Gossip Friday: Can Clark Gable Stay Married?

From December 1931:

Can Clark Gable stay married?

Clark recently said: “Neither my wife nor I ever expect to be married again. She is my ideal woman. I hope I never fail as her ideal man.”

And Hollywood, remembering that Clark has been married before and that he is younger than his wife, sighs: “Ah…”

If Clark Gable and Rita [sic] Langham can stay married, it will be a great thing brought to pass between a man, a wife and that most exacting mistress of all, Fame. The only other two men upon whom she has bestowed her hysterical favors so lavishly have been Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert. And they could not stay married! Twice did the experiment fail for Rudy. Three times for Jack.

Perhpas time will prove that Clark Gable is to be the exception, but his marriage will have to be successful in the face of many upsetting factors–things which he may neither welcome nor want, but things which must be accepted when Fame has been wooed.

There will be constantly the spectacle of other women…ghostly women, lovers only through the medium of letters and messages…but women whose presence will constantly be there. There will be more intangible women–famous, daring, beautiful, experimental women. Women who will say, as I heard one woman say just recently: “I want that man.”

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It always amuses me how the stories of marital strife began immediately for Clark and Ria. They had been married less than six months when this article was written!