracts expire.  Many stars have said they would. Clark and Carole mean it. Nothing else in their lives is as important as their future as just plain Mr. and Mrs. Gable, of the Valley.

Clark threatened to retire often. After they were married, Carole did take time off to get pregnant and I do believe if she had had a baby, she would have at least gone into a semi-retirement.

One of the things that is very interesting about this article and many of the ones from around this time is how the tide had changed in only a brief amount of time on Ria. When Ria and Clark first separated in 1936, the press was awash of articles praising Ria for what a wonderful woman she was and sadly bemoaning the downfall of the Gables’ “perfect marriage.” The tune quickly changed with the exciting romance of Clark and Carole came to be. Ria quickly turned from the poor, poor abandoned wife to the martyr who was stubbornly not giving Clark his divorce so that he could be with his true love. A switch that no doubt stuck in Ria’s craw!

You can read the article in its entirety in The Article Archive