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Gossip Friday: Lost in Mexico
From May 1940: Getting “lost” in Mexico has been a favorite pastime among Hollywoodites recently. Oh well–it’s good for a headline–and sometimes for a laugh. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, vacationing south of the border in a station wagon, were mildly surprised to learn that their studios had been worrying about them–all over the country’s newspapers. Eddie Albert, whose publicity department lost track of him while he was sailing off Mexico in his boat, returned to Hollywood with a tale that ties the two Mexican mysteries together neatly. A Mexican deckhand on his boat, Eddie claims, asked him for a big favor. “Please,” begged the Mexican, “when you get back…
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{New Article} 1936: A Heart to Heart Letter to Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
This article was printed early in Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s relationship, before anyone was really sure if this union was a passing fling or a sweeping romance. I’ve discovered that the fan magazines did this often–“An Open Letter To”…like the stars are really sitting down and reading some journalist’s advice. Oh well. Above is an artist’s rendering of Clark and Carole that accompanied the article. What do you think? Looks more like Ginger Rogers than Carole to me. I’ve seen worse Clark drawings but I’ve also seen much better! Dear Carole and Clark, Lately I’ve been thinking about the two of you and even envying you in an impersonal…
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Gossip Friday: Clark and Carole–Oil Magnates?
From January 1940: Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and other screen celebrities, who are members of Encino’s “Hard Rock Club,” are within weeks of becoming oil magnates. A short time ago, oil was discovered two miles went of the property and hundreds of barrels were produced. Now oil has been discovered on the Club’s land, and before long the club members will be rolling out the barrels. The club started when a group of stars, Valley residents, wanted a weekend lodge for skeet shooting and riding, and purchased 160 acres in the nearby hills for the resort. P.S. The club’s name is derived from the stony nature of the soil.
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Carole Lombard Became Mrs. Clark Gable…
…73 years ago today. Would they have stayed together if Carole had lived? We can only speculate. No marriage is perfect. But I must say, you don’t often come across a couple that looks this in love and this deliriously happy! Here is how their wedding day went, straight from Clark Gable himself: It has been written since then that Carole and I had that wedding day planned out for months in advance, but that’s not true. It happened this way. On the afternoon of March 28, I was finished with my scenes [in “Gone with the Wind”] about three in the afternoon. While I was taking off my make-up, the…
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Gossip Friday: Clark, Spencer and Al Volunteer
From December 1939: Those who scoffed at the idea of screen stars accepting political offices as mayors of small valley towns are taking it back in large doses these days. And all because Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Al Jolson are men who mean business. After a small school girl had been killed on Ventura Boulevard by a speeding motorist, a meeting of citizens was called and right there in the front row sat Clark, Tracy and Jolson. “We’ll need a committee to help curb this speeding,” the chairman announced, and instantly these three men rose to their feet and volunteered. “We have time between pictures while your men are…
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{New Article} 1949: My Plans for Gable
This article from 1949 is a bit different, in that it is written by Clark himself! I am a bit skeptical that he sat at a typewritter and wrote this out, but I do see that it definitely is his perspective; his voice shines through. … that would be the perfect life for me when I am not working; to be able to go among the people, mix closely with them and be accepted just for myself. Actually I can’t, of course. Now, people don’t mob me or tear off my sleeves for souvenirs or anything like that. They always seem nice and friendly—sort of treat me as an acquaintance.…
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Updates
New around here: Review on Love on the Run Behind the Scenes info on Hold Your Man A one page article about Clark joining the Army A dozen or so new pictures in the gallery, including several of Kay: See more in the gallery.
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Gossip Friday: Sick and Bored
From May 1937: Notes on how to pass the time while in bed with influenza, as demonstrated by Clark Gable: Bored by reading, he had a mop handle, minus the mop, brought to him. He tied a paintbrush, artists’ size, on the end, drew funny cartoons on the ceiling! Tired of that, he got a rubber band and a sheet of newspaper, and gean shooting spitballs at the flies in the room. After eight misses, he bagged a horsefly “right between the mirror and the window.” And finally, allowed to leave his bed by his doctor, Clark had the driver’s compartment of his station wagon glassed in, installed a heater…
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1940 Hollywood Career Girls Poll
I am from the wrong era. I just love anything 1930’s and 1940’s. One night I couldn’t sleep and was up until wee hours on YouTube watching random footage from streets in America from that period. So, I find polls like this particularly fascinating, as it gives a tiny glimpse into life as it was. This poll appeared in Screen Guide magazine in November 1940. Being a magazine devoted strictly to entertainment, Screen Guide did not question Hollywood’s career girls as to their Presidential preferences. However, at the suggestion of the girls themselves, several vital questions pertaining to this country’s welfare were included. Lack of space makes it impossible to…
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{New Article} 1936: He Lives His Impulses
That crazy, non-conformist Clark Gable! MGM publicity pretty much shoved the idea that Clark was a free spirited, unsophisticated regular Joe down the public’s throat repeatedly. Not that it wasn’t mostly true, because Clark indeed shunned the spotlight and the glamour that came along with it. But MGM really pushed for these kind of stories. This article is just Clark chatting with the reporter at the MGM commissary. “People often have asked me what I get out of it all—you know, being a movie star, making money, all the prerequisites. I don’t get out of it what a lot of people would, that’s a fact. I’m not luxury-minded. I don’t…