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Spotlight on: Virginia Grey
To me, the saddest in the line-up is Virginia Grey. Virginia was a pretty blonde starlet who never reached her full potential as an actress. Her father worked for Mack Sennett in the early days of filmdom and little Virginia made her screen debut at age nine. Her film resume lists over 140 credits, but most are not memorable. She was always the best friend or sister of the main actress, left to play second fiddle. One of her most memorable roles is that of Joan Crawford’s smart- alecky co-worker in one scene of 1939’s The Women (You can watch it here). She had a very small role in the beginning…
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Gossip Friday: Ain’t that so?
From January 1940: When Clark Gable and Charlie McCarthy were practicing for their radio program, Carole Lombard was right on deck for the rehearsal. The script called for a discussion on how feminine hearts are won and lost, and Edgar Bergen was shushed off immediately. “Quiet, Bergen,” commanded McCarthy. “You don’t belong in this conversation. You’re listening to experts.” Then he turned to Mrs. G., sitting in the front row. “Aint that so, Carole?” ____ For those not familiar, Edgar Bergen (father of Candice, by the way) was a very popular ventriliquist on radio and films. Charlie was his dummy. Candice recalled that when she was a small child she thought Charlie…
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{New Article} 1937: Why All Hollywood Adores Clark Gable
As if you wondered why anyone would adore Mr. Gable, this article provides some ammunition for adoration. I must say that Clark is one of the few Hollywood stars of that era that seemed to be liked by everyone, celebrities and fans alike. Case in point, I was speaking to a 95 year old World War II veteran yesterday. He loves talking about the war and going to the movies in the 1930’s, and I love sitting there and absorbing his stories like a sponge. While on leave in the early 1940’s, he went to the Hollywood Canteen one night, where he chatted with Joan Crawford while she served him…
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Gossip Friday: Quite a Pair
An early one, from April 1932: Joan Crawford and Mrs. Clark Gable often seen lunching together at the Embassy. Don’t overlook the Mrs.–it’s important and too bad. _______________ This one is rather funny, since Joan and Clark were in the midst of quite the heated affair during this time. One wonders if the powers-that-be at MGM released this tidbit to the press just to show that Joan and Ria were bestest pals and there was no way Joan would be cavorting with Ria’s husband. I am not quite sure what they mean by “Don’t overlook the Mrs.–it’s important and too bad”—too bad that there is a Mrs. Gable, I…
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{New Article} 1939: Will Clark Gable Ever Marry Carole Lombard?
We all know the answer to the question asked, but an interesting article nonetheless. Especially since they did wed a month after this was published. The speculation over whether or not they would actually marry isn’t ridiculous, really, because although it did seem the norm for most couples of the day to marry early on in their courtship, many of the big couples of this period–George Raft and Virginia Pine, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor–were unmarried. As a matter of fact, the real low-downers of Hollywood are convinced that there’ll never be a Ria-Clark divorce, they feel, although the principals never openly discuss the matter, that Clark and Carole both…
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{New Article} 1947: Clark’s Still the King
Here’s one from Silver Screen magazine in 1947. This article seems to be the result of the author’s editor saying, “We need a story on Gable!” and the author couldn’t, or didn’t have time to, have an interview with Clark so instead hashed together a bunch of random anecdotes to prove their point that Clark’s still the King of Hollywood. Well, it’s interesting anyway. …there was one character in England who wasn’t in the least awed by Captain Gable’s efficient tone and manner. This was a tom cat named Freddy. Freddy was about two cats long and three cats high, with the coat of a silver fox, and the courage…
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Gossip Friday: On the set of Too Hot to Handle
From September 1938: Everywhere we turn something real inspires something romantic. Why, even Mussolini’s Ethipian adventure has landed Clark Gable a new thrill-packed adventure role! “Too Hot to Handle”, our first set invasion at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, really has nothing to do with Il Duce or his Fascisti friends. It’s an adventurous saga of a daredevil newsreel cameraman. But if Laurence Stallings, the war correspondent, and Leonard Hammond, the ace newsreeler, hadn’t sat idly for weeks sopping up Ethiopian rainfall and waiting for Mussolini to get going, Clark might very well have missed out on a dashing scenario to follow in the wake of “Test Pilot.” As it was, Stallings…
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Gossip Friday: Surefire Miss Crawford
Since it’s April Fool’s Day and Joan Crawford’s birthday was last week… From September 1934: Clarence Brown pulled a gag on Joan Crawford that worked to perfection. In a scene for “Chained” Joan was supposed to shoot off a double-barreled shotgun. When Joan was scared practically to a state of paralysis, Clark Gable volunteered to show her all the tricks. Finally Joan got to the point where she could pull the trigger without flinching. The scene started and Joan picked up the gun, pulled it over her shoulder and fired. There was a moment’s silence and then from somewhere up above, an old stuffed duck fell at her feet. Brown…
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{New Article} 1936: I Had a Date with Clark Gable
This is a cute little article about a girl from Detroit who won a magazine contest and got to have lunch with Clark. For one thing, Clark is a lot better looking off the screen than on the screen, particularly on account of his eyes. He has fine eyes and they’re a lovely color…sort of gray-green. And his teeth are very white and his skin burned bronze, which gives him a particularly effective smile. Oh, he’ll look grand in color pictures, all right! Sigh….What was it I was typing about…oh yeah… At this point Clark hadn’t appeared in a color picture yet, as GWTW was still three years off. I…
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72 Years Ago Today…
…Clark and Carole were married. Here is an interesting article I found from that year. It is a letter to Hollywood newlyweds, including Clark and Carole. It is interesting to note the fate of the marriages she mentions here. We all know, sadly, what became of Clark and Carole’s union. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Eppling Hartford were married for 49 years, until her death in 1988. They had three daughters: Daphne, Victoria, and Melissa. He remarried a few years later and remained so until he died at the ripe old age of 91. Tyrone Power and Annabella lasted nearly nine years, divorcing in 1948. Annabella did not remarry. Tyrone married twice…