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Gossip Friday: Food Fit for a Man
From December 1940: Clark Gable is so afraid of even having it suggested that he is a softie that every day on the set of “Comrade X” when tea time rolled around and he was offered tiny cakes and tea he bellowed, “Gimme some food fit for a man to eat!” However, he was kidded out of being too disdainful of tea. The day I visited the set his director arranged a gag. As a total surprise a “sandwich” arrived for Clark at tea time. It was made of a loaf of bread cut in half with a two-inch steak between, and a quart of coffee as a chaser. The…
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August Movie of the Month: Homecoming (1948)
For August, I had a different film in mind but I decided to highlight Homecoming after a chat with my dear friend Debbie. Homecoming is truly one of those films that is easy to dismiss at first glance, but it really is a little-known gem. Clark’s 1940’s post-World War II films are truly hit or miss and in most you can see his heart isn’t in it. He was different; the carefree man of Boom Town and Honky Tonk was no more. In just a few short years, he had seemed to age ten; his voice had even deepened and developed a more gravely texture that would remain. I…
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{New Article} 1932: Will Clark Gable Last?
It’s interesting to read what public opinion was when Clark Gable was just a newcomer. This article from raises the question if Clark has staying power as a star or not, based only on his weak resume at the time. Clark, like Garbo, introduced a new vogue in screen personality. He became the pattern from which screen idols who followed him were moulded. He is the epitome of the ruthless, handsome, knock-‘em-down, treat-‘em-rough he-man, the strong, virile, modern cave man. And not only women in Keokuk and Medicine Hat went crazy about Clark, but the actresses of Hollywood as well. Once he had become a sensation, Hollywood backed up the…
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Gossip Friday: Happy Centennial, Mr. Taylor
Today marks the 100th birthday of one of Clark’s close friends, Robert Taylor. Taylor started gaining fame on the MGM lot in 1936, after appearing in the classic romance Camille with queen of the crop Greta Garbo. His romance with and subsequent marriage to Barbara Stanwyck paralleled Clark and Carole in hype. After adopting a mustache in 1940, he was dubbed “The new King of Hollywood” and “The Next Clark Gable” by the press. There was no rivalry between the two men, despite what fan magazines said. Their ranches were near each other in Encino and they shared the same desire of a simple life. Clark and Carole and Bob and Barbara were fast…
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{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…
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Gossip Friday: Just that Swell!
A letter to a movie magazine, January 1941: Clark Gable is a very natural, homespun sort of actor that never seems to go high-hat or stale. I like him. All his pictures, including the much-critised “Parnell”, have been good in my estimation. The nicest, most pleasant things I’ve ever read in Photoplay or any other motion picture magazine in regard to any actor are the things written about the Gable farm. Not that I feel Clark could enjoy ploughing through the fields of mud and slop I’ve witnessed in the country…but with his money, the up-to-date paraphernalia and what-not, his farm is a wonderland and it is a credit to…
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{New Article} 1941: Roughing It
This short article appearing in Cosmopolitan Magazine (yes, you read that right) in July 1941. It is basically Clark detailing how much he enjoys the outdoors, riding horses and training dogs. You can get a world of pleasure out of owning and training a hunting dog. A good one can be bought for around twenty dollars, and you can get books out of the library and do the training yourself. Studying up should be part of the fun. There is always something new to be learned about an animal. From the time I was six, I have had some kind of mutt at my heels. The first dog I owned was…
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Gossip Friday: What a Wind
From May 1939: During Hollywood’s coziest wind storm in many a day, a traveler far out in the valley spotted two men struggling with some object on a nearby estate. Fearing his fellow men were in trouble, the traveler braved the nasty tempered blast to go their aid. “Need help?” he called. “Yea, thanks,” came back the answer, “we’re trying to wire down these trees. Don’t want them to be blown away.” Valiantly the men struggled with wire and stakes until the last tree was safe. It was only then the traveler turned for a good look at his hard-working companions. One of them was Clark Gable! “Say,” said the…
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Cameo Clark
Unfortuantely for us Gable fans, Clark wasn’t comfortable with the television medium and so clips of him on the small screen are scarce–no little cameos or guest spots like many of his contemporaries. But, in 1951, he did make a brief cameo appearance in the film Callaway Went Thataway, starring Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Maguire and Howard Keel. From what I gather, he was on the lot waiting around, Fred MacMurray was a long-time friend of his, so he said why not and did the scene in one take. It’s a cute little comedy. Fred and Dorothy play advertising execs who are in a bind when an old cowboy star named…
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Spotlight on: Ginger Rogers
Today marks the 100th birthday of Hollywood legend Ginger Rogers. Truly a triple threat, Ginger could dance, sing and actually act, when given the oppurtunity. Best known for hoofin’ it alongside Fred Astaire in ten films, she also won a Best Actress Oscar in 1941 for a wonderful film, Kitty Foyle. Ginger wasn’t much tabloid fodder; her image in Hollywood was squeaky clean. She loved dogs, riding her bike, playing tennis and she never drank–in fact she was probably the only Hollywood star to have an ice cream fountain installed in her home, rather than a wet bar! Despite that, she and Clark were tied for marriages–at five apiece. She also…