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Gossip Friday: Things That May Never Happen?
From October 1932: Things that may never happen: That threatened Constance Bennett retirement. That Clark Gable divorce. A movie comeback for Alice White. A wolf at Charlie Chaplin’s door. ___ Well. Constance Bennett didn’t retire from the screen until 1966. Clark and second wife Ria divorced in 1939. Alice White worked pretty steadily through the 1930’s, puttered out in the 40’s. And I don’t know what they mean by the Charlie Chaplin comment. Might be about the fact he was reluctant to do talkies….which we all know he eventually did.
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{New Article} 1936: Gable’s New Freedom
This article, from 1936, arrived on newsstands after it had been announced that Clark Gable and his second wife, Ria Franklin, were divorcing. “The only possession I have ever craved, the only goddess I can serve faithfully for all my life is freedom!” So said Clark Gable. “I’m a tramp at heart,” he continued. And with these words he gave the real “inside” story of himself, of all that he wants from life, even of the marital events recently headlined and hysterics-lined. For though Clark, in due course of time, will be “in circulation” again—he won’t be. Not really. He looked magnificent as he sat there, in his dressing room.…
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Gossip Friday: Waiting It Out
From November 1938: Clark Gable, rumored to be building a mansion in the valley, denies this with “I’m not building anything until I know exactly what’s happening.” He can be referring only to his long held-up divorce from Mrs. Rhea Gable.
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Gossip Friday: Take a Hint
From December 1938, Walter Winchell’s column: Mrs. Clark Gable speaks up: “I am still the wife of Clark Gable, the question of a divorce has never even been broached to me!” Gable hasn’t lived under the same roof with you for years–can’t you take a hint? ___ That’s hilarious, nobody puts it quite Winchell! Despite what a lot of bad biographies and terrible films will have you believe, the movie-going public and the press wasn’t scandalized by Clark Gable and Carole Lombard’s romance and sympathizing with poor Ria Gable. Quite the opposite–they found Ria to be an old battle ax and wanted nothing more than her out of the way…
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{New Article} 1935: Gable Selects The Ten Most Attractive Women
This article is from 1935 and is a fluffy piece in which Clark Gable is asked to select the ten most attractive women in Hollywood. I have a bit of difficulty believing that this article is quoting Clark verbatim as it includes the following sentence: “A woman’s features may be perfectly moulded, her skin a peach-blown dream and her body perfect, but unless her character shines through, she can never be truly beautiful. It takes more than mere perfection of face and figure for a woman to be beautiful.” Can anyone imagine Clark saying “her skin a peach-blown dream” ???? Me neither. At first Clark picks the ideal characterisitics these…
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{New Article} 1934: Clark Gable’s Real Family Life!
Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing new-to-the-site articles from the year 1934. We’ll start out with this one, which proclaims with an exclamation point that it’s about Clark Gable’s Real Family Life! A rather deceptive title. Clark at this time was a superstar; 1934 saw him win national acclaim for his performance in It Happened One Night, and his films with Joan Crawford that year had been hits. His studio, MGM, was not too pleased that their manly man star that had women falling at his feet came with a much older, matronly wife with two kids in tow. But that’s what they had to work with, so…
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Gossip Friday: Pending Engagement
From August 1938: Clark Gable’s second wife, Rhea, has accepted his financial compromise and Mr. Gable will announce his engagement to Carole Lombard before the end of this year. ___ Not so much, as the divorce was not final until March 1939.
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Gossip Friday: Sharing the Burden of Riches
From August 1936: People who are wealthy always have relatives or friends who are willing to share the burden of riches. In the case of married masculine stars, trouble ensues when they separate from their wives. Rudy Vallee discovered this fact when his ex-mate, Fay Webb, attempted to set aside a property agreement. The case was recently settled by the payment to Fay of a fat sum. Clark Gable has asked the Los Angeles coyrts to interpret a settlement recently agreed to by himself and his estranged wife. Gable claims that he understands that his wife intends to enter an action to set aside the agreement, and demand a much…
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Gossip Friday: Stop the Gossip
From February 1936: Clark Gable returned to town from another “duck hunt”—and there is a reason for those quotes—and is dashing hither and yon in a very handsome new car. Mrs. Rhea Gable gave a very handsome dinner party on a recent evening, and one of the guests was a Mary Taylor. One of Clark’s late rumored romances was with some one of the same name, and that ought to stymie that. ____ Yeah, probably not.
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Gossip Friday: Building Clark Gable
From February 1936: At a party we saw Mrs. Clark Gable chatting with the ex-wife of a famous star. “My husband didn’t play fair about alimony,” said the ex-wife. “I gave him the most dignified divorce Hollywood ever saw. I chaperoned him and his girl friend for months to avoid scandal. Now she has him when he’s on top. I worked for him during the building years.” Mrs. Gable nodded quietly. “I know a little about building myself.”
