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Happy 100th, “Sis”!
“She never wanted to be famous. She wanted to be happy.” Clark said this of Jean Harlow after her untimely death at age 26, and it appears to be true. Jean Harlow was a sweet, good natured girl, someone who everybody liked. Affectionately called “The Baby” (by everyone but Clark, who called her “Sis”), she was far from the harlot she portrayed on screen in her early pictures. To understand Jean’s hectic life, her film “Bombshell” is pretty much it in a nutshell—relatives and friends hanging on like leeches, sucking away her money and fame for their own benefit; the press and studio pigeon-holing her into an image that really wasn’t…
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In Memory of Jane Russell
We’ve lost another Gable leading lady, as Jane Russell, his costar in The Tall Men (1955), has died at age 89. From the AP: Jane Russell, the full-figured beauty who was one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols of the 1940s and ’50s, died Monday at her home in Santa Maria, Calif. The Minnesota-born icon, 89, died of a respiratory-related illness, according to reports. Discovered by Howard Hughes in 1941, Russell shot to fame in the controversial Western The Outlaw. The publicity stills were as scandalous as the film, with Russell sprawled in the hay wearing a tight, low-cut dress. Russell also hit movie gold in 1953, when she starred opposite…
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Updates
2011 will be a great year–in less than a month is the 110th birthday of Mr. Gable! Also in March is the 100th birthday of one of Clark’s favorite leading ladies and close friends, Jean Harlow (pictured above). New and notable for the new year: Get the dish on two of Clark’s romances –with Hollywood legend Joan Crawford and fashion model Anita Colby Two new articles: one from 1942 “What the Loss of Carole Lombard Means to Clark Gable”, which, I must warn you will put a damper on your day as it is rather depressing… And “The Girl in Clark Gable’s Life” from 1944, about Clark’s early courtship with Kay. An…
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Meet Me in St. Louis…
Well, Friday I am boarding a plane and heading to St. Louis for the Gone with the Wind “Gateway to the Wind” event! The itinerary is as follows: Friday, November 5 2:30 p.m. “Antebellum Plantation Life; Perception vs. Reality”- White Haven Ulysses S. Grant National Historical Site 7400 Grant Rd. St. Louis, MO – Learn all about GWTW author Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War relatives and how their lives inspired her to write “Gone With The Wind” 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception At Drury Inn For Those Staying At The Drury 7 p.m. “Blog With The Wind”- Drury Inn Forest Park. Find out about the social media out there. 8 p.m. “Fiddle-Dee-Dee Follies” –…
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Gossip Friday: On the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Want some candids and behind the scenes scoop from Carole’s film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”? Happy to oblige. Both from February 1941: Just for good luck Alfred Hitchcock always appears in one brief scene in his pictures. Just to show that he was a good sport he let Carole Lombard, the star of his picture “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” direct the scene in which he appeared. That was a big mistake, as he discovered later. Miss Lombard, the director, sat in the director’s chair, neatly placed in the shade, and for half an hour or more made Mr. Hitchcock go through his one line. The sun became hotter and hotter on…
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Crazy for Carole
This month marks Carole Lombard’s 102nd birthday and so here at DearMrGable.com we are dedicating the month to her. Clark and Carole pictures are the most popular by far in the gallery—there is just something majestic about those two, even despite the tragedy. So this month, they’ll be Carole gossip items and I’ll do some posts featuring some Carole articles and rare Carole candids. To start, here’s a blurb from December 1940: Carole Lombard hasn’t been to a party in over a year; the Gables not being the party type. But when Lillian MacMurray threw a birthday party for Fred recently, Clark said all right, they’d get dressed up and…
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Gossip Friday: Claudette and Bing
Since this week (9/13) is Claudette Colbert’s 107th birthday, here’s some gossip about her from Septmeber 1937: Claudette Colbert was playing some of her favorite Bing Crosby records in her dressing room the other day, when her telephone rang. The star herself answered. An irate voise yelled, “Listen! If you must make all that noise, which disturbs me in my dressing room, for heaven’s sake play something better than those Crosby records. That’s guy’s crooning gives me a pain!” “I don’t know who you are,” cried Claudette angrily, “but you can’t make cracks to me about my friend Bing Crosby and his singing! If you had any musical sense you’d know…
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Gossip Friday: What’s Myrna Knitting?
Since this week (August 2) marked the 105th birthday of one of Clark’s costars, friends and an all-around classy lady, Miss Myrna Loy, here’s some gossip about her. From February 1937: With Joan Crawford set for the lead in “Parnell” opposite Clark Gable, she was suddenly switched to “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney” which Myrna Loy was to do, and Miss Loy was given the Crawford part in “Parnell”. There are those who say Joan preferred the “Last of Mrs. Cheyney” role, and there are those who say director John Stahl preferred not having La Crawford in “Parnell.” First day on the “Last of Mrs. Cheyney” set, before she switched…
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Gossip Friday: Miss Lombard on the Set
Since this week was the 101st birthday of the love of Clark’s life, Carole Lombard, here’s a bit of gossip about her from February 1937: A very colorful set is the one for “Swing High, Swing Low”, co-starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray. It is a street scene, but built entirely indoors. It is a hot, soiled street somewhere in Panama. Carole has been having a salary quarrel with Paramount. It is now settled. Jut how completely it is settled is testified by a brand new portable dressing room behind the false front of a Panama bodega. It is a gift to Carole from the director of the picture, Mitchell…
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Gossip Friday: Mr. Gable and Miss Garland
From August 1937: Judy Garland won her way into the gallant Gable heart by getting up blithely on a platform at the MGM Convention Ball and singing a song which she dedicated especially to Clark. It was called “My Fan Letter to My Favorite Stars”. Gable was there—with Lombard, and so he couldn’t show his deep appreciation to Miss Garland right then. But the other day was Judy’s birthday and Clark came through–with an enticing charm bracelet, and a lot of other gifts, among them a book with his own photograph in it. Bet Carole’s worried! Of course I took the name for this site from Judy’s song, “Dear Mr.…