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For Us, The King Will Never Die
Clark Gable died 62 years ago today at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles. A heart attack claimed The King of Hollywood at age 59. This pictorial layout appeared in Modern Screen magazine after his death: Clark Gable 1901-1960 For us the King will never die A poor boy…a nobody…with big ears and a magnetic charm, a he-man ruggedness…Clark lived his life, said little, and we loved him. lovers: In Clark’s life there were five wives and no scandals. But on the screen his amours were messy–and with the greats of filmland’s Golden Days. Shown in his arms are Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow and Vivien Leigh, the lovely…
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Gossip Friday: Home by Five
From August 1950: Clark Gable seen dashing off the golf course because, “I’m a married man now and promised to be home by five!”
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Gossip Friday: Just Give Up
From June 1951 (Sheilah Graham): No one, not even the columnists who were constantly linking Clark Gable with this girl and that grandmother, really expected him to try marriage again. I knew wife number one, Josephine Dillon, when I first came to Hollywood. It was Jo who nurtured the acting ambitions of young Clark. When talking to me about him, she was kind of detached, like an aunt discussing a favorite but far-away nephew. I was in New York when Clark’s second wife Rhea announced the separation. So was Clark, who sprinted all over Manhattan dodging reporters. The tragic death of wife number three, Carole Lombard, seemed to write “End”…
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Gossip Friday: Practically Starving
From March 1950: Clark Gable…never forgets his public–or his figure. Before every movie he makes, Clark practically starves himself on one of the strictest diets in Hollywood. Mrs. Gable, however, keeps that shape through pure lack of interest in eating. Lucky lady.
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Gossip Friday: Who Knows the Score
From November 1951: Clark Gable goes for girls who know the score. He likes ’em sophisticated and social: age or coloring makes no difference. In his time Clark has gone for females as far apart in looks and background as Metro stenographer Elaine White and socialite grandmother Dolly O’Brien. His first two wives were his age seniors. Carole Lombard was younger, but she always knew the answers. So does his present wife. Sylvia seems to prattle about inconsequential subjects, but she is always amusing, always to the point, and I’ve never heard her say an unkind word about anyone. Clark likes easy-going women because he himself is a little obstinate.…
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Gossip Friday: Clark Gable Sat Here!
From 1952: Arthur B. Goode and his American Art Galleries auctioned off the personal possessions of Lady Sylvia Ashley. So help us–one curious customer who bought a chair loudly exclaimed: “I’m going to put this in my living room and pin a sign on it that says–Clark Gable sat here!”
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Gossip Friday: Kinks in the King
From May 1950: Clark Gable spoils his two hundred percent perfection with his hundred percent streak of stubbornness. Maybe Lady Sylvia, who is where she is today because of flexibility, will smooth over the one kink in the King.
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{New Article} 1952: The Inside Story Behind Clark Gable’s Feuds
This article, published while Clark Gable was in the midst of divorcing his fourth wife, Sylvia Ashley, promises some kind of inside information about juicy feuds involving the King of Hollywood. Not really though. These “feuds” are just between him and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, no big surprise there, and MGM, his home studio of 30+ years. Oh and he also doesn’t like Greer Garson. Not really juicy. The amount of the financial settlement Sylvia Gable is to receive, however, was not decided upon. Certainly, it will be much less than $500,000. The chances are she will settle for $50,000 and legal expenses amounting perhaps to $25,000 more. When Clark was asked…
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{New Article} 1952: Gable’s Divorce Problem
Well, in a quick turnaround from the article I posted a few days ago, What’s Wrong with the Clark Gables?, it turns out a lot was wrong with the Clark Gables because here they are less than a year later, battling it out in divorce court. On October 4th, Clark Gable filed a divorce complaint against Sylvia Gable in Nevada, charging that, “the defendant has treated the plaintiff with extreme cruelty and has caused him great grievous mental suffering and pain without cause or provocation, and plaintiff’s health was and is thereby and therefrom impaired.” When Lady Sylvia was served with a copy of the complaint she was enraged.…
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{New Article} 1951: What’s Wrong with the Clark Gables?
This 1951 article is all about how there is indeed nothing wrong with Clark Gable and Sylvia Ashley’s marriage. Okay, sure. Clark and Sylvia had been married just a little over a year and were at this point spending more and more time apart. That Clark is trying to make this marriage his last is very obvious. I nearly fainted when I saw him all dressed up with Sylvia the first night of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet. Clark doesn’t know one end of a ballet shoe from the other. He went to please Sylvia, of course. And the fashion shows! It’s fascinating to see Clark at Sylvia’s side, hob-nobbing with…
