On Valentine’s Day, Clark Gable Drives Carole Lombard Crazy!

On Valentine’s Day in 1936, Clark Gable was heading to the studio for a day on the set of San Francisco when he found an old, dilapidated Model T Ford in his parking space, painted white with big red hearts on it. The note attached to the steering wheel was unsigned–saying only “You’re driving me crazy!”

It could be from nobody but Carole Lombard–the reigning queen of gags. The car had cost her fifteen dollars at a junk yard and five hundred to be decorated and put in working order! Her and Clark had begun quite the flirtation over the past few weeks–at The Mayfair Ball and at Jock Whitney’s house party just the week before.

Clark hadn’t sent Carole anything for Valentine’s Day, so he called her up and suggested they go out to Cafe Trocadero that night. Imagine Carole’s surprise when Clark picked her up in that old Model T!  In true Carole fashion, she didn’t utter any words of protest. There they went, him in his tux and her in her elegant gown, chugging along to “the Troc” at ten miles an hour.

And the rest is history.

Happy Valentine’s Day!