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Gossip Friday: Grand Marshal
From March 1947: While we were there [on the set of “Song of Love”], Clark Gable came over to pay his respects to Katharine [Hepburn]. He had just started shooting on “The Hucksters” with Deborah Kerr, Metro’s new English star. If you haven’t already seen Deborah in the English picture “Vacation from Marriage” you have a treat in store for you when “The Hucksters” is released. In person, she has the same charm that we’ve noted in so many of the English actresses who have come over to this country recently–warmth, sincerity, and poise. Deborah told me, when I went over to her set, that Clark has been most gracious…
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Gossip Friday: Away Down East?
From July 1941: Gables to Live Away Down East Part of The Year Hollywood–Carole Lombard and Clark Gable have bought a farm in Connecticut and will live there in October, November and December of each year. Clark’s contract calls for three pictures between January and the end of September. But because of the lack of good material, Clark has not made more than two films a year on the new deal, but gets paid for three. ___ Well this is hogwash. They never bought a farm in Connecticut or anywhere close.
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Gossip Friday: A Feminine Conspiracy
From March 1941: One of the reasons, admittedly a minor one that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard get along so famously is that both see eye to eye on the matter of “dressing up” and putting on the airs. Farmer Gable goes for those rusty old trousers and sweaters in his real farm life as well as in the still pictures, and Carole, he says, will have no part in that general feminine conspiracy which aims at getting the male into white tie and tails at the slightest provocation.
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Gossip Friday: Quite a Distraction
From February 1941: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard visited the Douglas airplane factory recently and were cordially taken on a thorough tour. Now an order has been issued that no more movie stars are to be shown around the vast plant. Workmen were so distracted by a gander at the Gables that the delicately balanced production routine was thrown out of whack for hours.
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Gossip Friday: Cigar Squabble
From November 1938: The pretty brunette who works the cash register at the Beverly Hills Brown Derby reports, “Clark Gable and Carole Lombard come in, usually arguing about the silliest things. The other night it was about what kind of cigar Clark should have as an after-dinner smoke.”
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Gossip Friday: Hoping to Baffle
From November 1941: Hoping to baffle autograph hunters, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard gave out three destinations–all wrong–for their current hunting trip. Only star with a “hunting clause” in his contract, Gable is due back December 1 to do “Cimarron,” a remake of the pioneer story which revived Richard Dix and rocketed Irene Dunne to a feminine top spot. ____ That’s interesting. Clark never was in a remake of “Cimarron” and it was not remade until 1960!
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Gossip Friday: Nice to Meet You
From 1948: Deborah Kerr: “It’s been told before, but I think it bears repeating–how I got to meet Clark Gable, with whom I starred in my first American picture, THE HUCKSTERS. I was introduced to him at the studio, but not by any of its officials; instead, by my own husband! Imagine Tony not ever telling me that he and Clark were old friends, having worked together when Clark was a member of the US Army Air Force in England! We were in Mr. Mayer’s office when Clark strode in. I took a quick breath and prepared to be my most charming self, but before anyone could say anything, Clark…
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Gossip Friday: Not Very Romantic
From October 1933: The very romantic Clark Gable doesn’t like being the very romantic Clark Gable because he isn’t the very romantic Clark Gable. This business of being a great lover is exactly that to Gable–just business. It annoys him to have to look dark and romantic and be the object of worship from giddy women. “Do you find that a nuisance in some way?” I asked Gable. “In every way,” he retorted. “You just can’t have any private life or go anywhere without having to run the gauntlet. That’s all right for the guys who like it, but I don’t.” Gable prefers seclusion and Getting Away From It All.…
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Gossip Friday: Best Dressed Man
From December 1935: Virginia Bruce Fires Broadcast at Men’s Dress Virginia Bruce fired a broadside at Hollywood men’s fashions yesterday. Declaring that men, much more than women, are “slaves to convention” in the matter of dress, the blonde player said she was “disgusted” with formal dark business suits, shoes and hats for every day wear. She held Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Jack Oakie were outstanding “best dressed men” of Hollywood–because they are entirely informal and know how to wear light colors and contrasting shades becomingly.” Men, she said, may belittle women because of their fondness for accessories, but men would be much more attractive if they adopted some of…
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Gossip Friday: Nobody Like Clark Gable
From 1947 (Louella Parsons): Say what you will, there’s nobody like Clark Gable. With his charm, it will be a long time before the King is displaced. Younger men have come along to dazzle the gals, but none has yet hit with the force of a Gable. Oh, sure–there have been times when Clark has miffed me, and long periods would go by when we didn’t see one another. But it is impossible to be in his company more than a split second, and not fall under his fascinating spell again. Not long ago, he came to see me and we had a grand time drinking coffee in the garden…
